We nailed it with a newborn, why not tackle it with a toddler?!? Updated with Trip Video!!

[DisneyParkLover]

Hi! My name is Katie and this is my second trip report. My first trip report was all about the ups and downs of taking a tiny baby to Walt Disney World. For those interested, it can be viewed at: http://www.disboards.com/threads/co...-wk-old-babys-1st-visit-to-the-world.3233352/.

So a bit of a spoiler alert for those who haven't yet read it....we had a blast! Yes, there were hot and crabby moments, but overall we had a fabulous time! So much so that we booked another trip the next year for free dining! But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's do introductions.



This is me and James, my DH. We have been married for 5 years. I'm a nurse practitioner. I first went to Disney when I was 8, but didn't become a true Disney-phile until adulthood. My favorite ride is Rock N Roller Coaster, but I also love Tower of Terror, Soarin', Space Mountain, and Haunted Mansion.

DH is a chemical engineer. He had never been to Disney until we first went together (he was 28 at the time). He fell in love right away (with Disney of course, did you think I meant me? ). He is definitely not as addicted as I am, but thoroughly enjoys all our trips. His favorite ride is Tower of Terror, which is hysterical since he used to hate it. He also loves Rock N Roller Coaster.



These are my parents. You can call them Kim and Randy or mom and dad like I do (they also answer to Gaga, but only Luke calls them that! ). They first went to Disney as teenage sweethearts on a family trip with my dad's family. My mom is probably almost as addicted to Disney as I am! My mom's favorite ride is Rock N Roller Coaster and my dad's is Tower of Terror. Soarin' and Expedition Everest are other favorites.



This is Luke. He is definitely the star of the show. He was just over 15 months on this trip. He can't tell me his favorites, but I know his favorite character is Mickey and I think Dumbo and it's a small world were his favorite rides.

Up next: trip details

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Links:

Background Info
Trip Details
Travel Day

Day 1 - Off and Running!
Day 1 - Meat and music
Day 1 - Smell the roses
Day 1 - Bonus pictures
Day 1 - World Showcase crowds

Day 2 - First Haircut
Day 2 - Eats and Entertainment
Day 2 - Three Mountains
Day 2 - Dinner at Narcoossee's
Day 2 - Evening at Magic Kingdom

Day 3 - Fishies!
Day 3 - Food & Wine lunch
Day 3 - Meeting the Mouse part 1
Day 3 - Meeting the Mouse part 2
Day 3 - More Character Fun

Day 4 - Early Morning at Hollywood Studios
Day 4 - Food & Wine Finale
Day 4 - Le Cellier - Practically Perfect in Every Way
Day 4 - Fantasmic!

Day 5 - An African Morning
Day 5 - Going on Safari
Day 5 - Chipmunks, Yeti, and a Duck...Oh My!
Day 5 - Dinos and Water Play!
Day 5 - "The heated pool can't be that cold, right?"

Day 6 - Forgotten Belongings & Closed Attractions
Day 6 - A Fun-Filled Afternoon at Hollywood Studios
Day 6 - 'Ohana Means Delicious - Part One
Day 6 - 'Ohana Means Delicious - Part Two

Day 7 - To Sleep In or Not to Sleep In
Day 7 - Yetis, Dinos, and Bugs of Unusual Size
Day 7 - The Evening of November 7th - The Grandparents' Version
Day 7 - Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party - Part One
Day 7 - Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party - Part Two

Bonus! Memory Maker MVMCP Pictures

Day 8 - Pre-park Opening Breakfast with Pooh!
Day 8 - Last Morning at Magic Kingdom
Day 8 - Magical Magic Kingdom Afternoon
Day 8 - Signature Steaks and Holiday Happiness!

Wrap Up and Trip Video!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Trip details:

Dates: October 31st - November 9th, 2014 (I know I'm late starting this, but better late than never right?)
Resort: Art of Animation for one night, then All Stars Music for 8 nights

We went in late September/early October of 2013, and it was really hot!! We hit record highs that week. So we planned for later in the year hoping for better weather. We picked this week because it was free dining. We had the free quick service plan, but paid to upgrade to the regular plan. We also picked that week so we could hit the end of Food and Wine Festival. We didn't realize until after we booked that it was also Jersey Week. We didn't know how that would affect crowds, but we stayed the course with our original dates. You will have to stay tuned to see how that panned out!

The previous year we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and we really loved it. The resort was so beautiful! But we shared a room since Luke was so little and we didn't really need the extra space. This year, we knew we would need two rooms and that we would save a lot by going with a value resort. Even with the cost to upgrade the dining plan, it still came out over $500 cheaper per room to stay value. All Stars Movies was not an option for free dining, so we went with All Stars Music. We knew in advance (because of you wonderful people on the Disboards), that the food court would be closed for refurbishment, but this wasn't a problem for us. We knew we could go to one of the other All Stars to eat and we thought the resort may be a little less crowded because of this. Choosing one night at Art of Animation was totally spontaneous, but you will hear more about that!

 

[Navywife508]

I'm in!! Taking our youngest for the first time in Dec. He will be almost 18 months then.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

I'm in!! Taking our youngest for the first time in Dec. He will be almost 18 months then.

Thanks for joining in! You are going to have a blast with a toddler. It was really such a fun age!

 

[Dugette]

Yay, I'm here! I cannot believe how big Luke is now, after reading the other report where he is so tiny! I mean, I know it's been awhile, but wow. I love that pic of him in front of the castle! So cute!

 

[jandlinz]

Can't wait to hear all about it! We're looking in that same time frame or early October for our next trip. I'll be interested to hear about the crowds and weather!

 

[princessbelle2015]

I'm here. Can't wait to hear all about your adventures with your son Luke. Love the picture of him by the castle

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Yay, I'm here! I cannot believe how big Luke is now, after reading the other report where he is so tiny! I mean, I know it's been awhile, but wow. I love that pic of him in front of the castle! So cute!

Glad you are here! I feel the same way about Izzy - I can't believe how much she grows and changes between trip reports!

Can't wait to hear all about it! We're looking in that same time frame or early October for our next trip. I'll be interested to hear about the crowds and weather!

I think October/November is a great time to go! It was really hot when we went in late September, but it's those temps aren't typical. I think October is usually great. But as you will see, we had some huge temp swings!

I'm here. Can't wait to hear all about your adventures with your son Luke. Love the picture of him by the castle

Thanks!! We think he's pretty cute, even if we are biased.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

JOining in!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

JOining in!

Thanks for joining!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Travel Day

Those that read my last trip report know that the travel on our last trip did not go according to plan. AT ALL! So we didn't have much in the way of plans this time. We knew we wanted to make it further before we stopped for the night. Last trip we stopped about 5 hours in (left after work), and we definitely could have gone further. So we didn't reserve a hotel room for this night. We just figured we'd drive until we couldn't drive any more!

When we booked our first night on November 1st, I did not take into consideration that we would be traveling on Halloween. It really wasn't a big deal, since Luke was too young to participate in most Halloween activities. We dressed him up and did a Trunk or Treat earlier in the week.










But if I had an older child, I would have been bummed to not be home Halloween night. However, if I had an older child, I probably would have realized when I booked those dates! This year we will actually be in Disney on Halloween! But that's Halloween future, and we are talking about Halloween past. We all took off half a day of work, so we were able to leave at noon. I planned my Halloween costume according to comfort, since I knew I would be riding 12+ hours in it. My traveling companions were boring and didn't wear costumes. (I know - can you believe it?!?). Here is my Halloween selection (I'm the one in the middle):




Not the world's best costume, but it worked and was comfy (I did take off the eye patch to drive, though!). Luke's costume with the big tail wouldn't fit in his carseat, so I dressed him in a Halloween t-shirt instead. (It said "wickedly handsome".) You can kind of see it here:




So we hit the road about noon. Somewhere along the way we stopped for a quick dinner at McD's. Luke really enjoyed his McNuggets.




Travel was going well (unlike last time), and with 4 drivers no one was getting too tired. Okay maybe someone was getting tired...




By the time we started getting tired, we were only about an hour and a half from Disney. So we started thinking...why not see if we can push through? So I called Disney and they had a couple choices available. All Stars Music was full, but Art of Animation had a room. I had always wanted to stay there, so we booked it! We just booked one room and bunked together that first night. We arrived at the resort around 1, I believe. I was a bad Diser and didn't get the arch picture or a resort sign picture. It was late, so you'll have to forgive my grievous error! Check-in was super quick, I think there was only one other family checking in that late. I took a quick look around the lobby and then joined my family to find our room.






We found our room and brought up the essentials. We didn't have a pack and play yet, so we took a couple pictures of the resort while we waited for it to be dropped off.














It was a really nice resort and we were so excited to be there!!! But we were also really tired and it took a really long time for them to deliver the pack and play. We even called to make sure they didn't forget us. But they finally brought it over an hour later and we were finally able to go to bed!

Next up: waking up at Disney!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

sounds like a good trVEL day.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Joining in!
this might be the dumbest comment in DISboard history, because, well, duh, but can't believe how big Luke is and how different he looks from your last TR! Live his costume.

Glad travel went so well and what a fun decision to book the night at AoA. Did you wind up with a second set of magic bands?

 

[DisneyParkLover]

sounds like a good trVEL day.

It was! And if you read about all the things that went wrong on the previous trip during travel, you know what a relief that was!!

Joining in!
this might be the dumbest comment in DISboard history, because, well, duh, but can't believe how big Luke is and how different he looks from your last TR! Live his costume.

Glad travel went so well and what a fun decision to book the night at AoA. Did you wind up with a second set of magic bands?

Not dumb at all! I feel the same way when I look at him. When did he get so big?!?

We did get a second set of magic bands, but they automatically linked to my account, so we couldn't use them for extra FPs.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Day 1 - Off and running!

So when we left off, we had just went to bed at Art of Animation at about 2 a.m. Now some may think we slept in, but anyone with a toddler knows that is not the case! Since Luke had slept on the drive down, he was on his regular schedule and woke up nice and early. But we didn't care, because it was our first day at Disney!

So we decided to use this to our advantage and hit a park. We didn't make any plans until the afternoon because we knew anything could happen with travel. (Sorry if I'm running that into the ground. However, it is a valuable thing to take into consideration and is the reason we didn't make any plans until late afternoon. But this should be my last mention of it!) So the morning was totally unplanned. We decided to make it a two park day, but first we had to go take care of business. So we packed the few bags we brought in with us and said goodbye to the beautiful Art of Animation.

We didn't have to be sad for long, though, since we went right over to our new home, All Stars Music!
We got checked in relatively quickly and were happy to learn that our connecting room request had been granted! My parent's room was even ready! Our room was not, so we went and dropped all the things in their room. Then we took a few minutes to look around the resort and take some pictures.


























It was surprisingly cool this day. The temperature was really interesting this trip. We had everything from lows in the mid 40's to highs in the mid 80's this week. Layering was pretty important this trip, especially compared to most of our other trips where it seemed to be consistently hot.

Our afternoon dining and FP reservations were in Epcot, so there was only one place it made sense to go beforehand....Hollywood Studios! That way, we could take the boat to Epcot and be right in World Showcase for our dining reservation! So after our exploring, we hopped in our car and drove to Hollywood Studios.



But we had some important things to do before we started touring. Very, very important things. So what did we do you ask? We headed over to guest relations to become Annual Passholders!!! We were planning on two trips in 2015, so we knew it made sense to upgrade the tickets that came with our package to Annual Passes. We also wanted to go ahead and buy the Tables in Wonderland card, so we could use it on this trip for the meals we were paying for OOP.

Unfortunately, it was not as simple as I had hoped. There was a problem with DH's magic band. It was not linked correctly and they had it mixed up with Luke's. So there was no ticket attached to it (since Luke didn't need a ticket) and no charging privileges, etc. I thought I could just give DH Luke's band, but apparently that was not the case and everything had to be corrected. I had to show proof of our package and his tickets and then a manager had to come help. It took a really long time, but the CM was super nice and assured me that everything was fixed with DH's magic band. Spoiler alert: it wasn't. Since it had taken so long, they gave us some FPs good for any attraction and sent us on our way. We stopped to take some pictures in front of the hat. These pictures are probably worth a lot of money now that the hat is extinct. Maybe I should sell the rights to fund our next Disney trip!








Next, we took some of the free FPs and went and rode Toy Story Midway Mania. Luke really seemed to enjoy this and clapped and clapped! Sorry no pictures, but I already had enough on my plate with keeping Luke's head from whipping around on those turns and scoring enough to beat DH (which I failed at, but I would have another chance)!

After TSMM, we headed down Sunset Blvd. to hit up two of our favorites. Unfortunately, Rock N Roller Coaster was down, so we only rode Tower of Terror.




It had taken so much time at Guest Relations that after these two rides we had to leave to catch a boat to Epcot. So we walked to the dock and had time for just a few photos before the boat arrived.














Up next: an afternoon at Epcot!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Yay for bonus park time! Always a plus. and how wonderful that your parent`s room was ready so early.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Yay for bonus park time! Always a plus. and how wonderful that your parent`s room was ready so early.

It was wonderful waking up and already being in Disney, since we usually split travel into 2 days. We felt like we got extra pixie dusted by having our request met and having one room already ready!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Day 1 Part 2 - Meat and music, you can't beat that!

Before we continue where we left off, I forgot to include this sweet Luke picture:




That was actually taken while we were in the middle of our LENGTHY time at Guest Relations. I was so proud of him, he was so patient and took the wait like a champ!

Now back to our regularly scheduled trip report.

So we had just boarded our boat to Epcot. I really enjoy this boat ride. It is so scenic and relaxing. We took some pictures along the way to document our voyage.








And some of Luke being a happy, silly boy.










We are going to be enjoying this last view a lot on our October trip, since we are staying at Beach Club Villas!!!!


We thoroughly enjoyed our boat ride and before long, this was our view:






We went through the International Gateway and James' magic band wouldn't register. The CM was able to look him up on his tablet and let him in, but this was our first indication that all was not fixed. After we got through, we stopped for a quick photo with this sign:




But we weren't doing any Food & Wine sampling yet, because we had all-you-can-eat German food to get to! I had booked the latest lunch reservation they had (I believe it was at 3 pm?), because I wanted to ensure we had plenty of time to get there, but I didn't want to pay the upcharge for dinner. I like the additional offerings at dinner, but don't think they are worth an extra $10 per person and we always find plenty to eat at lunch!

We were seated quickly with a lovely family who were very nice, but not particularly chatty. We are fine no matter who we are seated with. We like making new friends, but we can also keep to ourselves if our tablemates are not big on talking to strangers!




This is the only picture I took. Guess I was too busy stuffing my face! But you can see that Luke was enthralled with the Oompah band! He also really enjoyed the food offerings here - especially the mac and cheese. We love Biergarten! It is an absolute must on every trip. The food is not fancy, but it is always hot, fresh, and delicious. And there is so much to choose from! After we were all stuffed, I took Luke down and let him dance. He had a really good time dancing and was sad to see the band go. He was even waving bye-bye to them as they left!

After our delicious lunch, we headed over to Future World to use our scheduled Fastpasses. Here are some pictures from our leisurely walk from Germany:










This was our first stop on our tour of Future World:



We did Rider Swap and took turns riding. We still like Test Track, but we all liked the original better. It seems like a ride Luke would really enjoy, so we may ride it more once he can ride. But for now it's a "once a trip" kind of ride. We will ride it again if we have extra time, but it's not a favorite.

Up next were our scheduled FPs for Mission:Space. My DH wasn't too thrilled that I scheduled a spinning ride after a buffet! I forget not everyone has my iron constitution! I offered to ride green side with him, but he insisted we do the orange side. Fortunately, he didn't have to use the provided space sickness bags!



I have to go get ready for my brother's birthday party, so I will finish this day later!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Glad your room request was honored and that at least one of your rooms was ready to drop your stuff off.

Bummer about the issues upgrading the tickets, but at least they were friendly and gave you the bonus FPs - and you got in rides on TSMM and ToT that you weren't planning on so that was good. And congrats on the APs

That is a nice view as the boat gets to the IG with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Sounds like a nice lunch and a good start at EPCOT - especially with no space sickness bag needed