There's a whole new princess in the World! May 2017 TR

Tink0812 · May 18, 2017

Jambo everyone! We recently returned from an absolutely amazing trip to WDW and I am so excited to re-live the trip as we journey through this TR. I apologize for my extended hiatus from the boards in between posting my sad excuse for a PTR (seriously it was embarrassing) and our trip. This was my first trip with a child of my own and the time leading up to the trip was chaotic to say the least. That being said, I am not even going to post a link to my PTR. Instead I will make my first post all about introductions. Let's start off with the basics.....

When:May5th-13th, 2017

Where: Old Key West 2-bedroom villa with deluxe dining plan

Tickets: One of us had an annual pass while the rest of us did a deal where you buy 4-day tickets you get the 5th day free. All park hoppers of course

How did we get there: We drove the 16 hours from central Illinois

Why: Well who needs a reason to go to Disney? The planning for this trip actually started about 2 years ago when my brothers graduated college. We decided we wanted to take one more big family vacation before my brothers got too submerged in adulthood and potentially moved away to start a life of their own. At that time one of my brothers was starting a masters degree program so we knew we wanted to wait until he was done with that so we decided to make use of the 2 year gap and plan the best trip we could possibly plan. Little did we know that I would end up having a baby and the brother getting his masters would end up choosing an online program and moving to South Carolina to coach a D1 baseball team.

Tink0812 · May 18, 2017

katriscari · May 18, 2017

Following along

I also started A PTR....also sad and not completed!!
We were there May 6-16!

Tink0812 · May 18, 2017

Alright let's get this thing going so we can get to the exciting parts....but first we must meet the crew!

I am Amber, your narrator and assistant trip planner. I turned 27 while we were on our trip and this was my 15th trip to WDW. To say I'm obsessed is an understatement. My favorite character is Tinkerbell. My favorite resort is Wilderness Lodge, favorite restaurant is Le Cellier, and favorite park is Animal Kingdom. I don't really have a favorite ride because I pretty well like them all. My favorite show is Illuminations by far.

Next we have my DH of almost 5 years Warren. He is 28 and has only been to WDW 5 or 6 times. He is not near the Disney fanatic that I am but it is starting to grow on him. His favorite character is Goofy while his favorite park is Epcot and his favorite resort is Port Orleans French Quarter. He doesn't really have a favorite restaurant because he enjoys trying new places. His favorite ride is Space Mountain I do believe and he doesn't really like shows, fireworks, etc.

Then we have our princess Natalia who was 14months at the time of the trip. She loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and really enjoyed meeting Mickey and the gang at Tusker House and Garden Grill. Everyone kept asking us why we were taking her at such a young age but she had so much fun and soaked up every moment with a smile on her face. Her favorite park was probably Magic Kingdom because there was so much for her to do. Her favorite show was FOTLK at AK and her favorite ride was probably Winnie the Pooh. I would definitely say her favorite character was Mickey Mouse but she also enjoyed Tigger and Daisy.

Moving on through the family we have my dad known as Tiggersally on here. He is the mastermind behind every Disney trip and he enjoys the planning portion just as much as the trip itself. This is somewhere around his 23-25th trip. His favorite park is Epcot and I do believe that POFQ is his favorite resort. He is a lot like my DH in that he likes to try new restaurants so I am not sure he has a favorite. Illuminations is a shared favorite between he and I as far as shows go.
Then we have my mom who has been almost as many times as my dad. Her favorite resort is Wilderness Lodge and her favorite park is Magic Kingdom. I do know that her favorite ride is Thunder Mountain Railroad but I'm not sure about her favorite restaurant or character. She likes to be left out of the planning portion as she doesn't enjoy the stress that comes along with it but she is pretty well up to following every detail as we have it planned.

My brother Ryne (aka uncle Ryno to Natalia) is 23 and this was his 12th trip (we think). It's getting hard to remember who has been how many times. This was his first trip since 2011 and he has found that most of his favorites have changed with age. He did make a few comments on the trip about how going as an adult was just as fun as going when he was younger. I do think he was a little disappointed that his twin brother Kyle was unable to make the trip (he couldn't get away from his coaching job in South Carolina).

(PS Ryne doesn't have a child, that is Natalia with him at one of our family reunions)

Finally, about halfway through the week my grandparents (Natalia's great-grandparents) joined us on the trip. You will see me refer to them as Meme and Papa on here because that is what I have always called them. Meme and Papa F, my dad's parents, stayed in a studio villa right across the road from us at OKW while Meme M (my mom's mom) stayed with us. They have all made multiple trips with us to Disney but when we were much younger. They were excited to come along for the journey and experience the magic as great-grandparents but they knew a week would be too long for them with all of the walking and the heat.

Tink0812 · May 21, 2017

Wednesday May 3rd and Thursday May 4th: Preparing for the Journey

For me every trip starts with the prep work. I am a nurse in an acute care setting so I only work three twelve hour shifts each week. The week that we left for vacation I only worked Sunday and Tuesday (I used one vacation day)so my vacation actually started on Wednesday May 3rd. Natalia went to daycare that morning so I could get the last minute packing and errands done. First on my list was a trip to the dreaded Walmart but it had to be done so I tackled it first. All I needed were travel snacks and a few last minute toiletry items. Then I went to give myself a little pre-vaca pampering, I got my nails done. It makes vacation feel a little more real! It was hard to believe that I was on "vacation" because it was 50 degrees and pouring down rain. Everyone may remember seeing all over the national news that the Midwest was under water with something like 12 straight days of constant rain. Yeah we were a part of that. Anyways, my nails looked great

Then I went home to finish packing and do the rest of the laundry that was leftover from the beginning of the week. I hate leaving dirty laundry. I also hate coming home to a dirty or messy house so I cleaned the entire thing from top to bottom before I picked Natalia up from daycare. Here's the final product of the packing....I was shocked by how much more I had to pack when a child was involved.

The large black suitcase was for my DH and I while of course the pink Disney princess one was Natalia's. We took a whole box of diapers. Then there was the umbrella stroller. The floral utility tote was for the first two nights so we didn't have to drag out the large suitcases when we stayed off property. The Mickey backpack was full of our toiletries. We utilized the small Tinkerbell bag as a diaper bag. It was really meant to be a purse but worked very well for a diaper bag. Getting through bag check at the parks was super easy since we didn't have any pockets inside. Behind the Tinkerbell bag is a smaller 31 bag with everything we needed for the car ride along with pillows and blankets for the car. Then we had a small storage cube that acted as a toy box for Natalia's entertainment en route to the World. Then on top of that is Natalia's travel bed/pod thingy. Imagine trying to fit all of this luggage plus what my parents and brother had in one vehicle.

On Thursday morning we awoke at 6:30am to the sound of running water. That is never a good sound, especially when it has been raining for awhile. Our newly finished basement had about 3-4 inches of water in it even despite having a sump pump. My husband ended up tacking another vacation day onto his week and spent all morning running to the store to get supplies and using squeegees, brooms, a shop vac, and two additional sump pumps to get all of the water out. I wasn't much help because I was doing all of the last minute things necessary to get ready to leave our house for a week. We had arranged with my mom to make a few last minute errands in a larger town an hour away and were planning to leave around ten but we had decided to wait until my dad got off work at 11 so he could drive us since so many roads were closed due to the flood waters. Here are some pictures from our back yard alone....

The city road crew came by around 9 and said they were going to close our road so we threw all of our luggage in the back of my SUV and headed over to my parents house to wait for my dad to get off work. By the time we made it to our ultimate destination we didn't have time to run any errands because we only had an hour before we were scheduled to pick up the rental van. We ate a quick lunch then went to the Willard Airport to pick up our rental van. We were renting a van because it was easier than taking two separate vehicles and much cheaper than paying for two separate cars to have gas along the way. Through my workplace I received a discount for Budget that made the rental only $550 for 10 day rental and 2100 free miles. The overage on miles was only $0.25 per mile too. After a quick little scuffle with the clerk at the rental counter, we were on our way with the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. We were only the second family to drive it. The scuffle with the clerk was because I had made the reservation but we wanted to designate the driver as my dad. They wouldn't allow us to do that and did not have anyone from Budget available. We had to speak with a representative from Avis who wasn't willing to look at our Budget paperwork. The rest of that evening was spent loading the van up and getting to bed early. The rain eventually stopped and we were able to get my vehicle back to our house so it didn't have to be parked on the street at my parents all week. Natalia and I stayed at my parents house so we wouldn't have to get up as early the next day. DH stayed at home and set up fans and a dehumidifier to dry the basement out. Sleep did not come easy that night because we were so excited for the next day and I was worried about the basement being ruined. Natalia didn't go to sleep until 1 am. That's what teething will do to you! How will the 16 hour drive go with a teething 14 month old? Will we ever make it to WDW? Tune in to find out!

Denamac · May 21, 2017

I'm in! I live in SC and between the 1,000 year flood in 2015 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016, I totally empathize with you on your flooding issues. We had to evacuate our home due to the flooding in 2015. Thankfully we had no water damage, the water receded JUST before it hit my house. Unfortunately, we had 7 trees fall in the Hurricane and one ended up on my roof!

Anyway...I look forward to your report!!

Tigger's ally · May 22, 2017

I'm in. Was in. Hopefully always will be in. :tigger:

Was a great trip and will let Tink tell the story. My biggest takeaway was that it is probably the last time I will ever be at DW with the people that took me there first (my parents). But what better way for me to share this trip with them than it to be the first trip of the Grandtinker (and she was a cutie for the whole trip, wait till you see her Animal Kingdom attire :tigger:

). Spanning four generations at one little corner of Epcot for Illuminations is as good as it gets for this dude. pirate:

Tink0812 · May 22, 2017

Friday May 5th: Hitting the Road

My mom, dad, Ryne, Natalia and I were in van and on the road by 7:30am. Warren wasn't joining us for the drive down due to work commitments and would instead be flying down over the weekend. Our first stop was 30 minutes from home for a quick drive through at McDonalds because, after all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Natalia was already back to sleep by this point. We did an illegal move and let her face forward in her carseat for the trip. We all agreed that 16 hours was a long time to ride backwards, especially since we put her in the very back seat in the van and she would be able to hear all of us in front of her. It was easier for me to feed her and keep her entertained tooo. Here's a quick look at her travel outfit for the day.....

We drove all day with one destination in mind, Cordele, Georgia where we had a reservation at a Comfort Suites. We were really hoping to get out of the cold, rainy weather as soon as we escaped Illinois but it followed us until we were a little ways into Georgia. I remember at one point just begging to see some sunshine haha. Only a couple stops were made along the way for gas and food. We had a cooler (Ryne's fancy one that plugs in like a refrigerator and doesn't need ice) and plenty of snacks in the van so we didn't really need frequent stops. Natalia did fantastic and didn't really get fussy until right before we reached our destination. She had recently transitioned to all solid food instead of just soft foods and her tummy wasn't agreeing well with it. Traffic was pretty good and the only trouble we really had was an accident right outside Chattanooga, TN. We sat still for a little while but it wasn't too bad. Atlanta wasn't even as bad as it usually is. We reached Cordele around 6 pm if I remember correctly. Once we checked into our hotel and threw our bags in the room we looked up an Italian restaurant for dinner. Then our bellies were full and we were ready for some sleep. We let Natalia run off some caged up energy for awhile but then she went to sleep quickly.Natalia, mom, and I slept in the King bed. Ryne slept on a fold out couch and dad slept on the air mattress that he had brought along. It was nice to be able to sleep in one hotel room. This is the point in the trip where you are so close you can almost see, smell, and taste it.

Tink0812 · May 23, 2017

Saturday May 6th: We Have Arrived
Mom and I had an early morning as Natalia woke up at 4 am, stood up in the bed, and started dancing. We blame it on the Disney excitement! Since she was so full of energy we went ahead and gave her some milk and toys and turned on Disney Jr. so she would at least let us lay there and relax for a little bit. At 7 am we were back on the road and by 11 we were rolling into Orlando. We decided to test our luck and see if our hotel was ready even though it was still early. This night we were staying at the Holiday Inn that used to be the Nickelodeon Resort. We always stay off property on our first night since we don't go to the parks right away and spend all of our time at Disney Springs. Luck was not in our favor and the room was not ready. We piled back in the van and went to Fudruckers for lunch. It's a family favorite because the only meat Ryne will eat is hamburgers and Fudruckers has many different varieties of burgers for him to choose from him. This keeps him from eating a plain cheeseburger for every meal. My mom had a mushroom and swiss burger. I don't recall what my dad had but I had a burger with mushrooms and onions. Natalia had macaroni and cheese. She tried my sweet potato fries and wasn't a fan. After that she didn't trust me to feed her and made her uncle Ryne feed her the macaroni.

Then we went on to Disney Springs. This was my first time seeing it since it became Disney Springs and was added onto/remodeled. I was in awe of the amount of technology in the parking garage alone. Being able to see not only which level has open spots but once you get on that level you can see which row has open spots and how many spots are available. Then each spot has a light above it that tells you if it is empty. We parked in the lime garage then walked over to the elevator area. We waited quite some time for an elevator because we had Natalia in the stroller. Then the guys decided to just carry her down the escalator like the Princess that she is....

From there mom, Natalia, and I hit the ground shopping while the guys went back to the van and drove over to Saratoga Springs for an afternoon of golf. They had called when we were on the road earlier in the day and set up a tee time for 3:09pm. I'm not sure exactly what they did between the time they dropped us off and their tee time but I'm sure they found some place to enjoy a couple cold ones. After a couple hours of shopping we decided it was time for a little snack and stopped by Sprinkles. We really wanted to use the cupcake ATM but the line was insane and there was practically no line inside the store. Mom had their special of the day which was a margarita cupcake. I had a red velvet cupcake and we got Natalia one of the mini Sprinkles cupcakes. Natalia wasn't a fan of the icing or sprinkles but loved the cake itself. Mom and I both agreed that our cupcakes were fantastic but we should have just shared one because neither of us could eat more than half of ours

Once our cupcake adventure was over we went over to the Marketplace side to do some more shopping. I did enjoy the newer area but most of the stores are far above my spending abilities. There were a few good ones and it was nice to look around some of the other ones. Of course the Marketplace will be my favorite area because it is the Disney-associated area. I bought Natalia her first set of Ears.

She also got some bows from Little Miss Matched, Disney princess bathtub toys, a clip-on Dumbo for her stroller, a clip- on Minnie for her stroller, and some t-shirts. I bought a dress from Cherry Tree Lane. My mom ended up paying for half of it as part of my birthday present! It is super cute and Beauty and the Beast inspired. I had been looking for a dress to wear to a wedding this summer and had my mind set on finding one at Cherry Tree Lane.

By this time Natalia was getting ready for a nap so we found an umbrella table in the shade close to some live music. We got Natalia some cold water and margaritas for us. Before we knew it she was passed out in her stroller

Speaking of stroller, my mom made this awesome stroller sign for us. This was extremely helpful in locating our stroller among the masses. Especially because we did see a couple other families that had the same stroller. She had the sign laminated so it wouldn't get beat up.

I had a strawberry Margarita and my mom had a lime margarita from the Dockside Bar. They were pretty good but they should have been made of gold for $14 a piece. I'm not quite sure they were worth that. We let Natalia sleep until she was ready to wake up before we started shopping again which ended up being about an hour. We didn't complain though because it was about 88 degrees and we enjoyed resting in the shade too. It wasn't too long before we got a message from the men saying they were done golfing so we headed back over near the Lime Garage so we could meet them. We had previously decided on eating dinner at Blaze before heading back to check into the hotel but the line for Blaze was ridiculously long so we decided to forgo that and just eat off property. In the strip mall next to Fudruckers we found a Mexican restaurant and decided to eat there because where we come from Mexican restaurants are typically good and quick. I'm not really sure they stood up to any of those expectations. It took forever and the food was not very good. At this point we did not even have time to drop Ryne, Mom, and Natalia off at the hotel like we had planned and instead everyone had to make the trip to the airport to pick Warren up. His plane landed at 9:05pm and we finally made it there around 9:20. He was waiting for us outside and just hopped in. Then we were finally able to check into our hotel. We got a good view of the Star Wars fire works at DHS while we were unloading the van. Once we were in the room it was a quick change of clothes and into bed we went. Sorry, I am a bad Diser and didn't get pictures of the room for everyone. We honestly didn't spend much time there! They do have a water park at the resort too which you get access to if you stay there.

Dad had picked this hotel because we stayed in it when us kids were really young and he knew we could all fit comfortably into one room. Warren, Natalia, and I took the master bedroom with King-sized bed. I'm glad we did because Natalia refused to sleep in her travel bed and ended up sleeping with us. My dad and Ryne took the other bedroom that had bunk beds. Ryne took the top and dad took the bottom because it had a full-sized mattress. Mom slept on the couch in the living room. The couch could have pulled out into a bed but she liked it as it was. Sleep came a little easier that night because we were exhausted and we had the satisfaction of knowing we had a full week of fun ahead of us!

Tink0812 · May 23, 2017

Sunday May 7th: Sunday Fun day, part one

We got to sleep in a little bit today but were dressed, packed, and loading the van back up by 8:30am. We made the quick 10 minute drive over to Old Key West for our 9:30 am breakfast reservation at Olivia's. As usual we arrived early and they weren't ready for us yet so we spent some time exploring the store and the main area of the resort. DH and I had eaten at Olivia's on the last day of our last trip but this was a first for everyone else. This was also our first meal of the trip on the dining plan. Ryne hadn't ever been on the deluxe dining plan so this was entirely new to him. He isn't a big eater either so he was pretty shocked at the amount of food he ate throughout the week. Dad had carefully figured out our meal credits and decided to pay for two of these meals at Olivia's out of pocket. This would leave us with enough credits so that when the grandparents arrived they wouldn't have to pay for their meals. This was our cheapest meal of the week so it made sense to pay OOP on this one. I had Mickey waffles with strawberries on top. It came with eggs and bacon. Natalia just ate off my plate. The only thing she liked were the waffles. DH had the Sombrero Omelet. Ryne had pancakes with strawberries, eggs, and bacon. I cannot for the life of me remember what my parents had. We all ate pretty much everything that was on our plates so that tells you how good it was! Olivia's has a diner-like feel to it and we really enjoy the food and the atmosphere.

After we were done with that we went to the registration area to let them know that we were there. Under no circumstances were we expecting our room to be ready but we just wanted to make sure we got the text when it was ready so we could all meet up and change before dinner. They assured us that our room would be available in the early afternoon and we had them set up to text mom's phone when that time had come. I got my birthday button along with a birthday card from Mickey and the gang. My dad had already gotten Natalia her first visit button on his last trip so we didn't ask for another one.

Check-in complete the men hopped in the van and drove over to Typhoon Lagoon for a fun day at the water park. Natalia, Mom, and I got on a bus to Epcot to go activate her annual pass. The e-mail she had received when she purchased the annual pass stated it had to be activated at guest services; however, once we got there the staff said it should have automatically activated when her fast passes were made so the stop at guest services was not necessary. She was reassured that her one year of time wouldn't start until she actually used it to get into a park for the first time. From there we knew we had plenty of time to kill so we decided to get on a bus to POFQ and take the boat to Disney Springs. This would be Natalia's first time riding a boat.....she loved it!

Once we reached Disney Springs we decided that we had hit all of the stores that we wanted to the previous day but there were a few that we wanted to go back to. along the way I bought Natalia a couple more t-shirts and a tank top for myself. Then around noon we decided that we were a little hungry. Not enough for an entire meal but a snack was definitely needed. We decided upon Ghiradelli's so Natalia could try ice cream for the first time. I ordered a chocolate covered strawberry sundae while my mom had a mint chocolate chip one. Natalia did not like any part of my concoction, not even the vanilla ice cream. She loved my mom's mint but made her pick the chocolate pieces out. We spent about an hour sitting in the air conditioning and eating our ice cream. During that time we got a text from the boys that they were back at OKW sitting in the bar and wanting to know if we had received our text message about the room yet. We told them that we were almost done at Disney Springs and had not received the message yet but would head back shortly to check on it. So we went back to the boat dock not realizing that the dock that we were dropped off at only had a choice for a boat back to PO or across the lagoon to the West Side. We hopped on the boat to the West Side to see if we could get to OKW that way. No such luck so we had to hike over to the Springs area boat dock.

Finally around 2pm we made it back to OKW. As we had it figured out, we needed to be on a boat back to Disney Springs by 4 if we were going to make it to our dinner reservation in time. At this point we were starting to get concerned that we would not be in our villa in time to get ready so we devised a plan to just change in the lobby bathrooms. Mom and I decided to check with the registration area just to make sure there wasn't an issue or somehow the text didn't get sent. It was a good thing we did! We knew our lady this morning was a little confused with us being there so early and trying to clarify our requests. Somehow our reservation was no longer showing us as arriving on this day but instead was showing us as arriving the following day. Our villa wouldn't even be ready until Monday evening. Of course we had our paper copies of our reservation with us so they were able to verify that it was their error. This registration lady (different from the one we had in the morning) said their computers had gone down and everything was altered when they came back up. They showed us being in the villa furthest from the main area and not receiving any of our requests (mainly the two-bedroom in the rooms above 30 so the master bathroom was a walk through). So we asked for verification that when our grandparents arrived later in the week their studio villa would be somewhere in the neighborhood of our villa. We weren't expecting them to be in the same building, we just didn't want them clear across the resort. Again, glad we checked because they were comptely across the resort from us. Something we were told was taken care of that morning. Our registration lady was really nice and was able to fix everything on their end. We ended up in the Turtle Pond area, villa 4222. Here's Natalia helping us check in:

I will do a follow up post with resort pictures and our thoughts about Old Key West but for now lets continue with the day. As mentioned earlier we were very limited on time so we brought what we could from the van up to the villa, took a few quick pictures before the place got messy, and made a quick change of clothes.

The boat between OKW and Disney Springs only runs every 20 minutes and it is a 15 minute ride so we didn't quite have enough time to do that so instead we decided to take a bus. On this particular day the bus was way behind schedule. There was a 25 minute difference between the time the arrival board indicated the bus would be there when we first got to the station and when it actually ended up arriving. The idea behind the arrival boards is brilliant but right now they just cause more frustration because the buses never arrive at the time stated. Sometimes several minutes early but mostly significantly later. The times are constantly changing, gain a couple minutes then lose one and so on and so forth. Here is Natalia waiting for the bus with daddy:

Our dinner reservation was at 5pm at the Boathouse and we made it with only a couple minutes to spare. This was a first for all of us. Here is what we all had in addition to the delicious dinner rolls:

Appetizers
Mom: Caesar salad
Dad: Hoison Chili Calamari
Ryne: Garden salad
Warren: Fire Cracker Shrimp
Me: Garden Salad
Natalia just ate a roll

Main Course
Mom: 8 oz Filet Mignon
Dad: NY Strip (but they actually gave him a filet)
Ryne: classic cheeseburger
Warren: NY Strip
Me: NY steak with fries (different from the NY strip)
Natalia ate some of my steak and fries

Dessert
Mom: for some reason I didn't write it down but I know she got something different than the rest of us
Dad: mango sorbet
Ryne: root beer float
Warren: double chocolate Bundt cake
Me: key lime pie
Natalia had a couple bites of my key lime pie but decided she was full

Dinner was absolutely delicious and I would recommend it to anyone. The only negative comment that we had concerned the mix-up between my dad's NY strip and filet but dad was a good sport and ate what he was served anyways. Definitely a good use of one meal credit! After dinner concluded us girls hopped on a boat back to OKW to unpack and settle in to our "home" for the week while the men went to check out Jack Lindseys Hangar bar.

Tigger's ally · May 25, 2017

My only correction is that the Boathouse was indeed a 2 credit meal. It and Hoop de doo were our 2 credit meals on this trip. The boathouse steaks were perfect. Charred on the outside and medium rare on the inside. Hanger bar was awsome

Tink0812 · May 26, 2017

Chapter 5 1/2 Old Key West Photos and Review:

The Hospitality House Area

Pretty fountain

Boat to Disney Springs

Just a few of the buildings at the

Our building, we were 4222 on the second level

Living room area

Another view...the couch and chair both fold out into beds

Full-sized kitchen complete with all the dishes, cookware, and cutlery you could need. I thought putting the TV in the island was creative

Dining room

Balcony area

Master bedroom, you can't see the bench, tv cabinet with drawers, or the door to the balcony

First part of the master bathroom with whirlpool tub, sink, and closet

Second part of the master bathroom with the walk in shower and toilet

Second bedroom with two beds (what you can't see is a table with two chairs that is on the left)

Vanity in the second bedroom between the bedroom and bathroom

The second bathroom is private to the second bedroom and has a tub/shower combo

Rest of the second bathroom

Not pictured is the laundry room with private washer and dryer, entryway with hallway closet (there was a high chair, vacuum, and broom in here), and both closets in the second bedroom.

Favorites
-The space in our villa was more than adequate (at one time we were comfortably sleeping 7 people and we could have easily fit a few more)
-Having a full-sized kitchen was great with a toddler. We didn't use the stove but the regular size refrigerator was nice
-We made good use of having our own washer and dryer. It made packing a lot easier too since we knew we could easily do a load of laundry
-Having boat access to Disney Springs is always nice since my mom and I like to shop and we all like the restaurants there.
-We were right next to one of the smaller pools with a snack bar
-Mousekeeping was very reliable (unfortunately we can't say that about every resort) and our place was always spotless by the time we came back in the early afternoon for Natalia's nap
-Parking right outside our villa
-The buildings and landscaping were beautiful
-We knew there were other people in the villas all around us based on the vehicles in the parking spaces but we very rarely saw anyone else back in our cul de sac. What a great sense of privacy!

Dislikes
-The difficulties we had at check-in. Even though they were partially just technical difficulties, it was still far more complicated than it needed to be
-Buses....oh, buses. Where shall I begin? The idea behind the time boards at each bus stop is brilliant but would have been far more effective if they were reliable. Now it is just a source of frustration for everyone. A few times our buses were far earlier than the stated times but quite often they were much later. The times are constantly updated and changing, lose a couple minutes, gain ten, and so on and so forth. For example, often we would arrive at the bus stop and it would say our bus would arrive in 5 minutes then they would keep adding time and 30 minutes later we were still waiting. Not very fun if you are trying to make an ADR! My next issue with the bus stop actually pertains to the internal service at OKW. We could get on any bus at our Turtle Pond station if we wanted to go to the Hospitality House because it was the last stop before each bus left the resort. However, if we were at the HH and wanted to get back to our area we had to walk to the Peninsula Rd station, the first stop on the route. It was only a 5-7 minute walk but when it's hot and you have a toddler or older grandparents it can make a big difference. Occasionally throughout the week we would see a bus labeled "Internal Service" but it never seemed to be running when we needed it. From what we could tell, the schedule had no rhyme or reason to it. One day we decided we might as well walk all the way back to the our villa instead of waiting on a bus but it took 20 minutes and was very warm so we vowed to never do that again.
-There weren't many places to fill the mugs that came with our meal plan. Honestly Warren and I only used ours once. Definitely not worth it if you don't have a dining plan and get them for free
-Temperature control in our villa was a never ending roller coaster. The living room/kitchen area would get extremely warm during the day even with all the blinds closed on the window. It didn't help that the ceiling fan in there was pretty much useless. It's version of a high setting was equal to most low settings. That being said we would always have to have the air conditioning on a low setting. This made the bedrooms unbearably cold so we would then have to turn the temperature up. As you can see, this was a continuous cycle that we faced every day. The ceiling fans in the bedrooms worked normally though

Tink0812 · May 30, 2017

Chapter 6: Monday May 8th
We're Goin on Safari

We finally made it to our first park day and this time around we chose Animal Kingdom. Let me give you a little helpful tidbit since you have been kind enough to follow along...most families arrive for their magical vacation on Sundays and make Mondays their first park days. Where do they go first? The iconic Disney park, Magic Kingdom of course. A lot of people say they don't feel like they are at WDW until they see the castle for the first time. We have been guilty of this a time or two ourselves and have learned our lesson when dealing with the crowds. On this particular day there were EMH from 8-9am with regular park opening at 9am. We were at the bus stop by 7:30am and rolling into the bus stop just as the EMH were beginning.

Our first priority was Kilimanjaro Safari but not without stopping for a few photo pass pictures in front of the Tree of Life. These were my favorite pictures of the trip and I am super bummed that I can't get photo bucket to alter them to the appropriate size so I can post them on here. By the time we reached the safari the line was really long and they hadn't started using the expected wait time board yet. There were several announcements that they were not able to start safaris because there were animals blocking the path. Eventually we started moving, very slowly. Natalia just waiting with grandpa...

Once we were getting close to the stroller parking area we decided we were just going to bail out of line because we didn't want to miss our 9:30-9:45 am fast pass for FOTLK. We had a fast pass for the safari later in the evening so we weren't too worried about riding it right then and there. Wouldn't you know the line speeded up again and before we knew it we were on safari. Our guide was fantastic and we saw almost all of the animals from the guide board. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from the journey:

Natalia fell asleep towards the end of the safari so Ryne decided to carry her over to FOTLK so we wouldn't have to wake her up to put her in her stroller. It's a good think FOTLK was close by because we were cutting it close but we made it.

Natalia woke up just in time for the show to start. The few pictures we took were super dark and we didn't take many because we were enjoying watching Natalia dance and laugh. She loves music and bright colors so she absolutely loved the show. Having a fast pass for FOTLK is nice because you get let in before the non- fast pass people and hence get to pick your seats. We picked the top row in the elephant section so we would have back rests (it's bleacher style seating) and we could stand up with Natalia if we needed to without blocking anyone's view. Our fast pass time was 9:30-9:45 for the 10:00 show. After the show was over we looked around a few shops. My mom bought Natalia a bongo drum.

Then we started our walk towards the front of the park for our 11:30 am lunch reservation at Rain Forest Café. This was not a new one for us as we have eaten at Rain Forest Cafe's before. Natalia loved the décor and all of the animal sounds. Towards the end of the meal she was starting to get inpatient and she really enjoyed us taking her to look at the fish tanks. For some reason I did not write down what we all had here but I do know that for an appetizer I got chicken strips which I used as Natalia's meal as well since it came with 6 strips. Warren had some kind of shrimp and my dad a quesadilla of some sort. Ryne and mom both had cheese sticks. I have no clue what we had for main dishes and I can't get the menu to pull up on the website to even prompt me. For dessert mom had the mango sorbet, dad had the key lime pie, and the rest of us had root beer floats. Bellies full mom and I headed back to OKW with Natalia so she could have a good nap. The men stayed in the park for a little while to ride Kali River Rapids and Expedition Everest. It wasn't too much later that they were showing back up at the resort. Ryne and Warren spent some time in the game room before joining dad at the Gurgling Suitcase for drinks.

Before we knew it we were changing clothes and heading back to AK. Ryne and Warren left a little bit before the rest of us so they could make use of our 4:55-5:55pm fast pass for Expedition Everest. The rest of us didn't care to ride it and were more concerned about making our 5:30pm dinner reservation at Tusker House. Warren and I had eaten at TH for breakfast on our last trip and really enjoyed it so we were excited to try dinner there. Sadly we were disappointed. We didn't feel like there were many choices as far as food went and weren't able to find much that we liked. The highlight of the meal was definitely Natalia getting to meet Mickey, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy for the first time. Daisy was without a doubt her favorite. The rest of the characters immediately touched her when they arrived to the table and she didn't know what to think about that. Daisy let Natalia touch her first and she was much more excited. Here are a few pics!

We were given a light up popcorn bucket to use for Rivers of Light. They said you could fill it up at any of the parks for $1.50 but we never actually used it. It was an awkward size and difficult to carry. Now it makes a cute decoration in Natalia's Tinkerbell themed room.

Not-so-good dinner over DH, dad, Natalia, and I headed over to Dinoland so Natalia could take a spin on the Triceratops. I did a little browsing in a few shops along the way and ended up buying Natalia one of the Little Mermaid bubblers that I had my eye on all day.

Meanwhile Ryne and Mom went back to Rain Forest Café so Ryne could be Natalia a stuffed turtle that he had noticed she liked.

Once Ryne and Mom made it back to meet up with us we hiked back to Africa for our 7:40-8:40pm fast pass on Kilimanjaro. Let's just say we all agreed that the morning safari was our favorite. This time around our guide had a thick accent that was difficult to understand and she made no attempt to hide the scripting. We didn't see very many animals either. I didn't take a single picture. After our disappointing safari we grabbed drinks en route to find seats for Rivers of Light. We had done the RoL dining package with our Tusker House reservation and thus had priority seating. The show was set to start at 9:15pm and we arrived about 45 minutes early; however, the reserved seating was already almost full. The non-reserved seating was already full. They packed us in like sardines and it was super uncomfortable, especially with a toddler. I had been looking forward to this show ever since it came out and while I am glad we did it, it is not something I will go out of the way to see again. Part of the problem could have been that we couldn't see much and that we were so uncomfortable but I definitely didn't think the show was up to Disney standard. None of the pictures I took turned out very well so I won't bother posting them. The park was closed when the show was over so we just went to the bus and headed back to OKW. Natalia slept all the way back and went straight to bed.

Tink0812 · Jun 5, 2017

Chapter 7: Tuesday May 9th

It's Magic Kingdom day! Sorry it took me so long to do this post. I literally had it typed up three separate times and then it would disappear when it came time to actually post it. So frustrating! There were no morning extra magic hours on this particular day so we hit rope drop at 9 am. We were actually there around 8:40am. It was nice to sleep in a little. This was my first time going through the security area since they moved it closer to the bus stops/boat ramps/monorails. It actually works very well to slow up the crowd entering the park. Also helping with the crowds was the fact that they moved the opening show to the stage in front of the castle instead of doing it at the train station. Surprisingly I really liked this move! Ryne and Warren went to the hub area around the entrance to Tomorrowland so they could ride Space Mountain as soon as the rope dropped.

Dad ran to Starbucks to get mom and I our morning Frappuccino's. Just a little tip for anyone interested in the DDP, using a snack credit at Starbucks will get you any size drink. Get the large, you are on vacation! Meanwhile, mom and I took Natalia to Town Hall to get in line to meet Tinkerbell. Natalia has watched Peter Pan and all of the Tinkerbell movies but I didn't know if she would recognize Tinkerbell in real life. Tinkerbell is my favorite Disney character and Natalia's room is Tinkerbell-themed so I wanted a few good pictures to hang in there. We were the second family in line to meet Tinkerbell. Most people were in line to meet the talking Mickey that is in the same building so this was a great time to meet Tinkerbell. Photobucket still won't let me edit the size of my photo pass photos (as you can see above) but some of them are too good not to share so sorry for the enormity of them.

Meet and greet complete we headed over to Tomorrowland to meet Ryne and Warren who were just exiting Space Mountain. We had some time to spare so we decided on a little Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin since Natalia could accompany us on that one. She really enjoyed sitting on my lap and using the joystick to move us around. I didn't really try to shoot since I was holding her so Warren beat me. Ryne rode with Dad and I'm pretty sure he won. Mom was stuck all by herself.

Once we got off of Buzz we headed over to our 9:25-10:25 am Seven Dwarfs Mine Train fast pass. This would be a first for Warren, Ryne, and I. Dad chose to sit out with Natalia since he had been before. We were pressed for time so we didn't have time to ride in two separate groups. I really enjoyed the ride and loved all of the details, especially towards the end of the ride. My only complaint is that it is really short; however, given where they chose to build it in the park, it couldn't really be much bigger. I would definitely do it again but would never wait an hour or more for it given the length. The fast pass was the way to go!

Then it was finally time for breakfast, our 10:10 am reservation at Crystal Palace with Pooh and the gang. Natalia's second favorite show, after Mickey Mouse Clubhouse of course, is My Friends Tigger and Pooh so we knew she would enjoy meeting the characters. We like the restaurant itself because the meal is buffet style which caters to everyone's breakfast requests. Some of us are faithful breakfast people while others don't normally eat breakfast. Natalia did well eating off my plate and tasted a little bit of everything. She was over the moon about the characters. From being tickled by Tigger to playing peek a boo with Pooh and getting hugs from Piglet. She had so much fun! Tigger was definitely her favorite but Piglets reaction was the cutest because Natalia was wearing a Piglet shirt!

Bellies full we carried on the Winnie the Pooh theme and hit up our 10:50-11:50 fast pass for the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Natalia giggled the whole time and I am pretty sure this was her favorite ride of the whole week. The wait for Peter Pan's Flight was 40 minutes so we decided to skip that. Great ride, but too short to wait that long for. It's A Small World was even a 30 minute wait so we bypassed that one too. Next we headed over to Dumbo. Natalia fell asleep in her stroller on the way so we were thankful for the 20 minute wait and the pager which allowed us to sit with her in the air conditioned play area while we waited. Ryne, mom, and dad sat this one out. Natalia woke up just as our pager was going off but she was still pretty groggy so she didn't quite know what to think. Mom tried to take our picture but Natalia kept hitting the joystick and making us go up right when we got close to where they were standing. Then it was time for our 12:20-1:20pm fast pass for Splash Mountain. We stopped by Gaston's Tavern along the way to try some La Fou's brew. Yummy stuff! We also stopped in the Beauty and the Beast themed store that was next to the tavern. Mom collects Precious Moments and ended up buying a Beauty and Beast one. Warren bought a Gaston's Tavern shirt. Ryne, Warren, and I rode Splash first while mom and dad watched Natalia. Then we headed to the bus stop with Natalia while mom and dad rode. They had wanted to stay in the park a little longer and Natalia was ready for a nap.

Natalia took a good nap and woke up around 3. We still had plenty of time before we needed to get ready for dinner so we decided to take her swimming for the first time. After all, she had a Little Mermaid bikini that needed to be put to good use. I don't swim, like at all. So Warren took her in the pool while I played photographer. She absolutely loved it and threw a tantrum when it was time to get out. We spent a good 30 minutes there and she learned how to float on her back. Here are just a few pics:

After that we all changed and jumped in the van for a quick drive over to Fort Wilderness. Once we found a parking spot we caught a settlement bus back to the dining hall for none other than The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue. We had a 6:15pm dinner reservation and we were super excited because it has been many years since we have done this show. Our table was on the main floor off to the right-hand side in category 2 seating. We had a perfect view of the show and Natalia danced the night away in her high chair. The food was just as good as we remember too. It is served family style with fried chicken, BBQ ribs, baked beans, salad, mashed potatoes, and corn bread which is all refillable if you run out. Then you get delicious strawberry shortcake for dessert. Also, beer and sangria are included in the dining plan on this one. Mom and I had their white sangria which was very yummy! You know the food is good when the 14 month old eats just as much as everyone else. It was nice to spend the evening relaxing and laughing.

After dinner I wanted to take Natalia and Warren to the beach at the Polynesian to watch Wishes but we were cutting it close on time so dad just drove us over. We made it with five minutes to spare. The beach was packed but it was worth every minute. The very last night for wishes was only two nights after this so it was nice to have such a good view for our last time seeing it. I'm not really sure what everyone else did while we were doing that but I think they went back to OKW. Once the fire works were over we jumped on a bus to Disney Springs then transferred to an OKW bus which happened to be waiting there when we arrived. Natalia slept all the way back to the resort! Another Disney day over and it sure was a great one!

dmea10 · Jun 5, 2017

Tink0812 said:
Natalia slept all the way back to the resort! Another Disney day over and it sure was a great one!

I am really enjoying your trip report! I cannot see the pictures since I am at work. I will be taking my 4 year old Granddaughter who also happens to be named Natalia in October for her first trip to WDW!

Tink0812 · Jun 6, 2017

Chapter 8: It's My Birthday!

Wednesday May 10th and it's my 27th birthday! I am lucky enough that my birthday happens to fall in one of the best times to go to Disney so I have actually celebrated many birthdays there. We slept in a little and skipped breakfast since we had an early lunch planned but were at the bus stop by 8:15 for the 9am rope drop at Hollywood Studios. We knew everyone would be heading to TSM and we had a fast pass later in the day so we went in the opposite direction and walked right onto Rock N' Roller coaster.
They actually let us in line at 8:50am. Dad sat out with Natalia as he wasn't feeling well that morning.

No one seemed interested in Tower of Terror so we continued on down the road to Starbucks for our morning fix. While we were sipping on our drinks we got a visit from these two ladies who were quite proud of themselves for driving through the crowd

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We couldn't think of much else to do so we headed to TSM to see if the madness had died down yet. The wait was only 5 minutes so we hopped right on. Then there was only a couple minutes left before our 10-11 am fast pass so we hung out in the area and walked through One Man's Dream while we were waiting.

Fast pass complete we decided to go get some photo pass pictures taken to prove we were there.

Next up the men went on Star Tours while mom and I found a shaded spot to wait with Natalia and let her have a snack. Once the men got off of the ride we decided to head towards our lunch reservation to see if we could get in a few minutes early since there wasn't really anything else we wanted to do. With all of the reno going on at DHS we had a bit of a tough time finding Mama Melrose but did eventually make it. It was about 11 am at that time and our reservation wasn't until 11:45. We found out that we were among the first group of reservations and they didn't even open until our reservation time. No problem! There were plenty of shops to look through and shaded benches to sit on. Eventually our time came and we got to eat some delicious food. Our waiter was a man of few words who couldn't hear well and needed lots of repeating when we gave our orders. For appetizers mom had the mushroom flatbread, dad had the crispy calamari, Ryne had the margherita flatbread, Warren had the carne d'Italia flatbread, and I had the fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. We all enjoyed them and ate almost all of it. Natalia really enjoyed the bread that was served. For main dishes mom had the chicken and penne pasta, dad had the strip steak, Ryne had the penne alla vodka, Warren had the Mahi Mahi, and I had spaghetti with meatballs which I shared with Natalia. Again, all very good but difficult to eat since we were so full from our appetizers. Disney really should make smaller appetizers for those on the meal plan. So much wasted food! For some reason I didn't write down the deserts but I know that I had the most amazing cheesecake! As we were eating lunch we received the phone call that the grandparents had arrived at OKW. They were going to grab some lunch by the pool and wait for us to get there. We had a fast pass for Tower of Terror from 11:55-12:55 but we decided we had ate too much and would probably end up sick if we used it. We also had a fast pass from 1-1:15 pm for the Frozen Sing a Long but Natalia was starting to get a little testy and we knew a nap was in order. There was no way she would have sat through the show even though on a normal day she would have loved it!

We took a bus back from DHS and Ryne, Warren, and mom took Natalia back to the room while dad and I met up with the grandparents to help them check in. Dad had made their reservations so they waited for him to get there to check in. It turned out all of our troubles earlier in the week were worth it because they actually had Meme and Papa F in a studio villa directly across the cul de sac from us, just on the other side of the pool. It wasn't ready yet though so we set it up for the front desk to text dad when the room was ready. From there we decided to get on a boat to Disney Springs because we didn't want everyone to go back to our villa and wake Natalia up from her nap. We did a little shopping at Disney Springs and Meme M let me pick my birthday presents out. I got a cute patriotic Mickey tank top and a Minnie Mouse hat. Then we took a trip up in the Characters in Flight balloon. My parents had told Papa F for his birthday in February that they wanted to do something special and fun for him when they were in Disney and this is what they chose. It was awesome! The views were spectacular and it was plenty long so you had lots of time to walk around and take pictures. Our operator was super informative and knew just when we were going to have bumps and turbulence so he was able to warn us and have us hang on. Here are a few pics:

While we were in the sky we received the text that Meme and Papa's room was ready so we got on a boat and headed back. Their car was still parked at the Hospitality House so we all got in and drove back to Turtle Pond. I took Meme M and her luggage up to our villa while dad helped Meme and Papa F get settled in to their villa. We all got freshened up and loaded into the vehicles around 5:15 to head over to Wilderness Lodge. Our dinner ADR was at 6:25pm for Whispering Canyon Café but we wanted to get there early so we could walk around and see some of the updates and new construction. Wilderness Lodge has been my favorite resort for the longest time and I hope that all of the new additions don't take away from the secluded ambiance of the resort.

Walking around checking everything out

Playing with Meme F while waiting for our buzzer to go off

Playing peek a boo with Papa F

Dinner was good as usual (we eat here on just about every trip) and we did notice that they have cut back on a lot of the games, jokes, and ridicule that used to accompany the meal. We did miss it a little although dad got a good dose of it when he asked for a sweet tea refill almost immediately and the waitress brought him an extra large. Here it is compared to the other glasses

For appetizers Meme M got the Organic Mixed Greens and the rest of us got the Gold Rush Western Chips. Due to the dining plan we each got our own platter but one would have been plenty big enough for the whole table. For main dishes Ryne got a bacon cheeseburger with fries and the rest of us got the All-You-Care-To-Enjoy Skillet which includes salad, cornbread, smoked ribs, BBQ pulled pork, glazed chicken, smoked beef brisket, sausage, mashed potatoes, corn, baked beans, and green beans. Always a good meal! Of course we still got dessert too! Ryne was too full and got a piece of chocolate cake to go. Almost all of the restaurants have at least one to-go option for dessert which is typically the chocolate cake. Meme Mooday had the bread pudding, Warren had the seasonal fruit crisp which I believe was blackberry, and the rest of us had the Granny Smith Apple-Caramel pie. If I remember correctly dad opted out of dessert.

Back in the cars after a scrumptious dinner we headed back to the resort. Ryne and Warren had hopped on a bus at WL to head to evening EMH at Magic Kingdom. The grandparents wanted to head back to the resort to rest up for their first park day the next day. I let Natalia run around for awhile before her bath then we headed to bed. Another great Disney birthday in the books! Stay tuned for the excitement of the parks with the grandparents!

Tigger's ally · Jun 6, 2017

dmea10 said:
I am really enjoying your trip report! I cannot see the pictures since I am at work. I will be taking my 4 year old Granddaughter who also happens to be named Natalia in October for her first trip to WDW!

As the father/grandfather, I can tell you that four years old is perfect, but be ready for a few questions. At that age, it really is the start of them figuring everything out. Main way to do that is to ask you! You will have a blast. OH, and neat to have another Natty story!

dmea10 · Jun 7, 2017

Tigger's ally said:
As the father/grandfather, I can tell you that four years old is perfect, but be ready for a few questions. At that age, it really is the start of them figuring everything out. Main way to do that is to ask you! You will have a blast. OH, and neat to have another Natty story!

She is already asking about whether characters are real or not. I took her mother at the same age and we had so much fun. I think I am more excited than Natalia! Funny that you call her Natty, my son calls Natalia that. We call her Talia although we all swore we never would

Tink0812 · Jun 13, 2017

Chapter 9: The Grandparents Take on the Parks

Well gosh, once again I have had this post typed up multiple times and had it disappear before actually being able to post here. So here we go again! We were up bright and early for 9 am rope drop at Magic Kingdom. We skipped breakfast in favor of our early lunch ADR. Since we didn't get to see the opening show earlier in the week we made sure to get there early so we could see it this time around! On our way up Main Street we stopped for a quick family pose:

The crowd was very sparse this morning and we were able to go all the way up to the "rope" which was basically a wall of cast members to the left of the stage. This was the only way to get back to Fantasyland at opening. On this particular morning we did not have any fast passes for Magic Kingdom and decided to just develop a plan as we were going along (something we aren't that great at, we like schedules). Once the opening show as over (it was really cute) we made our way to It's a Small World since that is Papa F's favorite ride. We walked right on without a problem but we did notice a little rearranging in the que. Now they have you get on where we used to get off. Strange but it worked! From there we went to the Little Mermaid ride where the wait was posted at 5 minutes. We found that this was just the amount of time it took to walk through the que. Natalia rode with Meme and Papa F. I rode with dad and mom rode with Meme M. Ryne and Warren decided to sit this one out and head out to do some things on their own. I think they did Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear.

After we finished with Little Mermaid we decided to find something that Natalia would be able to ride with Meme M. We chose Dumbo since Natalia didn't get the full experience earlier in the week since she had just woken up from a nap then. I rode with them just to make sure Natalia didn't get feisty and try to climb off of Meme's lap during the ride. The wait was only 5 minutes and they didn't even have the play area open since there wasn't enough people to use the pager system.

Natalia really enjoyed Dumbo this time around. By the time we were done it was getting really hot out so we stopped by Gaston's Tavern so the grandparents could try La Fou's Brew. It was a hit with them too. We continued on back through Fantasyland to look at the wait times Peter Pan's Flight and the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Both were at 30 minutes and we decided to bypass them so we could try to fit a few more things in rather than waste our time waiting. Natalia loves music and dancing so we thought we would give the Country Bear Jamboree a try which would also allot us some much needed time in the air conditioning. Sadly the first show didn't start until 11 so we weren't able to do that. If we couldn't do Country Bears we thought the next best thing would be the Enchanted Tiki Room. There was only 5 minutes till show time once we arrived there so it was perfect timing. Natalia loved all of the bright colored birds and did a lot of dancing. Once we were done with that we got ahold of Warren and Ryne and designated a meeting spot in the hub so we could all meet up before our lunch ADR. There we were able to find a shady spot on the turf to let Natalia run around for a little bit while we waited

Our lunch ADR was at 11:10 am at The Plaza. My parents had eaten there on their previous trip but it would be a first for the rest of us. After we checked in we were waiting for a little bit to be seated and Natalia was starting to get a little hangry so we let her have a little snack. She thought dad needed a snack too and insisted on feeding him.

Such a small place but the food was delicious! Here is what we all had:

Appetizers
Mom: wedge salad
Dad: Plaza loaded fries I think
Ryne: Plaza loaded fries
Warren: seasonal soup which was some kind of potato
Me: Wedge salad
Meme M: Plaza loaded fries
Meme F: Plaza loaded fries
Papa: Plaza loaded fries
Main Dishes
Mom: Home-style meatloaf
Dad: Baked Honey-Barbecued Brisket Mac & Cheese
Ryne Angus Chuck Cheeseburger
Warren: Plaza Club
Me: Home-style meatloaf
Meme M: Cheese Steak Sandwich
Meme F: Baked Honey-Barbecued Brisket Mac & Cheese
Papa: Baked Honey-Barbecued Brisket Mc and Cheese
Dessert
Mom: mint chocolate chip milkshake
Dad: Ice cream of some kind I think (or he might of had the caramel apple pie, I don't' remember)
Ryne: Chocolate Cake
Warren: Milkshake of some kind
Me: Caramel-Apple Pie A la Mode
Meme M: Milkshake of Some Kind
Meme F: No Sugar Added Buttter Pecan Ice Cream
Papa: Ice cream of some kind

Natalia fell asleep on my lap during dessert so mom and I decided to take her back to the resort after lunch for a true nap. We stopped at a few stores on Main Street on our way out. Mom bought Natalia a Tinkerbell balloon which I now have deflated and framed on the wall in her room. I bought a Farewell Wishes t-shirt and matching shirts for Warren and I. Mine says "I'll Be Your Minnie" and his says "I'll be your Mickey". The rest of the crew stayed in the park so the grandparents could have some time to ride the things that Natalia can't do. They got back to the resort in time to rest a little bit before we had to get dressed and hop a bus to Epcot for dinner. While Natalia was napping mom and I were getting ahead start on packing. Here is Natalia waiting for the bus and playing with her bubbler:

We had a goal of getting to Epcot in time for our 5:25-6:25 pm fast pass for Soarin'. Since Natalia couldn't ride this one we needed to be able to get through it in two separate groups before our dinner ADR. It took us a little longer to get a bus than we expected so we were cutting it kind of close. Once we made it through the gates Ryne, Warren, and I took off at a faster pace so we could go ahead and get in line. Everyone else could catch up and get in line once we got off. Little did we know that the fast pass line would be obnoxiously long. It took about 15 minutes before we got to the pre-show area. Dad ended up sitting with Natalia at the exit area while the rest of the crew got in line so we would even have a slight change of making our dinner ADR. By the time Ryne, Warren, and I got off the ride there were 5 minutes left until our ADR so dad went ahead to check us in. Thankfully we were eating at Garden Grill on this evening so we didn't have far to go. When we made the ADR they wouldn't let us make one reservation for our entire group and instead we ended up with two separate reservations five minutes apart from one another. 5:55 pm and 6 pm. In the end it was just as if we had one reservation because they had pushed two tables together so we could all sit together. It was pretty cool to eat in a moving restaurant where the scenery was always changing. The meal was served family style and included salad, pot roast, turkey breast with turkey gravy, Italian sausage with peppers and onions, French fries, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, garden fresh vegetables, bacon and leek stuffing, and delicious short cake. What a perfect meal for such a large group! Natalia really enjoyed meeting Mickey, Goofy, Chip, and Dale. The first picture is the look on her face when she saw Mickey at the next table.

After dinner we had a 6:25-7:25 pm fast pass for Spaceship Earth but opted to forgo that in favor of some other things. It may have been too dark for Natalia anyways. All of us girls went to the Finding Nemo ride and spent some time looking at the fish tanks in the Seas afterwards. Meanwhile, the men went to go ride Test Track single rider.

We all met up at Mousegears and did a little browsing. Ryne bought himself a polo. Meme Mooday bought Natalia some cute hair clips. I bought our dog a Mickey waffle squeaky toy and a Minnie Mouse purse for our Minnie-obsessed niece. Then we decided to head to the World Showcase to stake out a spot for Illuminations. It is a tradition for us to watch Illuminations on the last night of every trip and this one was no different. We couldn't stand in either of our normal spots as the wind had picked up and would be blowing smoke in that direction so it took a little while to find the perfect spot. Another perk of watching Illuminations on this night was that it was the last night for Wishes so the crowd at Epcot was really low. After we claimed our spot we all took turns going to get snacks and drinks. We even had time to snap a few pics of the topiaries in the area from Flower and Garden fest

As usual Illuminations was fantastic! It will always be my favorite part of Disney trips and I don't know what I would do if Disney ever decided to do away with it like they did Wishes. It just wouldn't be the same! This particular night was pretty special as we had 4 generations surrounding the lagoon watching together. Natalia did fantastic and even wore her noise cancelling headphones the entire time. What a great last night at Disney!

After the show was over we went straight to the buses to head back to the resort so we could finish packing and get to bed.

Tink0812 · Jun 13, 2017

Chapter 10: One Last Hurrah, Friday May 12th

This was probably one of our earliest mornings of the entire trip. We had to get everyone up, ready, and packed so we could load the vehicles and check out before catching a bus. Once the vehicles were loaded we did one last run through of the villa to make sure we weren't leaving anything behind before driving up to the Hospitality House to check out. We left the vehicles in the parking area there and hopped a bus to Animal Kingdom. This was also the day we had the most trouble with buses. First, there were three Magic Kingdom buses that got there at the same time. Followed by two DHS buses and a Disney Springs bus. Meanwhile the board said there would be 30 minutes before an Animal Kingdom bus would arrive. We felt really sorry for anyone heading to Epcot because it was a 45 minute wait for that one. There happened to be a transportation person standing out there on this morning and after a couple buses went by and no one got on she took a poll of where everyone was trying to go as there was quite a large gathering at the bus stop. A handful of people wanted to go to Epcot while the rest of us were wanting to go to Animal Kingdom. She radioed in to the directors who said a bus was nearby in the parking lot at OKW waiting to be given orders to go somewhere so they would come and pick us all up for Animal Kingdom. The bus was standing room only but they still went around to all of the OKW stops and packed that bus full.

We made it to AK right at rope drop and boy was it crowded. Of course we had to get some classic family photos.

Then we hoofed it back to Kilamanjaro Safari for our 9:30-10:30am fast pass. The fast pass line was kind of slow moving but we eventually made it. This time our guide was probably the best we had all week and was very informative. Again we saw almost all of the animals on the guide board but I decided not to take any pictures and instead just enjoy the last few moments at Disney. We got off of our safari with 5 minutes to spare before our breakfast ADR at 10:10am. Thankful it was at Tusker House which was closeby. Our breakfast buffet was much better than our dinner earlier in the week but definitely not as good as Warren and I remembered from our last trip. We took a few more character pics with Natalia but didn't really focus on posing this time around:

After our underwhelming breakfast we spent some time looking around the area so the grandparents could see some of the animals and shops. We did the Majarah Jungle Trek which Natalia enjoyed. Before we knew it our 11:30-11:45 am fast pass for FOTLK was here. This time there were a lot more fast pass people and we weren't able to pick our seats. It was okay though because a nice family let me sit next to them in the top row on the end with Natalia so she could see. Natalia loved it just as much as she did earlier in the week and there was a lot of dancing involved. The show got out around 12:30 which was the start time for our fastpass for Finding Nemo-The Musical. At this point it was getting hot and we weren't sure we could make it all the way over to Dinoland in time to make the show. Natalia was starting to get a little restless too so we decided to stop by Starbucks on our way to the front of the park and use up some of our remaining snack credits. We had something like 19 credits left or something. We stopped by one of the snack carts on the way and got some of the cinnamon sugar nuts to have for the long drive home. That knocked a couple snack credits off. Once we got to Starbucks we were informed that the dining plan wasn't working parkwide so we had to pay OOP for our drinks then stop by guest services to be reimbursed on our way out. Weird since we had just used snack credits for our nuts but we complied anyways and didn't cause a ruckus.

After a brief stop by guest services, well it wasn't really brief because there were a lot of unhappy people in line to get reimbursed for their dining plan credits, we waited 20 minutes for the bus. Natalia fell asleep in my arms and slept all the way back to OKW. Everyone made a pit stop in the bathroom before stopping in the store to use the rest of our snack credits up on some candy for the road. We settled into the vehicles and dad led the way homeward bound. We drove for about 6-7 hours and stopped just South of Macon, GA. We hadn't made any reservations for the way home because we didn't know how far we would make it so we had to stop by a couple different places before we found 3 empty rooms. I don't remember which hotel we ended up in but they were able to get us three rooms right in a row on the ground floor with parking right outside our doors. Meme and Papa F had their own room. Mom, Meme M, Natalia, and I shared a room which was connected to the room that dad, Warren, and Ryne had. Natalia did not sleep at all that night and spent a lot of time screaming. Those darn teeth!

There's a whole new princess in the World! May 2017 TR

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