We are back! Highs and lows of the kiddies first trip....

sammie1884

Mouseketeer
Joined
Nov 17, 2010
Messages
448
We flew back to reality yesterday (Friday) morning :( overall had the most wonderful trip, I will be doing a TR but in the mean time here are our highs and lows......


Highs...... There are soooo many, so will just pick a few and save the rest for the TR

The children's reaction when we drove into Art of Animation resort, they were truly amazed!

Art of Animation resort overall (with one exception, which I will write in lows) we stayed in LM rooms Ariel building. 2 rooms with interconnecting doors. Loved the theming, loved the size of the rooms, the three pools were good, nemo pool being our favourite because of the underwater music and poolside games. I have read that many people dislike the walk from LM to Animation Hall, but even with a toddler and a 5 year old we never tired of the 5 min (max) walk.

Walking into Main St for the first time just in time for the parade. Perfect view and the kids were just amazed.

DD's reaction to meeting Rapunzel for the first time. At the age of 22 months she was totally star struck, as with all the characters we were not rushed and she really took time to chat send interact with both children.

DS being picked to play beast when meeting Belle. This was a totally awesome moment for him, he still can't believe Belle gave him a kiss on the cheek! I loved this enchanted tales with Belle show, it was great they included all children.

Magic bands - tbh I am having withdrawal symptoms already from being able to just tap and spend! We all found them to be great and really handy, we used them to open our hotel room door, get into the parks, charge to our rooms and for our fast passes. Love that they are waterproof, I didn't take mine off for the 2 weeks, it was comfortable and I barely noticed it. It was nice to not have to carry cash around or get our KTTW cards out.

The parade and fireworks at the MVMCP. I can never grow tired of Disney parades or fireworks! So really glad we did this party purely for that reason.

Hollywood and vine Character breakfast - really lovely food, something for everyone and we were not rushed at all. The Character dance party they do every 20mins or so was a big hit with the kids!

The Osborne Christmas lights at Hollywood studios - Wow. Just Wow. This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, we just stood and took it all in for ages.

The crowd levels - the first couple of days were busy because of Veterans Day, but apart from that we were very lucky and didn't really experience too many crowds. The longest we waited for a ride was 15 mins and many rides including Expedition Everest were a walk on! We would totally come back this time of year the crowds and the weather were perfect for us.

Photo pass plus - we had a few hiccups but overall this has been great for us. Especially at character meets because it meant we could just stand back and enjoy the moment rather than worry about taking pictures!

Me getting the top score of 999999 on buzz Light year ride! The disbelief and annoyance on hubbies face was priceless!



Lows.... Not many at all, overall we had a great holiday....

Virgin not having kids meals for the children despite them being ordered over a year ago. Then on the way back they gave Dd who is almost 2 puréed baby food despite me saying she is way past the stage of stage 1 baby food and powdered milk!

Finding out that My Nan had passed away the 2nd day of our holiday. This was a real low for me and my Mum (it was her mum) for the first few days, it's a good job we had the kids with us to distract from the reality. But I have a feeling it's going to sink in and hit us very hard over the next few days.

Me ordering a plush Minnie Mouse to cheer my Mum up and disney florist sending a balloon instead. Reception and Disney florist past the blame buck on this and it was a big stress but eventually Disney Florist refunded. But tbh by that point the situation was already bad enough.

Dd loosing one of her expensive and comfortable Clark's shoes in Magic Kingdom. This has still not been found, but I can't thank the CM who dealt with this enough as he made sure Millie had shoes to wear for the rest of the day, giving us a voucher to buy a pair in main st emporium. It was Christmas party day, typically the only day we had planned to stay in really late.

Someone stealing my resort mug whilst the stroller was parked outside the Winnie pooh ride for less than 10 mins. Thankfully it was the day before we came home, but I am still sad I do not have my mug to keep and everyone else does.

So that's it, our kiddies first trip is over but I am already planning the next one heehee. Will write my TR over the next couple of weeks.
 
First of all Im Sooooo sorry for your loss. How devastating for you all and regards the flowers Im surprised that disney did not give you something else considering the circumstances.
It sounds like you had a great trip. Its priceless seeing childrens faces.
We visited. AOA and thought it was brilliant. A kids playground.
As for VA and their food well thats not a surprise.
Im glad you enjoyed this time of year. I love Nov-dec time. Hence going next year.
Looking forward to ur TR
 
Sounds like a wonderful trip. Glad you liked the magic bands , it's interesting hearing how these are panning out. I'm sorry for your loss.
 
So sorry to hear about your sad loss. It is something that I dread as my parents are both in their 90s now.

Wonderful holiday for you.

Pam
 

Thanks everyone, been sorting the photos today and reliving the memories. That is gonna pull me though the next week and my Nan's funeral I think. Sadly it has been on the cards for a few months but it was just awful to happen while we were away.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday...... The talking Mickey meet and greet on Main Street. He was amazing, the kids just loved that he spoke to them!
 
Oh I so sorry for your loss:rotfl:

Sounds like you all had a great time. We are here now and must admit, for one who was against the Magic bands, we are loving them also. It's just been so easy to use them instead of rummaging around for the cards.:) we have always loved November over any other time of the year. It def has a lot to offer. We were at Hollywood Studio's last night and no matter how many times I see the Osbourne Lights I am just awestruck by them:goodvibes
 
Art of Animation resort overall (with one exception, which I will write in lows) we stayed in LM rooms Ariel building. 2 rooms with interconnecting doors. Loved the theming, loved the size of the rooms, the three pools were good, nemo pool being our favourite because of the underwater music and poolside games. I have read that many people dislike the walk from LM to Animation Hall, but even with a toddler and a 5 year old we never tired of the 5 min (max) walk.

So sorry for your loss, I hope your memories of your amazing trip keep you going.

We are hopefully going to be also staying at AoA in Oct 15, and it will be DD's first trip she will be 7 then. Nice to hear a good report. and that the walk isn't too bad from Little mermaid rooms to the buses. :thumbsup2
 
Thanks everyone

I am loving that the kiddies are talking about it loads every day still. Millie who is only 22months - her speech has come on so much just because she wants to constantly tell me how she met all the princesses and gave them huggies (cuddles) and then said bye bye! Or how she went swimming in the Nemooooooooo pool! Chester just can't believe he met the real live characters and tells me every day without fail that he really misses Splash mountain!

I don't think I would go any other time of year now, the weather and heat level was perfect, lines were almost non existent and seeing the lights and decorations topped it!

Chester keeps starting sentences off with ... When we stay at little mermaid hotel again..... It made such a big impression on both of the children. Like I say the walk was fine and we would totally stay there again. My only dislike of the resort was the food court. It was not great and the system didn't work (unless you like cold food) but we were not bothered about that as we either had breakfast in our room or ate out. We were never at the hotel at lunch or dinner time.
 








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