Turns out he wasn't too young - Oct-Nov 2016 9-day vacation to WDW
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imBryan
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Yep! And the best part is that we end up enjoying those things much more by living through him. After so many trips to WDW, we'd seen almost everything anyway. It made this trip extra special that there were so many things we used to ignore that were suddenly highlights.
imBryan
Space Ranger
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- May 13, 2017
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November 4 - Animal Kingdom and Epcot again
We decided to go back to the Animal Kingdom because it seemed like the park Owen enjoyed the most, and we'd done most of what we wanted to do for ourselves already. (Which was 99% the Dwarf coaster...)
Did anyone even know this existed? I must have passed by it a dozen times on previous trips, but it didn't even enter into my consciousness until I had a 2 year old with me.
Right around the corner was the Triceratop Spin. Of course he wanted to ride it again, and sprinted for it. There was no line, and the ride never filled up, so the operator let them stay on it for as long as Owen wanted. I think he ended up riding it 10 times, but could have been more.
Promise of the playground was the only thing that got Owen off the ride without a huge tantrum, although we had a problem on our hands when the playground didn't open on time. I'm guessing a CM was late for work. It did open eventually. Kids love this sand pit, though I thought it smelled kind of funky.
I think we actually went on the Triceratop Spin again after the playground. I don't have anything more substantial to show of this morning park trip because we spent the whole time on just what you see above. We were happy to do it. You may be wondering if we got to go on Everest. Well, Elissa did at some point in this trip, but I don't have pictures of it. I just stayed with Owen while she went. I've ridden Everest so many times in the past anyway.
After a nap and some kind of lunch at the Boardwalk Bakery, we returned once again to Epcot to try and get Owen in to meet Anna and Elsa. You may be noticing that I wear some pretty loud shirts. I went through a phase 5 years ago where I was sort of rebelling against boring clothing and went nuts buying crazy shirts, but these days I only ever put them on for theme parks.
The last time we did a M&G with Ana and Elsa was when they were new to the park, and we waited about 4 hours to see them even though we rushed straight to the line from the moment the park opened. That's a cool story because my niece was being born (elsewhere) while we were on line. So, anyway, I liked that first M&G with them better because they were together and the actresses for them at that time were just so so so perfect. No offense to these lovely ladies playing them here, though. We were still very happy to give Owen the experience of feeling like he met the real Anna and Elsa.
Spaceship Earth's camera was working again! I revel in making strange faces for this. The trip finally felt complete for me once I had my awkward "your future" with my own face.
This is all I have from November 4. I guess it just didn't seem like an exciting day to document in pictures at the time.
Did anyone even know this existed? I must have passed by it a dozen times on previous trips, but it didn't even enter into my consciousness until I had a 2 year old with me.
Right around the corner was the Triceratop Spin. Of course he wanted to ride it again, and sprinted for it. There was no line, and the ride never filled up, so the operator let them stay on it for as long as Owen wanted. I think he ended up riding it 10 times, but could have been more.
Promise of the playground was the only thing that got Owen off the ride without a huge tantrum, although we had a problem on our hands when the playground didn't open on time. I'm guessing a CM was late for work. It did open eventually. Kids love this sand pit, though I thought it smelled kind of funky.
I think we actually went on the Triceratop Spin again after the playground. I don't have anything more substantial to show of this morning park trip because we spent the whole time on just what you see above. We were happy to do it. You may be wondering if we got to go on Everest. Well, Elissa did at some point in this trip, but I don't have pictures of it. I just stayed with Owen while she went. I've ridden Everest so many times in the past anyway.
After a nap and some kind of lunch at the Boardwalk Bakery, we returned once again to Epcot to try and get Owen in to meet Anna and Elsa. You may be noticing that I wear some pretty loud shirts. I went through a phase 5 years ago where I was sort of rebelling against boring clothing and went nuts buying crazy shirts, but these days I only ever put them on for theme parks.
The last time we did a M&G with Ana and Elsa was when they were new to the park, and we waited about 4 hours to see them even though we rushed straight to the line from the moment the park opened. That's a cool story because my niece was being born (elsewhere) while we were on line. So, anyway, I liked that first M&G with them better because they were together and the actresses for them at that time were just so so so perfect. No offense to these lovely ladies playing them here, though. We were still very happy to give Owen the experience of feeling like he met the real Anna and Elsa.
Spaceship Earth's camera was working again! I revel in making strange faces for this. The trip finally felt complete for me once I had my awkward "your future" with my own face.
This is all I have from November 4. I guess it just didn't seem like an exciting day to document in pictures at the time.
imBryan
Space Ranger
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- May 13, 2017
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- 63
November 5 - Last park day - Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios again
Due to how much Owen loved the various Disney transportation methods, we figured he'd be into the PeopleMover. We figured right.
Winnie the Pooh is one of his original stuffed animals, so we definitely had to meet him before the trip was over. This was also the second time we rode the ride, but I never took any pictures of that. I believe we did ride it on our first day in the park, which slipped my mind at the time. I think we also took another spin on Small World before heading back to the hotel.
We had another lunch at the Boardwalk Bakery. Owen ran around the actual Boardwalk a bit. After this we took another nap! That's a successful nap every day of the trip.
After the nap, we walked back to Hollywood Studios. We had some unfinished business there that we had to do now or possibly never.
Elissa and I went on Star Tours while Owen's Grandma and Great Aunt stayed with him and watched the Jedi training show. We've been on this ride a lot in the past, but they had new scenes since our last trip. This is one of the only 3D type of things in Disney that I can see properly. Next up: the Frozen sing-along.
At first I wasn't sure about how much time the random comedians got compared to actual Frozen characters, but we warmed up to it as it was actually pretty funny. Overall we did enjoy it a lot, and almost everyone in the place was singing along!
At this point we had dinner reservations at Il Mulino at the Swan, so we walked all the way back. We've eaten there every trip. It's just really good Italian food, and right next to our hotel, so it always makes sense. It's also extremely easy to get into without reservations. Owen loved the bread, which isn't necessarily saying much since he'd probably eat any bread, but it is good!
Some video screencaps of the walk back to Hollywood Studios after dinner. Owen wanted to push his own stroller, but the temptation was to run off was too great, and we did have to put him back in the stroller before we got to the end of the railing. The whole gator thing was especially fresh on our minds this trip. So was the Zika virus, though not much we could do about that.
Anyway, this being our last day in the parks, we wanted to see the Star Wars fireworks even though it was getting a bit late for Owen.
We noticed that everyone had vacated the M&G for Chewbacca and Kylo Ren to get prime viewing spots, so we met them even though Owen had no idea who they are. To this day, Owen does remember Chewbacca and will point him out and even properly say his name any time he sees anything depicting Chewbacca, which is more often than you'd think. Also, I hope someone appreciates my blooper shots that I keep including. haha.
Notice that Owen acquired a Stitch. I know we bought it before meeting Chewie, but I guess he left it on the floor for that M&G. Kylo asked me if I knew where the rebel spy is, or something like that. I told him that Chewbacca was in the next room, and he gave me some finger wagging lecture about something or other. I think they did a good job with these meets, though it probably helped a lot that there was no line so no rush. (literally none)
There was also nobody keeping this jawa dude company! We didn't end up trading with him, sadly. We never even planned to go in here since Owen doesn't know Star Wars, but I'm glad we did. He loved it.
Of course I couldn't get them both with a perfect smile in the same shot. Anyway, we were able to see the fireworks for the most part, although there was a tree in the way. If we'd known exactly where the fireworks were going to be there would have been no problem getting a good spot to watch from. I don't think it helped anyone to abandon the Star Wars M&G as early as they did, but I'm glad that they did!
Clearly having a blast on his last day, as he was now a Disney veteran like his parents.
Well all that's left to show you now is the sad goodbye to WDW for another year.
Due to how much Owen loved the various Disney transportation methods, we figured he'd be into the PeopleMover. We figured right.
Winnie the Pooh is one of his original stuffed animals, so we definitely had to meet him before the trip was over. This was also the second time we rode the ride, but I never took any pictures of that. I believe we did ride it on our first day in the park, which slipped my mind at the time. I think we also took another spin on Small World before heading back to the hotel.
We had another lunch at the Boardwalk Bakery. Owen ran around the actual Boardwalk a bit. After this we took another nap! That's a successful nap every day of the trip.
After the nap, we walked back to Hollywood Studios. We had some unfinished business there that we had to do now or possibly never.
Elissa and I went on Star Tours while Owen's Grandma and Great Aunt stayed with him and watched the Jedi training show. We've been on this ride a lot in the past, but they had new scenes since our last trip. This is one of the only 3D type of things in Disney that I can see properly. Next up: the Frozen sing-along.
At first I wasn't sure about how much time the random comedians got compared to actual Frozen characters, but we warmed up to it as it was actually pretty funny. Overall we did enjoy it a lot, and almost everyone in the place was singing along!
At this point we had dinner reservations at Il Mulino at the Swan, so we walked all the way back. We've eaten there every trip. It's just really good Italian food, and right next to our hotel, so it always makes sense. It's also extremely easy to get into without reservations. Owen loved the bread, which isn't necessarily saying much since he'd probably eat any bread, but it is good!
Some video screencaps of the walk back to Hollywood Studios after dinner. Owen wanted to push his own stroller, but the temptation was to run off was too great, and we did have to put him back in the stroller before we got to the end of the railing. The whole gator thing was especially fresh on our minds this trip. So was the Zika virus, though not much we could do about that.
Anyway, this being our last day in the parks, we wanted to see the Star Wars fireworks even though it was getting a bit late for Owen.
We noticed that everyone had vacated the M&G for Chewbacca and Kylo Ren to get prime viewing spots, so we met them even though Owen had no idea who they are. To this day, Owen does remember Chewbacca and will point him out and even properly say his name any time he sees anything depicting Chewbacca, which is more often than you'd think. Also, I hope someone appreciates my blooper shots that I keep including. haha.
Notice that Owen acquired a Stitch. I know we bought it before meeting Chewie, but I guess he left it on the floor for that M&G. Kylo asked me if I knew where the rebel spy is, or something like that. I told him that Chewbacca was in the next room, and he gave me some finger wagging lecture about something or other. I think they did a good job with these meets, though it probably helped a lot that there was no line so no rush. (literally none)
There was also nobody keeping this jawa dude company! We didn't end up trading with him, sadly. We never even planned to go in here since Owen doesn't know Star Wars, but I'm glad we did. He loved it.
Of course I couldn't get them both with a perfect smile in the same shot. Anyway, we were able to see the fireworks for the most part, although there was a tree in the way. If we'd known exactly where the fireworks were going to be there would have been no problem getting a good spot to watch from. I don't think it helped anyone to abandon the Star Wars M&G as early as they did, but I'm glad that they did!
Clearly having a blast on his last day, as he was now a Disney veteran like his parents.
Well all that's left to show you now is the sad goodbye to WDW for another year.
imBryan
Space Ranger
- Joined
- May 13, 2017
- Messages
- 63
Yeah perhaps I will do some more. We have Disneyland later this year and WDW next March.
I would never have thought I'd spend so much time in that section of the park on any trip. On past trips we spent a lot of time trekking back to Camp Minnie Mickey (RIP) for rare characters, which turned out to be a huge success one time when we found Launchpad from Duck Tales back there. Next time we'll be eager to see Pandora, but I wonder what Owen will think of it. I don't know if Avatar would be anything he could watch yet. (I've never watched it myself, so I really don't know). But I suspect that we'll be spending a ton of time in Dino Land again.
imBryan
Space Ranger
- Joined
- May 13, 2017
- Messages
- 63
November 6 - Going Home
Owen's mood was appropriate. We only had time to mill around the Boardwalk before the Magical Express would take us back to the airport.
I don't have too many pictures from this day, but we did spend some time in the art gallery by the Boardwalk. You're probably not supposed to take pictures of the art, but I took a low quality phone picture to show some people where we were. Trust me, they look better in person.
I took so few pictures that I'm actually going to share a couple of Owen playing with a random dog in the Orlando airport. Sorry, no Magical Express pictures this time.
Actually he wasn't in such a bad mood. That's the advantage of being a toddler is you don't know that it'll be over a year until you're back.
He slept on the plane, so we managed without being the couple with the screaming kid on the plane both ways.
Back in Newark, we booked a ride home with the same taxi company due to the car seat debacle. Turns out that the same guy who took us to the airport drove us home, and he did bring our car seat! It wound up being a perfect trip all things considered.
Owen's mood was appropriate. We only had time to mill around the Boardwalk before the Magical Express would take us back to the airport.
I don't have too many pictures from this day, but we did spend some time in the art gallery by the Boardwalk. You're probably not supposed to take pictures of the art, but I took a low quality phone picture to show some people where we were. Trust me, they look better in person.
I took so few pictures that I'm actually going to share a couple of Owen playing with a random dog in the Orlando airport. Sorry, no Magical Express pictures this time.
Actually he wasn't in such a bad mood. That's the advantage of being a toddler is you don't know that it'll be over a year until you're back.
He slept on the plane, so we managed without being the couple with the screaming kid on the plane both ways.
Back in Newark, we booked a ride home with the same taxi company due to the car seat debacle. Turns out that the same guy who took us to the airport drove us home, and he did bring our car seat! It wound up being a perfect trip all things considered.
imBryan
Space Ranger
- Joined
- May 13, 2017
- Messages
- 63
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