Well l wasn't expecting that! A Sept 2011 trip report:Day 6 completed.

[TanzUnited99]

I love that you started your trip with a water park and have to agree I hate early mornings as well!

Love that your sister and her family got chosen to open the park

 

[Antigua08]

Typhoon Lagoon is a great way to start a trip! I agree with you, when you have a busy travel day to start, it's nice to start the trip on a relaxing note.

We're all very glad we decided on that, our last fall day was also at a waterpark which was a good way to unwind before the long trip home. Worked so well we've decided all future trips will be planned this way too

I love that you started your trip with a water park and have to agree I hate early mornings as well!

Love that your sister and her family got chosen to open the park

Early morning are horrible aren't they, but made much better when you're on holiday. It was lovely that bil's family got to open the park. The cm didn't realize we were all together and said afterwards that we all should have gone, but we didn't mind. Was a nice thing for them to do

 

[Antigua08]

Well it's taken me a little longer than l hoped, but l've finally got all our photos together so will be ready with an update tomorrow. Posts from then on should be a little more frequent

 

[heaven2dc]

Loving your TR - what a great idea for a first day (Typhoon Lagoon) I wish I had purchased the water park option on our last trip but sadly money was VERY tight and would have loved to take my youngest 3 sons to TL to just relax for one day. (It was my youngest 2 sons' first visit and my other son hadn't been since 1997 so hope to stay longer next trip so we can have a down day or two.)

 

[Antigua08]

Loving your TR - what a great idea for a first day (Typhoon Lagoon) I wish I had purchased the water park option on our last trip but sadly money was VERY tight and would have loved to take my youngest 3 sons to TL to just relax for one day. (It was my youngest 2 sons' first visit and my other son hadn't been since 1997 so hope to stay longer next trip so we can have a down day or two.)

Thank you Our next trip will be pretty different as we plan to stay on site for the 1st time and just spend it at the Disney parks and not the others like SW, BG etc. But we do love the water parks so will still be fitting in days for both of them. Definitely feel they're a good way to relax.

 

[Antigua08]

Day 2, part 2

So we left up finishing lunch, and the 3 families splitting for the afternoon (although we did manage to literally bump into one another at the wave pool!) But l’ll start with some more pictures from the day, these taken with a disposable underwater camera so not the best quality but do the job.

I also mentioned in the last part about a visit to the first aid room for someone, who would this be? Surely one of the kids you’d think? Maybe the over excited toddler? Well no, embarrassingly it was me! Luckily though this is one of those moments we look back at and laugh on.

Well for those of you aware of TL, l’m sure you know all about the lovely rough surface of the wave pool! Now l know it’s probably like that for a good reason like to stop people slipping over, but it doesn’t work! I was stood holding onto dd with the water just up to her knees, with dn9 a little way in front of us deeper into the water (she is an excellent little swimmer, much stronger than myself). Dd absolutely loved me jumping her over the waves, and as we were in the shallow bit could still very comfortably stand up with the force of the waves. What l didn’t account for however was a wall of people coming towards us! Well the wall of people were heading straight at dn9, who couldn’t do anything about it. We just looked at each other and laughed, knowing we were about to collide. I scooped dd up so that she wouldn’t get hit, just as dn came flying into us. Now you’d think a grown woman could remain standing through this but nope, straight under the water and onto my back l went! I just could not for the life of me get back up, all l could do was hold dd up above the water so she was ok, and wait for the waves to calm down. I finally managed to sit up to hear dd laughing hysterically, apparently Mummy falling over if very funny! We all carried on laughing a little, until l stood up and the stinging and gasping from dn and people close by started. It seems l’d managed to scratch up my back and elbow pretty bad. At this point dh comes over, who very sweetly was really annoyed with himself for not being there, takes dd to his Mum so he could take me to the first aid room. Just have to say the lady in there was lovely, and a few large plasters later l was back out in the sun but my fun in the water had ended for the day. Luckily we only had maybe an hour left till we planned to leave the park, so we just sat on the loungers and rested until it was time to get ready to go.

Now when l first started looking into booking our ADR’s l discussed it with the family and we all agreed it was a good idea. There are a lot of very indecisive people in the family, so this would cut out all the shall we shan’t we, and hopefully any potential arguments. Well after l’d booked just 5 ADRs, some of the family decided they didn’t want anymore booked meals as they didn’t want to have to stop what they were doing to eat. So for our 2week stay we would have just 5 ts Disney meals, so l just hoped l’d booked some good ones! And hoped this wouldn’t cause a problem for the rest of the holiday!

Knowing that some people had changed their minds about the ADRs, made me a little nervous that they perhaps wouldn’t be worried about getting to them on time. Lucking though for our first booking, we got there just in time and were seating about 5mins after, at Ohanas!

My dhs family are all big meat eaters, so l felt Ohanas would be perfect for them. As l picked the restaurant though l was very worried that they wouldn’t like it, and as it was our first dinner really wanted it to be a good one.

Dh trying a bit of my 1st cocktail of the holiday

Please excuse dds mouth full of food!

Well it seems l had no reason to worry, everyone loved it including the kids. Our waitress said she could bring out something different for dd if she didn’t like it being so young, but she loved it too. Her favourites being the noodles and broccoli, and the pot stickers.

Now l’m not the biggest pudding eater, but can now completely understand why people rave about the bread pudding. It’s amazing! Unfortunately dd needed a nappy change just before this was brought out, and the time we returned most of it had been devoured! We both were saved some though, but meant l didn’t get to take a photo.

Great meal to end a great first day in the parks. We all went home happy and full up! Early to bed for everyone as we had a busy day ahead tomorrow.


Up next: Day 3, Magic Kingdom!

 

[WDWRids]

Ohana's looks GREAT! We will have to try that in March. Other than the pudding, what did you enjoy?

 

[Antigua08]

Ohana's looks GREAT! We will have to try that in March. Other than the pudding, what did you enjoy?

It's definitely worth a visit. That was the one restaurant that we all said we would've gone back to on the trip if we had time, and could get a booking.
For me, the starters of the wings and pot stickers were just lovely. Could have happily just eaten that all night. All of the meats were good, cooked well and very tasty. I'm not normally that fussed about steak (unlike the rest of the family who love it and order it every time we go out!) but the steak was my favourite meat, really tasty and tender. Followed by the shrimp which were great, all of the meats very good though.

Should also add the service was was really good, didn't feel rushed at all which is something we did notice in a few of the other restaurants we tried. Would highly recommend Ohana's

 

[Antigua08]

Day3: Magic Kingdom!

Ok so this was the day l was really looking forward to, as it would be the first time my little girl would get to see and meet the characters! I could not wait to see what her reaction would be, and just hoped it would be a positive one!

We had hoped to make it for rope drop, but soon realised that was something that we just wouldn't manage again throughout the holiday. Soon enough though we were all loaded up and off on the short drive to the Magic Kingdom. We got to the already very busy car park just after park opening, and headed straight for the ferry. Figured we'd take the scenic route there and the monorail back.

Now when planning this trip along there was some disagreement on how to tour the park. Some people wanted to just work clockwise around the parks and were happy that they'd manage to fit everything in. They also wanted to stay in one large group. Dh and I didn't really agree with this, as we had no idea how dd was going to cope with the heat, crowds, and pace of the day etc. Being just 2 we still had to think about nap time and things for her. Our plan was to just try to see as much as possible but to go at her pace, as we didn't want a worn out and grumpy toddler! We didn't expect at all to fit everything in, and were not worried about missing things. Because of this though we had looked into what we wanted to do before hand, and by reading other tr's had an idea of how best to achieve this. So for today the plan was to head to Fantasyland first, and then just work our way around the other lands after that.

So off we headed, stopping for some photopass pics along the way. We had pre ordered the disc before our trip so definitely wanted to make the most of it. We ended up with just under 500 photo's, and that was only with a few additional edits.

First ride for us was to be Dumbo, and were hoping dd would like it a little more than a very similar ride she went on before our trip! We took her to a local theme park in the UK to see what she thought of the rides, and to say she didn't like it would be a bit of an understatement! She cried so much they actually stopped the ride for us! The lady controlling the ride was very nice though and let everyone else stay on as it was a quiet day. Just had to include this pic of dd. Look at that happy face!

Am very pleased to say dd did fine, she didn't love ti but wasn't scared which was the main thing. Next up was Mickeys PhilharMagic which was a hit with everyone although did make dd jump a little at first! On to Snow White and then Winnie the Pooh. Now the wait time for this was said about 30mins which was fine but it turned into more like an hour. The queue did keep slowly moving so don't think there was a problem with the ride, just a wait time error. The queue for this though is great and really kept all three of the kids happy. Once we left the ride and had a quick browse around the shop, we realised it was already lunchtime! Could not believe the morning had gone already and we were still in our first land! We headed to the nearest place to eat which was Pinnochios Village Haus, where we worked out what to do next while we rested for lunch.

After lunch we realised we needed to get cracking and couldn't fit in the rest of the rides in Fantasyland, so agreed IASW would be the last one. Again everyone enjoyed this ride... apart from dh who really dislikes it! He just doesn't like singing, it's the grumpiness in him!

He loves it really!

We headed over towards Liberty Square, as Haunted Mansion was the next ride to do. Again from reading tr's l know lots of little ones go on this without a problem but was still a little unsure as to whether dd should go on it. She however decided for me as she wasn't going to leave her little cousins side, and ran off into the queue with him! This again was about a 30min wait, which l realised meant we would miss the parade which l was a little sad about. I decided though to stick with everyone else and go for the ride. We soon boarded our little buggy with dd cuddling tight into me. I thought this was due to her being a little unsure, but turns out it was because she had fallen asleep! This ride was another big hit with everyone, l especially liked the head swapping at the end!

We came out just as the parade was going past. It was far to busy to see it, although l did get a few pics by just holding my arm with the camera in the air and hoping for the best! The whole area was blocked solid so we couldn't go anywhere until the crowds started to move. For the first time we were all starting to feel the heat too, and have to say the fan water bottle we brought earlier in the day came in really handy throughout the 2wks!

The idea now was to head to Splash Mountain to cool off when the crowd moved. Dd was sound asleep in her buggy so this would be a good opportunity to hit the bigger rides. Seems however everyone else had the same idea! When we eventually got around to the ride, which felt like it took forever, we ended up getting fast passes for the first time as the wait time was over 60mins. Time was definitely getting away from us so we headed off to Adventureland to try and ride POTC before it was time to go back to Splash Mountain. We had an ADR booked for 5:45 which l was determined to keep.


Up next: Dd first character meet, Would we do anymore rides?, and would we make our ADR?

 

[heaven2dc]

So glad that your daughter loved Dumbo (and the other rides)! How cute that she fell asleep during HM - at least she didn't get scared! Loved the pic of her with her older cousin - pure adoration

 

[WDWRids]

Great morning at MK!!! Glad your DD did okay on the rides. So hard to tell at that age. Thanks for the info on O'hanas. I'll see if I can book it now for our March trip!

 

[Antigua08]

So glad that your daughter loved Dumbo (and the other rides)! How cute that she fell asleep during HM - at least she didn't get scared! Loved the pic of her with her older cousin - pure adoration

I know it's so lovely how close they are, Lily really was like Harrys little shadow for the 2wks!

 

[Antigua08]

Great morning at MK!!! Glad your DD did okay on the rides. So hard to tell at that age. Thanks for the info on O'hanas. I'll see if I can book it now for our March trip!

No problem, hope you enjoy it as much as we all did

 

[Antigua08]

Day 3: Magic Kingdom continued

So we left off heading towards Adventureland, hoping to ride POTC especially for dn. There were certain things we were all looking forward to, and this ride was high on dn's list. We definitely made the right decision this time as when we got there it only had a 10min wait! Just next to the ride l spotted a character with the smallest of queues, and although l was desperate for dd to meet them dh convinced me to go on the ride first. I just hoped the queue would still be quiet once we came out!

Well dn was not left disappointed by this ride, he absolutely loved it and wanted to go straight back on it again. He soon got distracted by the gift shop though where he picked up his first purchase of the holiday, a rather great pirates hat!

I decided it was time for dd to finally meet her first character, so of into the queue we went. I say queue, there wasn't much of one at all which was lucky for dh's sake! So who would the first character be?

........Goofy!

We had no idea how dd would be but didn't have to worry at all! As soon as dd spotted him her little face lit up, l was so relieved! When her time came l walked her over thinking she might be wary but she wasn't in the slightest. Straight up she went to give him her book to sign, then it was time for cuddles. Could not have hoped for a better reaction. It was niece and nephews turn next, but Goofy had to pop off first for a quick snack off gravy and biscuits! Love how they would tell you things like that, only at Disney! In no time at all he was back and niece and nephew were just as thrilled to meet them which was lovely to see. Being that bit older didn't think they'd be quite as interested, especially dn9 but they were which was great.

Dd very pleased with herself after her first meet!

With our successful first character meet done, it was fastpass time so back off to Splash Mountain we went. Fil had no intention of riding this, so he happily stayed with dd so the rest of us could ride together. Now we had read up on where best to sit if you wanted to get wet, and dh had planned to try and trick his Mum and brother into those seats! We completely forgot which seats those were which disappointed dh a little, so instead he tried to scare his mum into believing the ride went upside down! It is funny what she'll believe. I'm not the biggest fan of log flumes but do enjoy this as l don't find the drop too bad. Dn however was absolutely terrified and sobbed for quite sometime, even once he was off the ride. We all told him how brave he was to ride it which still didn't calm him but it's amazing what an ice cream can do!

Love mil's face in this pic!

After niece and nephew had their ice creams (dd had a lolly earlier) it was not too long to go till our ADR, so we decided we'd take a leisurely stroll back towards the restaurant. Dinner tonight would be at the Crystal Palace!

Once at the restaurant we had a little wait before our buzzer went off, so we sat outside enjoying the surroundings. Soon seated our waitress explained how things worked with the food and the characters, we knew then that we'd have a little wait before they came around to us so we all grabbed some food first. I think this worked out really well as l think if the characters came to us straight away all of the kids would have been too distracted to eat. Dd had made a good dent into her food when she spotted her first character.

She was beyond excited to meet all of the characters, with Piglet becoming her new favourite. She had a cuddly Piglet at home before this trip which she never really paid much attention too, but since we've come home it has to come to bed with her every night! Again her reaction was just wonderful, it actually made both myself and mil well up a little!

Continued in next post

 

[Antigua08]

Continued from last post

We did meet Eeyore too but don't seem to have any good pictures of him.

So pleased we ate here, both food and character interaction were great. We saw most of them twice and was quite surprised by how much time they spent with.

By the time we left the restaurant we maybe had an hour to go until the parade and fireworks were due to start. I was determined not to miss another parade, and dh and l wanted to have a look around the shops. We decided to split up with mil and fil wanting to stay with us, and bil and his family wanting to see the rest of the park. They headed off to Tomorrowland while we headed for Main Street. Before splitting we arranged when and where to meet up, but had a feeling this wouldn't quite work out!

We made our way through the shops, picking up an Oso toy for dd along the way. We couldn't believe how cheap the prices of things were compared to back home! We eyed up several things straight away that we planned to get while we were out there as Christmas presents for dd. A talking Buzz for example was $25 compared to about £40 back home, which is about $65. Crazy!

Soon enough the electrical parade had started but mil and fil were still happy browsing. We just knew we'd lose them if we split so we stayed with them until they were ready and then made our way outside to get a spot for the fireworks. This again would be another first for dd, she had never seen fireworks before so we weren't sure how she'd react.

Yet again she did really well, happily watched the whole of the show on the castle (which l loved!) and wasn't upset at all by the fireworks.

Really like how this picture came out, was playing around with the settings on my camera!

Unfortunately l have no pictures of the castle show or the fireworks as the battery on my camera picked a great time to die! Was my second battery of the day too!

Once the fireworks were over we made our way out of the park with the flow of the crowd. We all wondered if we'd find the rest of the family, and if so how long we'd have to wait! We got to where we had our first photopass picture taken (the agreed waiting place) and waited, and waited a bit more, and a bit more after that! We were just starting to get a little worried when we spotted them heading towards us. Relieved is not the word! They had managed to do lots though including the people mover which turned out to be sil's favourite thing of the whole trip! Dn Harry also had a new favourite, the toy story ride. I had somehow forgotten about these rides and was pretty disappointed to have missed them. We still had lots of time left on the holiday though so just hoped we'd get the chance to come back again.

Again a very successful day and we were all very pleased with how all the kids coped, especially dd. With just a little nap in her buggy, she'd had a very busy and exciting day and we didn't have a single tear about anything from her. Was this how things would continue for the rest of the holiday, or just a lucky start?


Up next: Animal Kingdom

 

[WDWRids]

What a FANTASTIC day!!! The pic of your dn and his POTC hat is priceless!! So glad he enjoyed the ride he really wanted to do!!

Your dd is adorable. The pics with her and the characters are amazing!!! The expressions on her face just put a smile on my face. Gotta love the smile of a child!!

The pics you took were fabulous! The castle looks amazing in the day photo and the one at night. Very clear and crisp. What type of camera do you have? (looking to buy a new one before our next trip).

Looking forward to hear more!! Great TR!!

 

[Antigua08]

Aw thank you so much, lovely comments!

My camera is a Cannon Ixus 1000hs, just a digital point and shoot but it does take good pictures and has some really good features on it. The day shot of the castle was using a colour enhancement setting on it, really pleased with how it came it. I do love taking pictures and one day will invest in a DSLR to go with my Ixus. I got it just before the holiday to replace an older Ixus l had, think this was the latest one in the range.

Will have Day 4 up in the next couple of days.

And thanks again for reading and commenting, makes writing it worthwhile

 

[heaven2dc]

After seeing your darling daughter's face and reaction with the characters, I was reminded what Disney is all about! How precious I recall how my DGS first reacted to the characters back in 2008 when he was 14 mos old and it brings a tear to my eyes each time. I can't wait to introduce my DGD to Disney next year (she's 7 mos old now and I think next December would be a good time to take her).

You really had a fun-filled day!

 

[Antigua08]

After seeing your darling daughter's face and reaction with the characters, I was reminded what Disney is all about! How precious I recall how my DGS first reacted to the characters back in 2008 when he was 14 mos old and it brings a tear to my eyes each time. I can't wait to introduce my DGD to Disney next year (she's 7 mos old now and I think next December would be a good time to take her).

You really had a fun-filled day!

It is wonderful seeing their little faces, and we really couldn't have hoped for a better reaction from dd. We were thinking of waiting til she was a little older to go but so glad we didn't, it is really something we'll never forget

I think that'll be a perfect age for your dgd first trip, hope she enjoys it as much as our little one did

 

[Antigua08]

Day 4: Animal Kingdom

So after our long day yesterday we expected the kids to be a little tired this morning and not quite so eager to get up and go, but that was not the case! Dh and mine bedroom was at the rear of the villa and nearest to the pool so we were woken up early by the sounds of giggling and splashing! The sound of happy children is much nicer than an alarm clock going off! We waited for dd to wake and then went and joined everyone, bil and his kids were just getting out of the pool at this point so we all had breakfast then got ready for the day.

Soon enough we were all in the car and on our way, with AK only about 10mins away. Fil drove again, with me navigating which involved me constantly having to tell him “bit more to the left Pete!” in a slightly concerned voice! Back home in the UK our steering wheels are on the right so it is a little different to drive on the other side of the rd, and on the other side of the car. This seemed to be making fil drift way to far over to the right of our lane, making him get very near to other cars and curbs. I assumed a few more days and he'd maybe get used to it but no... he continued to terrify me for the whole 2wks! I even tried to get people to swap seats with me so they could experience the terror but no one would!

We did however arrive safely at the park, stopping for a few photo pass pics outside. As you can also see dd was not so keen on having her picture taken so early in the morning. Not her usual smiley face at all!

The plan today, well there wasn't really one! We had an ADR booked for 5:15 but as the park closed at 5:00 we knew we'd make than fine. We opted to just head to the right of the park to start with, and to just work our way around which everyone was happy with...yippee!

Heading straight towards to Tree of Life, we spotted our first character of the day. Dd had no idea who this character was but you wouldn't have guessed that by her reaction.

Before we came we had a look to see if any rides were due to be closed during our stay and unfortunately It's Tough to be a Bug was one of them, so was very surprised but happy to find this open. I remembered from our previous trip that things prod you in your seat on this one, so thought dd was best sitting on my lap. Again she wasn't scared at all although it is a little jumpy in places. Everyone really enjoyed it, good first attraction of the day.

Coming out we continued with the idea of heading to the right, so followed the signs towards Asia taking us up to the bigger rides of the park. First up, Kali River Rapids. This would be the first time we would need a child swap as everyone wanted to ride but dd was too little. Dh and l waited with her first, and grabbed a drink in the shade while everyone else rode. In no time at all they were back, and absolutely soaked! Why l didn't take a picture of them all l'll never know! Wasn't really sure if l wanted to get so wet that early in the day but on it l went anyway, with dn9 coming back on with us again. The whole walk to the ride she was still laughing from her previous go on it! Child swap worked really well for her on the trip, being a little dare devil she loved getting to go on most things again with dh and l.

We boarded our raft with another family of 3, but the little boy from that family absolutely hated it and looked terrified throughout the ride. Felt so sorry for him because when we all got off, his parents took him straight back in the line to get back on! Dh chuckled and said that's what he'd do with dd when she's older if she got scared! Good job l knew l was joking. We both got a little wet but not too bad, unlike dn who was now drenched but loving it! A fast ride was in order to help dry her off!

Now when bil and sil came to Disney many, many years ago, bil did not like this park at all! He felt there wasn't much to do, and even thought we should miss it out this time. Dh and l were hoping he would change his opinion this time. And as Expedition Everest wasn't even built back then, though that may be the thing to do it! Most of the family looked at this and said no straight away, so it was just dh, myself, dn9, bil and mil that would be riding. Have to say l was so impressed with mil for riding this, if a little concerned as l thought it was highly unlikely she'd enjoy it. Before the holiday she said she'd try at least one coaster, and somehow dh convinced her this would be the right one to do. Would she like it?

Well we all boarded with mil looking a little paler than before, she sat in front of us next to dn. As we started to go up the mountain all we could hear in front was her saying “Oh dear, oh no” over and over again, gradually getting louder the higher we got! Once the ride really got going that was replaced with laughter coming from dh and dn, mil had gone quite silent. Wasn't till the ride stopped we realised quite how much she hated it. She actually couldn't get out of her seat for a few moments she was so shaken up by it, and vowed never to go on another ride again! When fil asked her how it was, she said she couldn't talk about it! Not sure if she can even to this day!

We decided to head out of Asia after this and head to Dinoland where we would grab some lunch. Really was amazing how quickly the time goes! As we walked by Finding Nemo we spotted it was about to start so we decided to catch the show first. We were seated and waited, with dd starting to get a little fidgety. Really thought she would like this but she just wasn't going to sit through it, think the waiting got to much for her. Dh and l both took her outside and joined fil who had decided to people watch rather than sit through a musical! Dd however had more fun with her fan bottle! I mentioned this earlier but it really did keep her amused!

By the time the show had finished and we were all together again, it was time for lunch. We ate at Restaurantosaurus which was your typical burger/chicken strip counter service place. This was to be a typical Disney lunch for us while we were at Disney, but none of us ever had any complaints with the food. Unlike at some of the other parks!


Up next: Rainforest Cafe Adr, and what has happened to the weather?