We Survived! 9 days of land & sea - with a 3 year old! -9/1- NEW PIC I HAD TO SHARE!

[lsusoftball37]

Hi it a good start. love reading this dis board also. nice start on you trip report. your baby is so cute

Welcome One & All! Well, I'm hoping that there will be at least one person to come over here & join me......

This is my very first Trip Report! (*applause* or *crickets*)

Anywho.....before I dive into the nitty gritty of it all, I want to give some background info on how the trip became what it was.

First of all, let me introduce you to your tour guides for this trip:

Me (Amanda, aka Mommy), DH (Ed, aka Daddy) & DS (Reid aka Our endlessly energetic 3 year old son who is prone to the very exhausting 3 year old typical tantrums)

Here we are:


Now that the introductions are out the way, let me quickly go back about six years. In July 2004, Ed & I took our first ever cruise on Carnival. It was horrible! He got food poisoning the first night. That really helped set the mood of our cruise. He swore he would never step foot on another ship again.

Okay, now we move forward to October 2010. Anyway, we have a timeshare in Las Vegas with Hilton. I noticed we had lots of time that we were going to lose so I needed to find something to do with it. After a little bit of research, I found that I could exchange our time for a Disney cruise! I gingerly approached Ed with the idea. I made sure he was very tired & watching football so that he would want to tell me whatever I wanted to hear to make me disappear! He agreed! BUT, he would only go on the shortest amount of nights & demanded a veranda. What a diva! So, I quickly hopped on the phone before he could change his mind & traded in our time for a cruise on the Disney Dream sailing May 5th - 8th. And yes, I got him his veranda!

Alright, are you ready to time travel again? Let's jump to January 2011. One night, my sweet husband came home & told me about this website he had stumbled upon that he thought I would love. What was that website, you ask? Why the DISBoards, of course! I was in heaven! After talking to people on here about the cruise, I realized it was not a good idea that we had planned to fly in for the cruise on embarkation day. I then changed our flight to arrive on May 3rd, booked us for 2 nights at CBR & decided we would only do 1 day of parks, at Magic Kingdom, of course.

Here we go again: March 2011! I have some leftover Bonine from the cruise if anyone is feeling sick from the time travel. In March, I got the best email you can get from Disney: a Pin! Well, I couldn't let a 40% discount on a deluxe room go to waste, now could I? By this point, Ed was tired of talking about the trip so he told me to do whatever I wanted. I quickly changed everything! We would now fly in on Saturday, April 30th and stay at Wilderness Lodge on Club Level until Thursday, May 5th, when we would then leave to go to the Dream!

Okay, now that we understand how this trip came to be, I can start the actual trip report. I'll try to be less word-y & more picture-y in the future!

 

[amandaw]

Hi it a good start. love reading this dis board also. nice start on you trip report. your baby is so cute

Thank you & welcome! So, I have to ask because of your screen name....did you/do you play softball for LSU?

 

[amandaw]

Alright, after a busy weekend, I'm back with another update for y'all. When we last spoke, we had hopped off the Peoplemover & were headed to meet up with some old friends. So, we headed out of Tomorrowland & were headed back towards the castle. Since I never get tired of looking at the castle, I'm going to make y'all take a few more looks as well!







Okay, stop daydreaming about actually being there right now. We've got to get moving! From there, we headed back down Main Street towards the front of the park. And we ran into this:



We stopped for a moment to enjoy the music. I was hoping that Reid would like it since he loves to watch marching bands on TV, but doesn't like them in parades. No such luck, still no love for the band from Reid. I should explain my theory on why he doesn't like them in person. When Reid was born, he underwent several hearing tests. Around 5 weeks old, he was diagnosed with a slight hearing loss in his right ear. Since then, he's continued to undergo hearing tests & it never showed the hearing loss getting worse. Yay! But, over the last year, I had begun noticing that he was really sensitive to loud noises. Well, this past February, he underwent another hearing test & completely passed! It showed no signs of hearing loss. All the doctor could tell us is that because it's been present since his birth, his ears most likely over compensated for the loss to make his hearing more "normal". So, that is why he seems to be more sensitive to loud noises. Anyway, we didn't stay long since Reid was not enjoying it. So, we continued on our way to meet up with our old friends until we finally got to our meet up point:



Yep, we were there to visit with our old friends, Mickey & Minnie. I have to say, although I'm sad about Toon Town being torn down, this new venue is really cute. Reid was very excited to see them again.





After our reunion, we decided that we needed to get off of our feet for a little bit. This seemed like the perfect place to do it:



We rode the train in to Frontierland. We decided to take a little water break under the train station. There was a woman sitting next to us who was very worried about her husband & son. She said they had gone into Splash Mountain almost an hour before & still weren't out. She had heard that the ride had broken down & several people were stuck in boats inside the ride. I tried to reassure that they would be alright, but I really felt sorry for her! Once, we were feeling refreshed, we headed on over to our next ride...



While Ed took Reid on a magic carpet ride, I headed on over to the jungle to get us some FP's for a cruise later that day. Next, it was on to another one of my all-time favorite rides!



Now, on Reid's first trip this past December, he was very unsure of this ride. But, all that changed on this trip! After our daring adventure with pirates, Ed & Reid decided to take another spin on the Magic Carpets. Then, it was finally time to go cruising in the jungle.



This is my favorite scene on the cruise:



I guess looking at the back side of water made us thirsty, because after our cruise, we headed off to a shady spot for another water break. After that, it was time to get moving! We headed back to Fantasyland & used up our FP's for another flight with Peter Pan. From there, it was on to Tomorrowland. We wanted to get another set of FP's for Buzz before we headed to dinner. We got the FP's but Reid was begging us to ride. Since we had time to kill before our ADR, we decided to do the stand-by line. It said 20 minutes, but I think it was closer to 30. Either way, we finally made it in to our car & were ready to save the galaxy. The ride was going smoothly until we were almost out of the room with the volcano. This is where the ride stopped. Reid was on Ed's lap, so I had my gun all to myself. I had been aiming at the top of the volcano & scoring some major points. With the ride stopped, I took this opportunity to max out my score! Oh yeah, that's right, I maxed out my score. I wish I had a picture of Ed's face when I did that! He was in complete awe of me. I let him sit there for a moment mesmerized by my abilities. Then, I let him know that I had watched videos on YouTube prior to our trip in hopes doing this to him. And then, I did share my tips with him & he was also able to max out his score on the ride. See.............



By the time we got off of the ride, we had to make a dash to make our 6:15 pm ADR at the Plaza. We checked in right on time and were seated about 6:45 pm.



Now, this place is small on the inside but the food was very good & the prices are very reasonable. I have heard some people say that because the prices are so reasonable that they feel it's a waste of a TS credit, if you're on the dining plan. I say it's good food & worth the credit. Ed had a Philly Cheesesteak, which he thought was excellent, and fries (these he didn't care for). For dessert, he had a banana split. He said this was great, although it was way too big for one person. I had The Plaza Club & fries. I actually liked the fries, they just needed to be a little warmer. The Club sandwich was very, very good & fresh. My dessert was a brownie sundae. It was good, nothing spectacular and, again, way too big for one person.

With our bellies full, we headed back to Buzz to use up the FP's we had last gotten. After Buzz, Reid wanted to ride the race cars. But, it was a 30 minute wait & Ed wasn't feeling up to it, so instead we hopped on the Peoplemover for a quick ride. After that, it was about 8:15 pm & I was hoping that, even though we were late in doing so, we could still find somewhere to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade. After scouring & scouring, I finally found a half-way decent spot. Now, I have to say that Ed hates parades but he will watch them for me. He knows that I love this parade, so he didn't say anything. Oh no, it was my darling child who started protesting the parade. He didn't want to waste time on a silly parade when there are pirates to fraternize with. So, much to my dismay, off we went to Pirates of the Caribbean.

When we got there, it said the wait was 10 minutes, but it was really way less than that. After the ride, we got Reid in his stroller & headed back to the train. In just the short walk to the train station in Frontierland, he had already fallen asleep. A CM at the bottom of the train station wheelchair ramp saw Reid sleeping in his stroller & she told us just to walk up the exit ramp so we wouldn't have to take him out & possibly wake him just yet. So, we started on our way up. That's when this old, ornery CM working up at the train station starts yelling at us. And I do mean yelling! He's was yelling, "NO! Get off the ramp! Take him out of that stroller & go up the stairs!" So, that's what we did. There was absolutely no one else going to or leaving the train so I didn't see what the big deal was, but whatever.

We were thankful to get on to the train & leave that station & head back to Main Street. We got off & walked down to street level, where I was able to catch the last few floats of the Electrical Parade. Better than nothing, right? As soon as the parade ended, we headed out of the park with what seemed to be all of humanity. Luckily, there was a boat for Wilderness Lodge waiting at the dock that we were able to board.

We had a very nice ride back & before we knew it, we were back in our room. We were delighted to see that Reid's fuzzy friends had decided to wait up for us again this night. But, they must've gotten bored and decided to put on the TV.....



And just what were they watching?



Phineas & Ferb, of course!

Now, by the time we were back to our room, Reid had gotten his third wind. He was playing with his toys when all of a sudden I heard some loud noises. After a second, I realized it was the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. Our room in Wilderness Lodge was right at the end of a hallway that had windows looking out to Magic Kingdom. I hurriedly took Reid out in to the hallway, where we proceeded to watch the fireworks. This was perfect for him! He could enjoy the fireworks without all the noise! After that, we went back to our room. Reid then decided it was time to try out some of his new pirate gear he had come back with that day.



I was finally able to get him settled in for bed and was able to crawl into bed myself for 11:40 pm.

A few extra notes on our day at Magic Kingdom: We felt the park was really crowded this day. We're not used to coming during this time, so I don't know if the crowds were normal or not. The character lines were LOOOONNNGGG, except for Minnie & Mickey. To add to the crowds - it was H O T!

Up Next: Animal Kingdom and DHS. Grab your umbrella because the forecast is calling for scattered showers of Pixie Dust!

 

[lsusoftball37]

Thank you & welcome! So, I have to ask because of your screen name....did you/do you play softball for LSU?

No, It my favorite sport and my favorite team.

 

[amandaw]

No, It my favorite sport and my favorite team.

That was my second guess. At least you root for the best team.....GEAUX TIGERS!

 

[ChattaAlley]

Cute Cute Family. Your son looks just like your husband.

 

[emma212010]

Great update!! Sounds like you had a lot of fun in MK!

 

[amandaw]

Cute Cute Family. Your son looks just like your husband.

Thanks so much! Oh yes, my husband always says, "Well, I guess I can't deny him."

Great update!! Sounds like you had a lot of fun in MK!

Thanks! We really did! It was busy & tiring but lots of fun.

 

[thegreggersmom]

I am loving your trip report! Reid is absolutely adorable and sure does look like his Daddy. Can't wait to hear more -- especially about the cruise. And may I ask where you got the Captain Hook "Walk the Plank" shirt that Reid is wearing? I have a 3 y/o DS who would love one of those!

Sarah

 

[OatsZoo]

Love your TR so far, here is a tip for sensitive ears. My daughter is sensitive to loud sounds too, on our last trip to Disney I bought some puddy ear plugs, the kind you use for swimming. She pops them in and out of her ears when we are going on rides or during the fireworks. It muffles just enough of the sound that she can still hear and because they are the puddy type, she can reuse them all day without them getting ruined. I just keep them in the little case and hand them to her when we are in line.

It helped so much, and avoided her covering her ears and leaving her with no hands to eat or do anything with.

 

[amandaw]

I am loving your trip report! Reid is absolutely adorable and sure does look like his Daddy. Can't wait to hear more -- especially about the cruise. And may I ask where you got the Captain Hook "Walk the Plank" shirt that Reid is wearing? I have a 3 y/o DS who would love one of those!

Sarah

Hi, Sarah! I'm so glad you're enjoying the report. Reid is definitely the spitting image of his Daddy, but he has my lack of patience and overall attitude (not good). I got his "Walk the Plank" Hook shirt from Target. Not sure if you have one where you live, but if so, check them out. They have tons of Disney shirts (from Mickey, Pluto, Donald to Toy Story to Hook) and they are only $8! Woo Hoo!

 

[amandaw]

Love your TR so far, here is a tip for sensitive ears. My daughter is sensitive to loud sounds too, on our last trip to Disney I bought some puddy ear plugs, the kind you use for swimming. She pops them in and out of her ears when we are going on rides or during the fireworks. It muffles just enough of the sound that she can still hear and because they are the puddy type, she can reuse them all day without them getting ruined. I just keep them in the little case and hand them to her when we are in line.

It helped so much, and avoided her covering her ears and leaving her with no hands to eat or do anything with.

Thanks & welcome! I really appreciate that tip about the ear plugs. I'll have to look for that kind next time we go. I had thought of trying to find some sort of ear plug before we left and completely forgot. Next time, I'll know what to look for & hopefully I won't forget!

 

[afwdwfan]

Hi there, saw your link as you were posting in other trip reports. We're getting ready to take our first trip with our young son this fall, so I'm very interested in reading up on other trips with young children to get tips we can learn from. On top of that, we're going to stay at WL (although not club level) so your TR is getting me kind of excited for our trip. Your pictures look awesome and I'm enjoying the TR.

Reid liked this ride when we came in December. But, it quickly became one of his favorites on this trip. For his 3rd birthday this past March, we gave him the movie, Peter Pan. Ever since then, he has been obsessed with it! Almost everyday, he asks to watch the movie. And just about every other night, we read the book for a bedtime story. So, we used our FP's & didn't have to wait long at all to get into our Pixie Dusted pirate ship & take off for Never Land!

He has great taste. That's my favorite Disney movie too!

I had been aiming at the top of the volcano & scoring some major points. With the ride stopped, I took this opportunity to max out my score! Oh yeah, that's right, I maxed out my score.

Does it really count if you do it with the ride stopped????

Ah, who am I kidding, I'd take a maxed out score any way I can get it. I'm going to have to study those videos myself.

 

[amandaw]

Hi there, saw your link as you were posting in other trip reports. We're getting ready to take our first trip with our young son this fall, so I'm very interested in reading up on other trips with young children to get tips we can learn from. On top of that, we're going to stay at WL (although not club level) so your TR is getting me kind of excited for our trip. Your pictures look awesome and I'm enjoying the TR.

Welcome! I won't lie - doing WDW (or any vacation, really) is quite different when you add a little one to the mix. There is a lot of good: it helps renew the magic of Disney, seeing it through their eyes. But, if possible, it's even more tiring. I learned a lot from our 1st trip with Reid in December. And I learned because I made a lot of mistakes. Two tips for you right now: 1. If you are taking a stroller, know how to fold it up quickly for buses, etc. But, if it takes you a little bit, don't worry about it! People will just get over it. I felt so rushed to fold up & get on the buses on our December trip, that I ended up leaving my P&S camera on the ground at the bus stop at Magic Kingdom one night. Luckily, a good samaritan found it & turned it in. But from then on, I made sure I didn't rush myself to appease others. 2. I felt that it helped with Reid that every morning before we left for the parks, I reviewed the rules with him (Hold a hand, no running away, ride in your stroller when I tell you to & go to the potty when I tell you to). We still had our challenging moments, but it really helps to review those rules. And Reid does know that Mommy will make him leave the park if he runs away. He learned that at Mickey's Backyard BBQ in December.

He has great taste. That's my favorite Disney movie too!

You know, as a child, I never liked that movie. But, now that I watch it with him & see it through his eyes, I love it! Him & I constantly sing "We're following the leader...."

Does it really count if you do it with the ride stopped????

Ah, who am I kidding, I'd take a maxed out score any way I can get it. I'm going to have to study those videos myself.

I know, I know! Normally, I would say "No, that doesn't count!" But, since it was me & I got to flabbergast my DH, "Of course, it counts!"

 

[amandaw]

Tip of the Day: Bring a change of clothes for your child with you into the park. Make sure to pack their change of clothes in a gallon-size ziplock bag. This way, you have a bag to put the dirty clothes into.

Okay, on to our next update! Now, I have lots of pics coming your way, so it may take 2 or 3 posts for me to get through this whole day. Alright, let's get started.....

We woke up at 6:10 am and got ready for the day. Once again, we had a light breakfast up in Club Level. We were heading towards the buses by 8:20 am. We were the second ones to the bus stop for Animal Kingdom, but we very quickly gained lots of company. Several buses came by for Hollywood Studios. Then, after about 15 minutes, we were on our way! We did do one stop before the park (I think it was for one of the water parks). After that, we were at our destination....



We made our way through the gates in no time at all. Now, I had not planned for us to be in this park long at all. I know I may catch some flames, but here it goes: Ed & I don't really love this park. There are a few things we like, but it pretty much ends at that. So, I had a few things for us planned here and knew exactly where we needed to go first. Now, on the way to our #1 destination, I tried to take a few quick pictures. Okay, let's get walking.....





We made it to our destination where there was already a little bit of wait. But, no problem for Reid, he just sat back & chillaxed...



After about a 25 minute wait, we were on our way. And just where were we going?



That's right! We were going on a safari. They had lots of animals out that morning. Although, the lion was sleeping. Go figure! Well, here's some of the other animals who bothered to get up for us that morning:







Reid was so excited when he saw this baby elephant. He said, "Look Mommy! It's Dumbo!"





After our safari, it was on to our second destination:



The first thing we noticed was a small group looking for a good campsite.



I don't know about you, but I never thought of Daisy as the "outdoorsy" type. We continued past the group on to find some other characters. And boy, did we find some!



We didn't have to wait very long for Chip 'n Dale. I didn't get a picture of it, but while Dale was signing Reid's book, Chip kept grabbing Reid's cheeks & poking them. It was too cute! From there, we went to Donald. There was absolute NO ONE in line for him. Poor Donald! He signed Reid's book & then decided to have a little fun with him by playing "keep away" with his pen:



After we left poor, lonely Donald it was time to go get in line for the Festival of the Lion King. Now, I'm still pretty new to NOT shooting on "Auto" on my camera. I don't know what I did to my settings during the show, but my pics didn't come out great. They'll be decent enough to put in Reid's scrapbook, but I'm not confident enough to post them here. Instead, I will give you a picture of Reid waiting to go into the show.



This was our first time watching this show. I have to say, it was really good! Even Ed liked it & he normally could care less about those type of things. Reid really enjoyed all of the music from the Lion King & the acrobatic monkeys. There were a couple of parts that got a little loud & dark that made him unsure. But, he never got upset.

After the show, there was 1 more character that Reid insisted on visiting:



We walked away from Goofy & began to hear loud rumbles. Oh no! Was rain on our way? Oh no, it was just our tummies! It was time to get some vittles. And anytime we are in Animal Kingdom, there is only one place we eat:



For anyone who has not eaten here (if such a person exists), this place is so good!!! Ed had the ribs & chocolate mousse. He said all were delicious. I had the chicken & key lime mousse. The chicken was wonderful. The only bad point: the key lime mousse. That, I hated. The chocolate was better.

With our bellies full of barbecue, it was time to head out. So, we began making our way to the bus stop, stopping for one last photo op.



We didn't have to wait long for a bus to take us to.........

 

[afwdwfan]

Welcome! I won't lie - doing WDW (or any vacation, really) is quite different when you add a little one to the mix. There is a lot of good: it helps renew the magic of Disney, seeing it through their eyes. But, if possible, it's even more tiring. I learned a lot from our 1st trip with Reid in December. And I learned because I made a lot of mistakes. Two tips for you right now: 1. If you are taking a stroller, know how to fold it up quickly for buses, etc. But, if it takes you a little bit, don't worry about it! People will just get over it. I felt so rushed to fold up & get on the buses on our December trip, that I ended up leaving my P&S camera on the ground at the bus stop at Magic Kingdom one night. Luckily, a good samaritan found it & turned it in. But from then on, I made sure I didn't rush myself to appease others. 2. I felt that it helped with Reid that every morning before we left for the parks, I reviewed the rules with him (Hold a hand, no running away, ride in your stroller when I tell you to & go to the potty when I tell you to). We still had our challenging moments, but it really helps to review those rules. And Reid does know that Mommy will make him leave the park if he runs away. He learned that at Mickey's Backyard BBQ in December.

Good advice, thanks! We will be taking a stroller. The stroller and I have had some epic battles in the past, but I think I'm starting to break its spirit. Our son will be almost 2 when we go. Quite a bit younger than Reid, but hopefully he can get something out of it. He loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV and just smiles and waves at Mickey and the other characters when they come on at the beginning of the show, so I think he's starting to "get" the magic. I won't lie, the trip is as much for me as it is him anyway... I need me some Disney.

I know I may catch some flames, but here it goes: Ed & I don't really love this park. There are a few things we like, but it pretty much ends at that.

No flames here... I agree. We never spend much time there, but I think we'll take more time with our son. I think he'd love watching the animals, but DW and I really never want to spend much time doing that.

For anyone who has not eaten here (if such a person exists), this place is so good!!! Ed had the ribs & chocolate mousse.

I've never been there... in fact I've never stayed in AK long enough to be in the park for lunch. I'm definitely going to make it a point to try it this time though.

I enjoyed the update, looking forward to the next one!

 

[amandaw]

Good advice, thanks! We will be taking a stroller. The stroller and I have had some epic battles in the past, but I think I'm starting to break its spirit. Our son will be almost 2 when we go. Quite a bit younger than Reid, but hopefully he can get something out of it. He loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on TV and just smiles and waves at Mickey and the other characters when they come on at the beginning of the show, so I think he's starting to "get" the magic. I won't lie, the trip is as much for me as it is him anyway... I need me some Disney.

I hope you are able to conquer your stroller prior to your trip. But if not, don't feel bad, my husband still can't fold up ours even though it is extremely simple. Your son will most definitely get something out of it. And you'll have wonderful memories to reflect upon in the years to come!

No flames here... I agree. We never spend much time there, but I think we'll take more time with our son. I think he'd love watching the animals, but DW and I really never want to spend much time doing that.

There are so many other themes Disney could've gone with when building this park. I just don't understand the whole glorified zoo decision. And I especially don't like the section of carnival games, seems cheap. The only things I really like are the safari & EE. And FOTLK, now that we took time to see it.

I've never been there... in fact I've never stayed in AK long enough to be in the park for lunch. I'm definitely going to make it a point to try it this time though.

I enjoyed the update, looking forward to the next one!

I've heard there are a few other good counter service places to eat in AK, but we'll never know. It's the only reason we stay in the park up to lunch time.

Thanks! I'm going to try to work on the second half of day 4 at some point today.....

 

[amandaw]

So, on last night's episode, we had just left Animal Kingdom. We hopped on a bus and made our way to......





Evidently, the Disney bus is a very relaxing form of transportation, because by the time we arrived at DHS, someone had fallen asleep. Wonder who that could be!?!



We had arrived at DHS around 1:30 pm. With Reid asleep, Ed & I decided to walk towards Toy Story Mania in hopes that it was our lucky day and they had FP's left. Feel free to laugh at/with me. We made it back there at about 1:45 pm & to our dismay no FP's were available. At this point of the day, the stand-by wait was 60 minutes. Now, I don't know if it was the heat or our level of tiredness but we were feeling quite defeated at this point. I was feeling down because we didn't get to do TSM when we had come in December & I was really wanting to ride this since none of us had ever done it before. We found a nice little shady spot & had a quick strategical meeting. I gave two options: 1. We stay and do what we can. Come back in the morning to do TSM & then head to MK or 2. Go back to WL to do a little bit of swimming & then come back in the morning, etc. I was really hoping Ed would choose option 2. I don't know why, I normally don't get this way in the parks. He ended up choosing option 1. Later that night, he would tell me that he wanted option 2 but he thought I wanted option 1.

Decision made, we set out on our way. Since Reid was still living the life, asleep in his fan-cooled stroller, I thought it would be a good time for us to do some of the things that would only be for Ed & I. We decided to head towards Sunset Boulevard.





Once we got down there, I insisted that Ed ride his favorite ride first. This is his all-time favorite thing about ALL of Disney World:



We got to the ride & the stand-by wait was posted as 30 minutes. He bravely made his way in to the spooky, old hotel. I took this opportunity to walk around and get some photos.















Okay, I hope you enjoyed the photo session. I was tired of walking around, so I made my way back to ToT. I went through the gift shop & went to the benches near where people get off the ride. Oh, sweet glorious air conditioning! I was lucky enough to find an available seat. I didn't have to long until I saw Ed coming my way. It ended up taking him exactly 30 minutes for the ride. We stopped in the oh-so-conveniently-placed gift shop for Ed to get a T-shirt. As we were leaving ToT, we noticed the wait for the stand-by line was now 90 minutes! I have no idea what happened in 30 minutes to make the wait time triple. But, I was glad Ed had gone ahead & done it!

From there, Ed urged me to go to my favorite ride:



When we got there the wait time for the stand-by line was 60 minutes. I didn't want to wait that long & I didn't want to go to the single rider line & gamble on how long it would take me. So, we decided to get FP's with all 3 of our tickets. At this point, I was in some serious need of refreshment. We headed down to the candy store at the beginning of Sunset Boulevard (the one that connects to the Villains store). I got a Pina Colada slushy & Ed got a Cherry slushy. OMG! These were soooooo good. We exited the store & could see the Pixar Pals parade. We stood in the shade right outside the store & watched the last few floats roll by. From what I saw, this parade had some really cute floats. Maybe one day I'll get to watch a whole parade. Oh well!

Once the parade was over, we began making our way to Animation Courtyard. We found a shady spot to sit and finished up our slushies. Finally, around 3:30 pm, Reid decided to wake up. It was perfect timing since there was a Disney Junior Live show starting at 4:10. Besides TSM, this was the one thing I really wanted to do at DHS for him. We made our way across the courtyard to go ahead & get in line.



Quick review of the show & then I'll give y'all a sneak peek through some pictures. It's about 25 minutes long. It has segments that pertain to these 4 Disney Junior shows: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins & Jake and the Neverland Pirates. This show is so cute! You sit on the floor, so the little ones can dance at certain parts. Reid absolutely loved this show. He was enthralled the entire time. And for something to keep his undivided attention for a whole 25 minutes says A LOT about it! I know he's only 3 but I really do worry/wonder if he's going to be diagnosed with ADD or ADHD in a few years. But, I digress....here are some show pictures:













For anyone with a child who enjoys any of these shows/characters, it really is a must-do for them.

Once we were out of the show, we gathered around Reid's stroller for a meeting of the minds. Now, we knew what we wanted to do next. But, we had to have a meeting to decide on whether or not it was wise to do it.

UP NEXT: What will we do next? Will we do what we want to do? And, I know that forecast was calling for scattered showers of Pixie Dust. Will they come our way?

 

[KatMark]

Amanada, I missed a few updates....please forgive me (we were out of town over the weekend for "our baby's" college graduation.

In any event, AWESOME updates. I agree with you...as long as the food and service are good, to me the restaurant is worth a TS credit and the Plaza is a must do for us every trip (I've had some of our best meals there while we've had really bad ones at Whispering Canyon or Hollywood & Vine where I wouldn't waste a TS).

I'm with your hubby....TOT is probably my all-around favorite ride at DW. My DH likes Rock & Roll like you do.

 

[WDWCPALUM03]

I just found this thread and Im hooked, Im a Disney Fanatic and we will be taking my daughter on her first WDW trip in October, It will me a month before her 3rd Birthday so this is giving me ideas on my days. I cant wait to see how the rest of your trip went!