asktriplets
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2004
- Messages
- 531
...WE HAD SUCH A PERFECT TRIP!
thanks to all of you who answered questions and posted toddler tips prior to our trip! i just wanted to share what worked for us....
The Drive Down (16 hrs. over 2 days)
-can't say enough good things about the embassy suites: separate bedroom for the kids, big and noise-covering inside atrium with waterfalls and fountains for the kids to run around and look at, long hallways around the atrium for kids to (very quietly!) run around and around and around...., and interior, windowed elevators for the kids to ride up and down and look around the atrium, as well as a wonderful breakfast buffet in the AM
-i packed tons of little presents and toys and millions of snacks, but basically what kept them happy was as much watered-down juice and milk as they wanted, endless movies (thank god for the portable dvd player!), and stopping every 2 hours for a 20 min. run around a rest area. what also helped was 2 BIG books with short stories (i was able to read and keep their attention for 30-40 mins. with each book): a dora the explorer book with 8 or 9 short stories, and an 80-some page winnie-the-pooh nursery rhyme book that the kids could sing along to many of the rhymes.
-we drove 8 hrs. the 1st day and almost 7 1/2 the second day, and we were checking into the poly (with no wait!) by 5:30 on friday
The POLY
-we were in room 1924 ( i think) in the Tokelau bldg. it was just as perfect for us as some of you had said it would be! we were on the side closest to the ttc, and we were in the "front" half of the bldg. closest to the water, so we had a view of the lagoon (and contemporary resort) from our little patio, even though it was a "garden view" room. if we walked out 8 steps from our patio (which we did on the nights when the fireworks weren't until 10pm), we were able to watch the fireworks over the castle...beautiful!!! this room seemed right in the middle of the resort, so it was a very short walk to the pool, beach, ceremonial house, to the ttc, and an extremely short walk to the small parking lot. we were also able to keep the stroller on the patio and out of the room, as needed
-it was pretty quiet, but we brought a noise machine and that helped minimize the noise from the hallway
-i cannot stress enough how well the poly worked for us with triplets, especially when i compare it to our experience last nov. with the kids in the cabins at ft. wilderness
...we ate breakfast at o'hana's 3 times (the kids are still free with buffets/family-style meals), which was nice because we learned on our last trip that the kids do MUCH better if they start the day with a good breakfast. we got a character fix first thing in the morning, so we didn't worry about waiting in any lines for characters at the parks, and unlike a buffet, they bring out all of the food right away, so we weren't up and down all meal (which was the problem at crystal palace last time)
...although my kids generally don't like swimming, they LOVED the zero-entry pool. they spent most of their time splashing around in waist-high water
...we brought our RUNABOUT, which was perfect for our trip and our location, although the stroller was a TIGHT fit in the elevators in the ceremonial house! we hopped on the monorail at the great ceremonial house to get to MK, and it fit (with just a touch of jockeying) in any of the monorail cars. one word of advice: don't let the monorail CMs make you wait in the handicapped accessible stalls for the monorail if there is a chance the monorail will be crowded...the stroller will only fit on one side of the railing in the handicapped accessible cars (and it DOES fit very nicely and easily in these cars), so if there is already a stroller or wheelchair there, you won't fit and you won't have time to run around looking for another car with space, so you're then stuck waiting for another monorail.
....to get to epcot, we walked over to the ttc and hopped on the monorail there.
...we drove to AK and MGM (and had mixed results in getting the CMs to let us park up close..oh well, it was good exercise!)
...although it was suggested that the ferry back from MK to the poly was quicker, we always took the monorail back to the ttc from MK and epcot. one of the kids' FAVORITE activities (aside from the monorail ride itself) was to run down those big long ramps at the ttc. once down the ramps, there are cut-out character profiles on the fence and gates. my kids spent 20 minutes EVERY time we were there running past each character and calling out their names. after that, we would take the peaceful, quiet, short path from the ttc back to our room. the kids loved it because it was well shaded and there are tons of lizards out every day, sunning on the rocks and wooden pillars lining the path...the kids were always willing to go on a "lizard walk". this walk proved to be wonderful downtime for the kids before naps.
....also can't say enough good things about the lovely, quiet beach at the poly. we had a wonderful nightly routine where we would get back to the hotel in time to spend some time playing on the beach (which was usually around 8pm, so we missed the mad rush out of the parks right at closing time...made things much easier!), and then we would watch the fireworks over the castle (when they were at 9) and the electric water pageant--my kids LOVED this, and it was such a fun, peaceful way to end each night (gettin' all teary-eyed just thinking about it)
....i missed the convenience of a full sized kitchen in the cabins, but we did ok with the fridge in the room and the microwave in the snack shop. we made 2 grocery store runs (but the 2nd was for milk only...milk is VERY expensive at the poly and nonexistant in big containers) . for a number of meals, we had microwaveable mac-n-cheese with canned peas, pbjs and canned green beans, or cold cereal with fruit. the kids meals at the snack shop (and i think at most snack shops in the parks) come with applesauce and your choice of carrots, fries, or a piece of fruit, so although veggies were in short supply for the week, fruit was pretty easy to find.
The Parks
-we hit all 4 parks, but spent the most time in MK
-every day, we got to a park when it first opened, and hit the few rides/attractions that we knew we wanted to do right away. at this age, my kids were even MORE uncomfortable with some of the rides than when they had just turned 2, so we had a limited number of rides at each park. for example, unlike last trip, ds didn't like winnie the pooh, and both dds didn't like ANY ride that was dark. i did discover on our last day that holding a glow stick seemed to help them feel more comfortable. we coaxed them on peter pan and winnie the pooh and they all did fine (when they didn't earlier in the week).
-once we hit the few rides and shows, we spent the rest of the AM (usually an hour or so) grabbing a quick lunch and/or finding a quiet spot to let the kids play. we had this same game plan in the afternoon/evening after nap (1 or 2 planned activities and then whatever), and it worked SO well. we really got a chance to see the disney magic from a toddler's viewpoint...
-the "twinkle lights" in the trees and in the walkways, and the jumping fountains and playscapes (just for the flower show?)at epcot, as well as all of the great entertainment in WS (my kids loved dancing to the moroccan band!)
-the "jewels" in the sidewalk in the oasis at AK, as well as the pretty (and comparatively uncrowded) walkways in the oasis
-being able to watch ants and slugs (and a few characters, too), and chase each other around the trees under the big "pointed mickey hat" while eating mickey ice cream at mgm
-overlooking the entrance to "it's a small world" and watching the boats load from the pinnochio haus restaurant
-watching minnie's cake fall over and over again(which, apparently, is HYSTERICAL to my 3) in minnie's house in toon town (we still talk about it daily!)
--seeing cinderella get her crown in cinderellabration (over and over and over), AND seeing all of the other princesses dancing at the same time (funny thing in that i had avoided all of the "princess" stuff prior to this trip, but my girls became enthralled with all of them while there)
---etc, etc. etc
this really was such a wonderful, magical trip (with only a few rough spots).
thanks to all of you who post here and offer your help and insight!
thanks to all of you who answered questions and posted toddler tips prior to our trip! i just wanted to share what worked for us....
The Drive Down (16 hrs. over 2 days)
-can't say enough good things about the embassy suites: separate bedroom for the kids, big and noise-covering inside atrium with waterfalls and fountains for the kids to run around and look at, long hallways around the atrium for kids to (very quietly!) run around and around and around...., and interior, windowed elevators for the kids to ride up and down and look around the atrium, as well as a wonderful breakfast buffet in the AM
-i packed tons of little presents and toys and millions of snacks, but basically what kept them happy was as much watered-down juice and milk as they wanted, endless movies (thank god for the portable dvd player!), and stopping every 2 hours for a 20 min. run around a rest area. what also helped was 2 BIG books with short stories (i was able to read and keep their attention for 30-40 mins. with each book): a dora the explorer book with 8 or 9 short stories, and an 80-some page winnie-the-pooh nursery rhyme book that the kids could sing along to many of the rhymes.
-we drove 8 hrs. the 1st day and almost 7 1/2 the second day, and we were checking into the poly (with no wait!) by 5:30 on friday
The POLY
-we were in room 1924 ( i think) in the Tokelau bldg. it was just as perfect for us as some of you had said it would be! we were on the side closest to the ttc, and we were in the "front" half of the bldg. closest to the water, so we had a view of the lagoon (and contemporary resort) from our little patio, even though it was a "garden view" room. if we walked out 8 steps from our patio (which we did on the nights when the fireworks weren't until 10pm), we were able to watch the fireworks over the castle...beautiful!!! this room seemed right in the middle of the resort, so it was a very short walk to the pool, beach, ceremonial house, to the ttc, and an extremely short walk to the small parking lot. we were also able to keep the stroller on the patio and out of the room, as needed
-it was pretty quiet, but we brought a noise machine and that helped minimize the noise from the hallway
-i cannot stress enough how well the poly worked for us with triplets, especially when i compare it to our experience last nov. with the kids in the cabins at ft. wilderness
...we ate breakfast at o'hana's 3 times (the kids are still free with buffets/family-style meals), which was nice because we learned on our last trip that the kids do MUCH better if they start the day with a good breakfast. we got a character fix first thing in the morning, so we didn't worry about waiting in any lines for characters at the parks, and unlike a buffet, they bring out all of the food right away, so we weren't up and down all meal (which was the problem at crystal palace last time)
...although my kids generally don't like swimming, they LOVED the zero-entry pool. they spent most of their time splashing around in waist-high water
...we brought our RUNABOUT, which was perfect for our trip and our location, although the stroller was a TIGHT fit in the elevators in the ceremonial house! we hopped on the monorail at the great ceremonial house to get to MK, and it fit (with just a touch of jockeying) in any of the monorail cars. one word of advice: don't let the monorail CMs make you wait in the handicapped accessible stalls for the monorail if there is a chance the monorail will be crowded...the stroller will only fit on one side of the railing in the handicapped accessible cars (and it DOES fit very nicely and easily in these cars), so if there is already a stroller or wheelchair there, you won't fit and you won't have time to run around looking for another car with space, so you're then stuck waiting for another monorail.
....to get to epcot, we walked over to the ttc and hopped on the monorail there.
...we drove to AK and MGM (and had mixed results in getting the CMs to let us park up close..oh well, it was good exercise!)
...although it was suggested that the ferry back from MK to the poly was quicker, we always took the monorail back to the ttc from MK and epcot. one of the kids' FAVORITE activities (aside from the monorail ride itself) was to run down those big long ramps at the ttc. once down the ramps, there are cut-out character profiles on the fence and gates. my kids spent 20 minutes EVERY time we were there running past each character and calling out their names. after that, we would take the peaceful, quiet, short path from the ttc back to our room. the kids loved it because it was well shaded and there are tons of lizards out every day, sunning on the rocks and wooden pillars lining the path...the kids were always willing to go on a "lizard walk". this walk proved to be wonderful downtime for the kids before naps.
....also can't say enough good things about the lovely, quiet beach at the poly. we had a wonderful nightly routine where we would get back to the hotel in time to spend some time playing on the beach (which was usually around 8pm, so we missed the mad rush out of the parks right at closing time...made things much easier!), and then we would watch the fireworks over the castle (when they were at 9) and the electric water pageant--my kids LOVED this, and it was such a fun, peaceful way to end each night (gettin' all teary-eyed just thinking about it)
....i missed the convenience of a full sized kitchen in the cabins, but we did ok with the fridge in the room and the microwave in the snack shop. we made 2 grocery store runs (but the 2nd was for milk only...milk is VERY expensive at the poly and nonexistant in big containers) . for a number of meals, we had microwaveable mac-n-cheese with canned peas, pbjs and canned green beans, or cold cereal with fruit. the kids meals at the snack shop (and i think at most snack shops in the parks) come with applesauce and your choice of carrots, fries, or a piece of fruit, so although veggies were in short supply for the week, fruit was pretty easy to find.
The Parks
-we hit all 4 parks, but spent the most time in MK
-every day, we got to a park when it first opened, and hit the few rides/attractions that we knew we wanted to do right away. at this age, my kids were even MORE uncomfortable with some of the rides than when they had just turned 2, so we had a limited number of rides at each park. for example, unlike last trip, ds didn't like winnie the pooh, and both dds didn't like ANY ride that was dark. i did discover on our last day that holding a glow stick seemed to help them feel more comfortable. we coaxed them on peter pan and winnie the pooh and they all did fine (when they didn't earlier in the week).
-once we hit the few rides and shows, we spent the rest of the AM (usually an hour or so) grabbing a quick lunch and/or finding a quiet spot to let the kids play. we had this same game plan in the afternoon/evening after nap (1 or 2 planned activities and then whatever), and it worked SO well. we really got a chance to see the disney magic from a toddler's viewpoint...
-the "twinkle lights" in the trees and in the walkways, and the jumping fountains and playscapes (just for the flower show?)at epcot, as well as all of the great entertainment in WS (my kids loved dancing to the moroccan band!)
-the "jewels" in the sidewalk in the oasis at AK, as well as the pretty (and comparatively uncrowded) walkways in the oasis
-being able to watch ants and slugs (and a few characters, too), and chase each other around the trees under the big "pointed mickey hat" while eating mickey ice cream at mgm
-overlooking the entrance to "it's a small world" and watching the boats load from the pinnochio haus restaurant
-watching minnie's cake fall over and over again(which, apparently, is HYSTERICAL to my 3) in minnie's house in toon town (we still talk about it daily!)
--seeing cinderella get her crown in cinderellabration (over and over and over), AND seeing all of the other princesses dancing at the same time (funny thing in that i had avoided all of the "princess" stuff prior to this trip, but my girls became enthralled with all of them while there)
---etc, etc. etc
this really was such a wonderful, magical trip (with only a few rough spots).
thanks to all of you who post here and offer your help and insight!
