Their First Trip to the World

[HHMcG]

I'm going to try this trip report thing.
I already have our trip all typed out but I'll try to add more magic to it for posting here.


The basics:

Who:
Me – Heather – 37yo DIS novice – previous visits ’81, ’86, Feb ‘97, May ’99 & Jan ‘04
DH – Bill – 41yo happily lets me do all the planning and stressing– previous visits ’79, Feb ‘97, May ’99 & Jan ‘04
DD – Lucy – 4yo lover of Mickey, Piglet and Tink – FIRST VISIT
DS – Jack – 2yo lover of Minnie, Goofy and Piglet – FIRST VISIT
Supporting Roles - We invited both of our familes to join us for this momentus occasion. Only my parents took us up on it.
DGM - Mimi -
DGF - PatPat

What: Our first family visit to Disney. 8 days/7 nights w/ Park Hopper tix and DDP

Where: ASMu Family Suite

When: Jan 28 – Feb 4

Why: Well, that is just obvious

 

[HHMcG]

Thursday, Jan 28, 2010

We woke at 5, woke the kids at 5:30 and were out the door before 6. Got to PHL, checked bags and thru security with plenty of time for our 7:55am flight. We ended up having to de-plane and get on another plane due to a small leak in the fuel lines but that only delayed us an hour, not bad.

The kids were great on the plane. I had agonized on how to ‘restrain’ them and the adult seatbelt ended up being enough. They sat and read books, played games and watched videos. Actually when they watched videos they squeezed in a seat together (with seatbelt around both of them), too cute. They ahve been on may flights so they are old pros.

We arrived at MCO and hopped on the ‘Magical Express’. OK, we had to wait in a bit of a line but this is a great service; don’t have to worry about your bags at all. Arrived at All Star Music and our suite was ready! We checked it out and since it was later then expected we grabbed lunch at the food court instead of at the park. Oh and we picked up our stroller rental from the bell hop. We used Orlando Stroller Rental which was super easy. But I didn’t find the stroller any more maneuverable or smaller then our double jogger at home.

Finally got on the bus for Magic Kingdom. Kids loved being unrestrained on the buses, freaked me out. We arrived at MK a bit before 3pm, 2 hours later then I had hoped. Oh well, we had no real plans or schedule. ‘A Dream Come True Parade’ is at 3pm so we figure that is first up. Grabbed a spot on Main Street and out walks all the kids’ favorite characters – Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, ect. They LOVED seeing the characters, from afar. I few characters that were walking came over to shake hands and the kids would hide in the stroller. But they would point up at a float and yell “Mickey” and that was good enough for us.

I had wanted to stroll down Main Street but it was still congested from the parade so we road the Walt Disney World Railroad. I thought it would give us a view of the park, guess we've never riden it before. But no such luck, you mostly see trees. But the kids love trains so it was good enough. We did the whole loop and ended up back at Main Street station and then started strolling around the park. I was awestruck by my first great view of the castle but the kids barely noticed it.

Oh and it was the most beautiful day, blue skies, we still had our jeans on but were fine in short sleeve shirts. We each picked out a ride or two; Bill-Space Ranger Spin, Me-Monster Inc laugh Floor and Lucy-the Tea Cups and the Carousel.

Amazingly in the middle of this Jack fell asleep in the stroller. Something he NEVER does but would do daily at Disney World. That was true magic. I had been worried about how naps would go there. He had been fighting them at home and I just imagined us wasting the whole afternoon back at the room trying to get him to nap. We definitely got some pixie dust to help with Jack’s naps!

Around 6 we started to head ‘home’. Because of our late lunch and many snacks we just grabbed some fruit for dinner back at the food court. Then headed to our room to figure out the sleeping arrangements. We had a pack-n-play for Jack which I didn’t know if he would use. He is getting too big for them. But the minute he saw it he said ‘my bed’. I am embarrassed to admit that we set him up in the sink area of one of the bathrooms. It had a door that separated it from the toilet/shower and a curtain to separate it from the living room. It was just the prefect space. Lucy slept on a pull out cot in the bedroom with us. In the suite we also had a second bathroom, kitchenette and living room. The kids were in bed by 8pm and asleep by 8:01. This would be their timing pretty much all week, not bad. Bill and I grabbed some beers and relaxed in the living room. It was a prefect set up for us.

 

[HHMcG]

Friday January 29, 2010

Jack woke at 5:30 and despite the separate bedroom it woke all of us. Ugg.
We had Chef Mickey’s at 7:45. After waiting 20mins for the MK bus (and then would have to monorail over to Contemporary) we grabbed a cab.
I LOVED Chef Mickey’s. Yummy food and your traditional Disney characters – Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy. I would do this every trip and wouldn’t mind trying dinner there too.
Our first visitor was Goofy. Lucy hid under the table. *sigh* But we worked out a system. Our guide book had an autograph section. So we got all the autographs and that gave the kids a little space. Then Bill or I would hold them for a picture with the character. They were fine as long as Mom or Dad held them.

Character meals are a bit crazy. You feel you barely have time to eat and this is a buffet, so even crazier. But after all the characters pass thru you have a lull to do your eating. But it is still stressful and I would say we could only do 3 of these in a week. One of my girlfriends did one everyday.

We left Chef Mickey’s via the monorail (which the kids LOVED to watch and to ride) switch at the TTC to the other monorail and arrived at Epcot shortly after 9am rope drop. I had hoped to make it by rope drop.

In EPCOT we ran right into Daisy and Lucy insisted we had to stop and get her autograph since she wasn’t at breakfast. She was getting into this character thing.

First ride was Spaceship Earth. I thought Lucy would like the space aspect of it. Next Bill got a Fast pass for Lucy and him to do Soarin’ (Jack was too short) and we hit the Nemo ride at the Seas. We waited around for a bit and at that moment I realized that the weather was absolutely perfect. It was 10 in the morning we were in shorts and tees there was a gentle breeze and it was PERFECT.

Then we just kind of checked some of the pavilions out, Innovations had some interactive stuff the kids did. We didn't ride Test Track but we checked out the cars. Honestly there wasn’t much that interested me or the kids. After lunch we decided to stay in the park and not bother with naps (hoping Jack would nap in the stroller again). He didn’t L and was super cranky because of it. We headed over to the World Showcase. We did the Kim Possible spy game. By the afternoon we all got cranky and we just were not loving EPCOT. We never made it back to EPCOT and I feel bad about that. We all would have enjoyed it more if we weren’t tired and cranky.

We had dinner reservations at Coral Reef. We had a table right up against the aquarium. The kids were under impressed. I was disappointed with the food choices. My kids love fish but they didn’t have anything that appealed to them – they split a kids pizza. After dinner straight back to the room and bed.

 

[HHMcG]

I should mention that though Lucy is tall enough for most rides (45 1/2" at her 4 year old check up), she is pretty wimpy. Well, wimpy isn't right, but she is shy, scares easily and uncomfortable with most things 'new'. So we avoided things we thought would scare her. There was too much we knew she would love to waste time on things she may hate.
In the end she suprised us a bit.

 

[Snappy in OK]

I am looking forward to reading more of your TR. We were there in Sept for our 1st family trip - DD was 2 and DS was 4, and your kids remind me a lot of DD. We did Chef Mickey's as well, and loved the food and character interaction. DS loved the characters - he run up to them, fly into their arms and talk their ears off!! DD was more on the shy side - she would hide behind DH or me, would only get close if DH or I were holding her, etc. However, she loved the princesses!! She was hugging and talking away, and with the biggest smiles!!

We also rented from Orlando Strollers - and thought it was great to have the stroller delivered to our hotel & picked up again. It was also nice to have a comfortable stroller for the kids, and even nicer to have it outside of the parks.

 

[HHMcG]

I am looking forward to reading more of your TR. We were there in Sept for our 1st family trip - DD was 2 and DS was 4, and your kids remind me a lot of DD. We did Chef Mickey's as well, and loved the food and character interaction. DS loved the characters - he run up to them, fly into their arms and talk their ears off!! DD was more on the shy side - she would hide behind DH or me, would only get close if DH or I were holding her, etc. However, she loved the princesses!! She was hugging and talking away, and with the biggest smiles!!

We also rented from Orlando Strollers - and thought it was great to have the stroller delivered to our hotel & picked up again. It was also nice to have a comfortable stroller for the kids, and even nicer to have it outside of the parks.

Thanks for reading along!!!! Wasn't 4 and 2 such a fun age to introduce the kids to Disney World!?!

 

[MainStMandy]

What a beatuiful family! Looking forward to reading more!

 

[HHMcG]

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Again Jack woke us all at 5:30am. Breakfast in the food court. By now we had the hang of the dining plan. Even with breakfast we got a 'dessert' which we would use for fruit or bagels (or cookies) that we kept for a snack later in the day.
EMH at Hollywood Studios, so 8 opening. We were there for rope drop and they had nothing special, no characters, nothing. We went (with the rest of the crowd) right to Toy Story Mania (my new favorite ride in the world!). Bill got us fast passes as we got in line. We all LOVED this ride. It would be Bill’s fav too but he prefers the older, Space Ranger Spin in MK.

We did some shows (the kids were scared a bit in Little Mermaid and LOVED playhouse Disney) and saw characters (Lightening McQueen, Buzz & Woody).

And they could have played in the ‘Honey I Shrunk the Kids’ playground all day. We grabbed another counter service meal for lunch (we sure used those up). In the early afternoon we headed back to the room for a nap. It was a bit drizzly and we had later plans for this night.

Back at the room, Lucy laid in bed reading books and then watched TV. After half an hour we managed to get Jack asleep. We all rested for a bit adn then Lucy and I hit the pool in the rain/drizzle. This was the only pool time we got all week. We were just too busy. Doing it int eh rain was perfect, not much else to do then.
Then we grabbed a pizza and fruit for dinner in the food court. Then headed to MK. We were there around 6pm and the rain was stopping and the breeze (and the workers) was drying out Main Street. Spectromagic would go off!!!!! This is my all time favorite thing at Disney. It is my brightest memory from my first trip there (about 30 years ago) but back then it was called the Electric Light Parade. We grabbed up some space along Main Street and Bill and Lucy headed to the Main Street Bakery to use up some of our snack credits. Everyone has to try the chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches from the bakery. Yum. Lucy also picked out a pretty pink cupcake as big as her head. We ate the ice cream sandwich as we waited for the parade to start at 7pm. Bill also bought each of us a ‘light up toy’. It is a tradition for us and now for the kids. I also had a bunch of glow sticks/bracelets that we put all over.

Finally they turned off the lights on Main Street and the kids crawled out of the stroller on to my lap and that is were we sat for the next half hour or so. Bill stood and took pictures (over 100). This is magic for me, hugging my babies. The kids liked it but not like I do.

We repositioned for the 8pm Wishes fireworks. And passed the time eating Lucy’s cupcake. Lucy was afraid of the noise from the fireworks, so she covered her ears the whole time. But when asked if she wanted to leave she shook her head no. The music they play with the fireworks actually made me teared up at one point.

We left as it was ending and beat the crowd to the busses. Got ‘home’ and asleep by 9pm. Our latest night out.


My parents arrived later that night.

 

[HHMcG]

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Jack finally slept in, until 6am. It was cool and damp out.
Met my parents in the food court for breakfast. Caught the bus for 9am opening at MK. We got there for rope drop and saw some characters get off the train and do a little dance. Not too impressive. And they make you stay behind the train station (obviously). Didn't they used to let you down Main Street?

We headed straight to Fantasyland and we did every ride (except Snow White’s Scary Adventure because, well, it’s scary). We started with Peter Pan because for some reason that always has the longest wait. Fast passed Winnie the Pooh, hit It’s a Small World, Dumbo, all the classics. We stood in the ridiculously slow moving line to see Tinker Bell and other fairies. Headed to Tomorrowland and drove ‘race cars’ at Tomorrow Land Speedway (Jack’s favorite ride). Buzz Space Ranger Spin then TTA for a rest (and to warm up) and lunch.

It was a cool and damp day. The kids were pretty whiny about the weather. I guess sweatshirts and jeans wasn’t warm enough. We ended up buying a blanket for them to cuddle up in.

Then we headed over to Adventureland / Frontierland. Did Pirates of the Caribbean (Lucy was scared) and Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster (Lucy says she liked it but didn’t want to do it again). Jack got real cranky at this point and I was tired so he and I sat on a bench while everyone else did Jungle Cruise. Jack was asleep after about 2 mins in my arms. So sweet just sitting there cuddling him.

In the early afternoon my parents were ready to go back to the room to rest. We told them we weren’t going to (even though we were cold and tired, too) but they could. They ended up hanging with us the whole time. We left MK at 4 and took the monorail over to Polynesian for dinner at O’hana. (Bill’s favorite and I have to agree with him it is a very good time) We were very early and sat in the lounge for awhile. My dad had a few too many drinks before dinner. We took the kids to the arcade for a bit. They finally opened at 5 and we had a 5:25 ressie. Once we got some food in us we all felt happier. This was also my mom’s birthday dinner, so she got sung to and a cupcake. The food here is family style and the kids tried most of it. They have kid options but I preferred that the kids tried the real food. I had a wonderful Mia Tia (my tradition here) and felt good! Lucy, my mom and I even got up for the conga line/limbo. Good time. Then ‘home’ and bed by 8pm.

 

[HHMcG]

What a beatuiful family! Looking forward to reading more!

Oh, thank you.

 

[JLR]

Fun report and cute family! I'm looking forward to the rest.

 

[Señor DonDuck]

What a great report. Looks like quite the time for the kids first visit. Look forward to reading more.

 

[KatiJ]

We're going next weekend and my kids are about the same age as yours - glad to hear all the details!

 

[disney2mom]

Just signed in You have a beautiful family! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Colt Blackwood]

Beautiful Children. My twins look like your daughter only with blond hair.

 

[reyasmommy]

Hello….. Just found your TR.

Loving the pictures and your kiddos are adorable.

We’re leaving next week on our trip with 4 children….. Two of my own. A 10 week old and an almost 4 year old. Plus my 2 nieces whom are 7 and 9.

I’m truly hoping to get some of that pixie dust myself, and praying that the baby sleeps well while we’re there. ((In the parks and at the hotel)) We’re staying at a condo off property with 3 bedrooms, so we’re lucky that we’ll have a room to put the baby in to sleep while the rest of us can stay up and not worry about being to quite.

My DD is terrified of the characters too…. I’m hoping she’ll be better with them this time around though. The first Character breakfast we took her too, she hid under the table almost the whole time.. I’m glad your DD came out of her shell after a while.

EVERYTIME I see the fireworks at Disney, I cry like a baby. This year won’t be an exception, especially since I’ll also be celebrating with my new baby boy.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[HHMcG]

Wow look at all my readers. I'm so excited to have you all follow along on this TR.

Fun report and cute family! I'm looking forward to the rest.

Thank You.

What a great report. Looks like quite the time for the kids first visit. Look forward to reading more.

It was such a good time I want to start planning their second visit, but I think that is awhile off.

We're going next weekend and my kids are about the same age as yours - glad to hear all the details!

Ooh have FUN!!!

Just signed in You have a beautiful family! Can't wait to hear more!

Thank You.

Beautiful Children. My twins look like your daughter only with blond hair.

Ooh twins - fun!

Hello….. Just found your TR.

Loving the pictures and your kiddos are adorable.

We’re leaving next week on our trip with 4 children….. Two of my own. A 10 week old and an almost 4 year old. Plus my 2 nieces whom are 7 and 9.

I’m truly hoping to get some of that pixie dust myself, and praying that the baby sleeps well while we’re there. ((In the parks and at the hotel)) We’re staying at a condo off property with 3 bedrooms, so we’re lucky that we’ll have a room to put the baby in to sleep while the rest of us can stay up and not worry about being to quite.

My DD is terrified of the characters too…. I’m hoping she’ll be better with them this time around though. The first Character breakfast we took her too, she hid under the table almost the whole time.. I’m glad your DD came out of her shell after a while.

EVERYTIME I see the fireworks at Disney, I cry like a baby. This year won’t be an exception, especially since I’ll also be celebrating with my new baby boy.

Looking forward to reading more.

At 10 weeks old I think the baby should be able to sleep on the go. And I'm glad my DD isn't the only one to hide under the table. All you see/hear about is the kids who love the characters.

 

[HHMcG]

Monday, February 1, 2010

Jack finally noticed we had brought his ‘clock’ and slept until it changed color at 6:20 (no one would wake up earlier the rest of the week).
Breakfast in the food court. It was raining, not drizzling, not damp, it was RAIN. Today was EMH at Animal Kingdom, opening at 8am. Caught the bus and got there right after rope drop. Did the Safari and a couple of the Jungle treks. The kids liked the animals but weren’t impressed considering how often we visit our zoo. There wasn’t much new here.

It was fun to walk around and check out all the little stuff they had.

Caught a show or two (Flight of Wonder, Lion King but Lucy refused to do Nemo :shrug: ). The rain got heavier. Bill and my parents fast passed Expedition Everest (I don’t do drops). I took the kids to looked for a dry place to hide. We found the boneyard, a big sand box under cover. But it’s not sand, it’s tiny stones, so they don’t stick to you.

We hung out for awhile and everyone met up with us. Then grabbed lunch. We did one more show and then gave up. Even though we had dinner ressies right next door at AKL we headed back to our room. We didn’t bother trying to get the kids to nap, just lied on the sofa, watched TV and rested. Since we had the time we did baths and got all of us cleaned up.

Eventually we hopped back on the busses. My parents were dining elsewhere since I couldn’t up our ressie to 6 at a reasonable time. I wanted to do dinner at AKL since we had considered staying there. We chose Boma after recommendations since it is a buffet and we could try some ethnic food and have other stuff to fall back on. The restaurant was not what I expected. It was chaos, loud, lots of people (kids) squeezed in. The food was interesting and we tried all kinds of stuff. The kids stuck to the ‘kid section’ with a little rice, couscous and pasta from the ethnic section. Our kids were pretty wild here, the atmosphere just lent to it. Afterwards we walked around the resort.

We checked out the savannahs. Lucy wasn’t too impressed. I thought she would be gaga over having giraffes out her window. I guess it was good we didn’t spend the extra money.
Then home and bed by 8.

 

[HHMcG]

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Woke up to more rain. Our original plan was EMH at EPCOT but I really had no desire to go there. There wasn’t much more to see and we were all so cranky last time. Plus lying around a little would be good. Instead we headed to Downtown Disney for shopping. We ‘needed’ to hit the Christmas store for our traditional box of ornaments and since I have a Disney Visa we got 20% off at World of Disney. I was waiting to buy all souvenigers there since everything seemed so expensive.
So we headed to DTD in the rain. My parents went to EPCOT since they hadn’t been there. We had a couple of soaking rains but we mostly stayed in the stores. I got really soaked once when Bill left ahead of me with my rain coat. We also hit the toy store and fill up a box of Mr Potato Head box for a set price. Bill was pretty proud with how much he squeezed into the boxes. Then a woman who worked there offered to fit more and totally proved how wrong he was. They had the same thing for My Little Pony but both kids choose Mr Potato Head. We grabbed lunch at Earl of Sandwich and headed ‘home’. We never even made it to the Lego store.

In the afternoon we headed back to Hollywood Studios. As forecasted the rain was done. We arrived in time for the 3pm Block Party Bash Parade. This was ok, mostly Pixar characters and none of the traditional Disney.

My parents joined us here and they ran off to do Tower of Terror. And Bill ran to get fast passes for Toy Story Mania. They were all out of fast passes. So after the parade we had to wait in the regular line. It said 60 min (the longest line we saw all week by far) but really took 45 min. I love the ride so it was worth it to me.

We met some of the Little Einstein characters, played on the ‘Honey I shrunk the Kids’ playground again and then it was time for our dinner ressie.

Mama Melrose in HS, Italian and yummy. By the time we finished the park was closing. Home to bed by 8pm.

 

[HHMcG]

Finally getting back here to finish things up.