Will it hurt when you staple the mouse ears to my head? 1st Family Trip *UPDATE 9/25!

[Sarilas]

How great would it to have a child make DeVine bust out in laughter? That's a great memory!

 

[Porphyro]

Most of us slept until the alarm went off at 7:00. We wanted to get an early start because we had to drive to the TTC and catch a monorail into the Magic Kingdom. No lunch to pack today, because we had an ADR at the Crystal Palace, so we jammed the cooler full of juice and water, as today was supposed to be hotter than the last two (it got up to 95 in the afternoon). We set off but got a little confused trying to find the TTC, and ended up driving around the entire lagoon (which is only about a 4 minute drive). So we got to see the entire Magic Kingdom very early on! We still couldn’t figure out the quickest way to the TTC lot, so we cheated, drove to the Contemporary and took the monorail from there. It’s only one more stop and much less of a walk from the lot to the building.
Connor immediately LOVED the monorail as much as Caden had. He kept saying “choo-choo” and just stared out the window and grinned.
Despite the delay, we had the earliest arrival time we’d logged yet – it was only 8:15 as we disembarked and headed for the turnstiles. That left a lot of time to kill, you can only apply sunscreen for so long!
Luckily, the welcome show is a bit more elaborate at MK and requires an early start. The train full of characters pulled up around 8:45 or 8:50. It’s hard to not wipe away a few tears despite the corniness of it all – in the midst of “zippity doo dah” when Mickey comes bounding off that train and you see your child just shriek with joy – you realize THIS is why you planned this entire trip.
Caden happily participated in the countdown and then we took off running down Main Street towards the castle. Our goal on MK Trip #1 was to utterly destroy Fantasyland and all its inhabitants (LOL). Out of nowhere Alice in Wonderland appeared in front of us and took the hands of two young sisters as they walked down Main Street – now that was a magical moment for them!
Main Street is so incredibly beautiful, with the morning sun streaming in on the castle. There are no facades here, just intricately carved buildings and smiling cast members waving all the way down the street. It’s impossible NOT to smile on this early morning walk, go ahead and try!

We cut through the castle (later, during shows it’s closed and you have to go around) and got fairly close to the rope to Fantasyland. We’d forgotten to grab a map so Shawn snagged one right as the rope came down and we headed for our first conquest – Dumbo. Yes, it’s a dinky round-and-round ride, but it’s also one of the only slow-loaders in Fantasyland. If you don’t do it first, you’ll wait 90 minutes for a 2 minute spin because it has such a low capacity. Even at rope drop, we had to wait through 3 rotations to get on, making it a 15 minute wait first thing in the morning. And the line was HUGE by the time we got off. But you HAVE to ride Dumbo, it’s like a rule.

From there we headed to the Winnie the Pooh ride and parked the stroller. There was about a 10 minute wait. We were on by 9:30. This one is kind of a dud – guess it used to be Mr. Toad’s wild ride and now you just kind of bump and spin through a dream of Winnie the Pooh’s and it’s dark and at times hard to focus on much that is going on around you. But it’s air conditioned and the kids like it, even Connor, who as we said, had no idea what was going on. After that one, we fell victim to the first “Disney stroller move” (a Cast Member moves your stroller while you’re on a ride) but it only held us up a minute or two, we’d been expecting one, thanks to the Unofficial Guide!
Back over to the other side of the carousel, to Peter Pan. This one already had a 20 minute wait posted, and was pretty accurate. It has one of those deceptive lines, where you think you’re close to the entrance – but then you round the bend into a whole different building! But the lines do move pretty constantly and they’re in the shade. Across the way we could see Small World with a 5 minute wait posted, and that never changed, so we were reassured that we’d be able to hop onto that right away. By 9:50 we were on Peter Pan. Caden’s not too familiar with that story, so I’m not sure even HE knew what was going on at this point, but again – air conditioning!
There was actually NO wait for Small World, we pretty much hopped right on and THIS one the kids loved. It’s a nice long boat ride with a wonderfully catchy song and lots of dancing puppets. What’s not for kids to love? There’s so much to see but it’s not dizzying and you have a long time to see so much of it, so it’s not overwhelming. Connor just grinned and pointed, and Caden really enjoyed it too.
So not too bad – in our first hour we’d knocked out four major Fantasyland rides – only two to go! We stopped by Cinderella’s carousel next, mainly because there was no wait and Connor loves carousels. Caden was itching to ride something a little more exciting, but we told him it’s only fair that Connor gets to do some of his favorites too.
We saw Ariel’s Grotto on our way over to Mickey's Toon Town Fair – already at 10:15 a 50 minute wait to see Ariel – or her cleavage, depending on your age and gender. No mermaid gazing for us today. We have a Barnstormer to ride!
Tune Town was already open (supposed to open at 10, we found it often does a bit earlier) with a 10 minute wait for the Barnstormer. Most families were in line to meet characters, but that was on our agenda for our next visit, so we could focus on rides today. Shawn and Caden rode the little roller coaster while Connor had a snack break, and then we headed for the train station. Rental strollers must stay at the station – of course we could take ours, but you have to fold it up and carry it which is a bit of a pain, we had expected a “ramp” like the one they let us use at Kings Island. Caden was also really upset that he couldn’t sit on the end to look out the open railing, but alas – all kids in the middle.
The train took us out of Toon Town to the Main Street station, and then to Adventureland. We had time to fit in one more ride before our 11:50 reservations – Caden’s first “adult” roller coaster, Big Thunder Mountain. It was about 11:20 and the line was 30 minutes long, but the FP return time was well into the afternoon. No choice but to wait! Shawn and Connor shared a mouse-ears ice cream while Becky and Caden waited. He amused himself by fanning random strangers with his water bottle, which all of them welcomed.
He did a fantastic job on the coaster, no chickening out for him! He loved it and did a lot of yelling and laughing. We got off and had to run to Crystal Palace so as not to lose our reserved time. We got there right around 11:45 and checked in. There was a show going on at the castle that Caden could see from a distance while we waited, and he was pretty intrigued by that. We got in around 11:55 but then our true wait began. This was one of the more unfortunate things about our visit. We had told the reservationist that Caden had a severe peanut allergy, but this did not get passed on to the server, and hence to the chef. Disney’s policy is that the chef must speak to the family individually before eating can commence if someone has a food allergy. We’d have been in his “rotation” if this information would have been retained, but as it was we were tacked onto the end of his list, and we waited for about an hour before being given permission to go to the buffet. Luckily the character greeting took up the first half of this time, but after that it became a bit difficult. The waiter suggested that Shawn and Becky go ahead and eat, but as any parent knows (except maybe Kate Gosselin) that’s downright unfair when you have a tired, hungry kid across the table from you, if not just mean. It wasn’t any one person’s fault what happened, and lots of servers came by to assure us the chef was on his way, but it was very inconvenient over all.
As for the characters, they were great. Caden of course wanted to “talk” to all of them, and the conversation was somewhat one-sided but several of them tried to participate in a meaningful way. When asked which of the Mickey confettis on our table was his favorite color, Pooh very carefully picked out a gold one to show Caden. And when Caden cried, “Look who’s on my shirt!” to Tigger, Tigger looked, pointed to himself and started clapping and bouncing. They don’t make any family feel like they’re being brushed off or that they’re too rushed, and it really is magical for the kids (unless they’re under the age of 2 – Connor was OK with the characters when they were at the next table, or even hugging his brother – but any time they got within two feet of him he started moaning and straining to get out of his chair).

Once we finally did get to eat, around 1, we found the food to be REALLY incredible. They have a kids section with meatballs, green beans, and mac & cheese, but it’s nice to get your kids to try something other than the usual fare. There was a lot Caden was willing to try, we were pretty proud of him. There are a ton of different salads, including asian and Mediterranean ones, and there was a vegetable frittata, really good mashed potatoes, pastas, ratatouille (of course), and soups. We also loved the fire-roasted spoon bread. The desserts were plentiful and amazing as well (except the brownies which tasted dry and refrigerated). The best of those was probably the cheesecake bites. Yumm!! Caden tried a bite of Becky’s coconut flan, and ended up with his own piece.
After lunch, we found some photographers and got some iconic poses taken care of, because - well, you have to:

Look closely to see Tinkerbell in Caden's hands here. So cute!

Becky headed to the monorail to take Connor home to nap. It started to drizzle a little bit as she headed out, but the sun never went in, Florida is kind of wacky like that. Shawn and Caden stayed for Mickey’s Philharmagic. They absolutely loved it – Shawn rated it in his top 3 attractions in the whole place, and Caden was learning to love anything 3D. Once they were done, they took the ferry to Fort Wilderness and then the bus to our cabin, arriving around 3.
With the boys resting (one completely conked out and the other staring with a glazed look at Looney Tunes), Shawn finally allowed himself to be talked into a visit to Urgent Care. It took about 2 hours, but they did find fluid in his lungs and gave him a nebulizer treatment, antibiotics, and cough syrup with codeine to help him sleep.
While he was gone Becky and the boys feasted on Chicken Tetrazzini and garlic bread and prepared to go to the pool. We got there around 6 and the boys enjoyed some more time in the newly opened splash area:

Unfortunately there were a few claps of thunder so they closed up shop and we had to go home a bit earlier than planned. We went back to the cabin, bathed the boys, put Connor to bed, and then Caden and Becky took the bus back to the Meadow for the campfire, after checking that it would not be rained out (they move it indoors if they need to). We’d heard how much they charge for marshmallows & chocolate, so we brought our own s’mores ingredients, and got there in time for the 7:30 bonfire to make ourselves a tasty treat!

Just after the cowboy started the sing-along, the rain became a bit heavier, so we had to meet Chip & Dale in a shelter behind the site.

After we met the famous chipmunks, Caden started complaining of how tired he was, so we hopped on the bus, got home and tucked him in. At 9:45, Shawn went up to the beach to see the electric parade on the water, and then the Wishes fireworks show at MK. We had heard the booming every night and had been anxious to see it. They piped in music on the beach so people at FW could enjoy the show.
Tomorrow was our planned day of rest, and not a moment too soon!

 

[SarahSoftballchick]

Love the title

 

[Porphyro]

When I last left off, we had 3 days (mornings & early afternoons) at the park in a row completed, and have at least visited all 4 parks. It was definitely time to fully explore all the aspects of our chosen home for a week - Fort Wilderness campground.

The plan was to sleep in, but foiled again by the baby! Shawn made it almost all night in the bedroom with us but after a coughing fit at 5 am exiled himself to the living room. Right around 7 Connor stood up and started jabbering. Becky hid under the covers to make him think he might be alone. After a couple of minutes Caden started complaining that Connor had woken him up. He was shushed. Next thing Becky knew the bed started jiggling and she felt a weight collapse on her legs. Caden says in a loud stage whisper, “MOM! Connor is on your bed!!”
So after 4 days of maneuvering, Connor finally learned that he could grip the bedspread of the double bed and use it to hoist himself from the pack & play. This could prove problematic for the rest of the trip!
So we all laid around in the living room while the boys watched cartoons for an hour or so, then Becky made French toast and scrambled eggs for breakfast. The boys loved playing on the Murphy bed, and had a pillow fight (well, it was kind of one-sided, but they were both having fun):

Then it was off to the pool! Shawn rented a golf cart for the day, and went to the Outpost to pick it up while Becky threw all the laundry in a giant bag. The boys were thrilled with the cart (or “Gof cot” as Connor named it) and we enjoyed a nice ride through the campground. Becky and the boys were dropped at the pool and Shawn drove to the nearby comfort station to throw the laundry in and get it going.
Of course the splash pool was out of order, on our one day devoted to using it. Our vision of lounging in lawn chairs while the children entertained themselves was abruptly shattered. But look at the bright side - we're still on vacation, right?? They enjoyed themselves for a short while in the baby pool, and then once Daddy came back we all got into the big pool. The slide there is really neat, but Caden wouldn’t go near it. There’s quite a current at the bottom. The whole pool is between 3-4 feet deep, so not a lot of swimming area for adults, but it was a nice place to “practice” for Caden, and they both enjoyed jumping off the sides.

There was a snack bar but we’d brought our own food so can’t give feedback on that…there was also a craft time going on but Caden decided he’d rather be in the water. Given the cool summer we’ve had back home, that was fine with us, he’s kind of been cheated out of a lot of swim time this year!
Once the laundry was done, we gathered it up and drove back to the cabin for a nice lunch of Leftover Roulette. Then it was time to settle Connor in for his nap. We decided to use the two bedrails from housekeeping to our advantage, and built the following "monkey-trap" to keep him from escaping:

We're happy to announce that it worked! Once he was asleep, Becky decided to get our money’s worth out of the cart and she and Caden went for a drive. At this point we’d only been from the Outpost to our cabin, to the pool. We drove the entire loop and made a stop up at the lake so Caden could play on the beach and in the playground for awhile. The beach was pretty, but there was not much shade near the water so it was HOT. We only stayed about long enough to take this picture:

Then we went to the corral and enjoyed a pony ride on Levi.

Becky got to lead the pony, which was a first! There was a funny moment when Caden was thanking Levi for doing such a good job, and the lady handling him said, “Levi says you're welcome.” Caden, ever the intellectual, paused a moment and then said skeptically, “How?” She didn’t really have a ready answer so just said she could tell. Not sure he bought it!
It was pretty hot again, so we were ready to head home. We spent another hour relaxing while Caden watched his Looney Tunes movie, and right around the time that Connor woke up and Shawn started getting ready to fire up the grill for our steak-cook-out, a huge storm moved in. It was pretty intense, with loud thunder and heavy downpours. Connor was not a fan.
So, flexibility is the name of the game! We had pan-fried steaks and played indoors the rest of the evening. Even after a quiet day, the boys were ready for bed early. After they went to bed, Shawn took advantage of the golf cart to drive up to the Trails’ End to pick up their loaded nachos to eat while we watched Superman on DVD. All in all, a great day (other than the rained out cookout and broken splash area), and we were ready to tackle Magic Kingdom again!

 

[Porphyro]

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14: MAGIC KINGDOM, PART 2
Once again both boys were up before the alarm, but believe it or not, neither Shawn nor Becky have found themselves overly tired at this point. We’re all getting so much rest in the evenings that we’re waking up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed even five days in. And when we leave the parks, while we’re very hot, no one is exhausted beyond belief. There’ve been no blisters, no real tantrums, no sunburn, no dehydration. We’ve done good taking care of ourselves and keeping this relaxing, and still getting as much in as possible.
Since we were very familiar with the Contemporary by now and had yet to find the TTC, we went ahead and parked there again and took the monorail in to the park.

Like Wednesday, we arrived around 8:15 and sat in almost the same spot just under the track, about 10-15 people back in the turnstile line. This was a good spot to view the show and be in the shade at the same time. Same show, different emcee at 8:50. This time once we were in we headed with the crowd down Main Street but veered off to the right to Tomorrowland. Not nearly the crowd at that rope drop as there is in Fantasyland. They even let us in a couple minutes before 9. Most of the crowd went right to Buzz Lightyear but we had decided to do the Speedway first. It wouldn’t have been on the to-do list but Caden had seen it on Wednesday and was stoked about riding in a mini-car. It’s a slow-loader, so we wanted to do that first and not wait and get high on gas fumes. We got in the last 2 cars to be released in the first round. Even Connor was excited and started yelling "DRIVE! Drive!" Caden wasn’t as thrilled with it as he’d hoped to be, as those fumes were a bit strong for his very sensitive nose.
Our first ride checked off the list, we headed to the main attraction, Buzz Lightyear, where there was a mere 5 minute wait. Tomorrowland is probably much busier when the Transport and Space Mountain are open, but both were down for refurbishing and the crowds were light to non-existent. It took some coaxing to get Caden on the ride because he’d heard that Zurg shows up, but we knew once he was on he’d like the shooting. And we were right. He had a grand time (except when entering and exiting as it was yet another moving-floor ride). A model of Zurg is in jail at the end of the ride, and Caden ran by that pretty quickly, so we weren't able to get a picture of him with Zurg...he wouldn't go near it. As we exited the ride to head for Astro Orbiters, we saw Buzz Lightyear just hanging out with no line whatsoever. We couldn’t pass that up, so we deviated from the to-do list for a photo op (there was a smudge on the lens so the next couple pics are a bit foggy).

There was still no line to speak of at Astro Orbiters, so we got on there in about 5 minutes. It’s different from Dumbo because it is much higher, and spins in a tighter circle. The easily dizzied might want to steer clear of this one! Here is a picture of Connor before it started, and Becky & Caden mid-flight:

We’d done the 3 main open attractions in Tomorrowland and it was only 9:35.
We’d read on a website that there was a “back entrance” to Toontown, which was scheduled to open at 10, that had its own rope drop that most people didn’t know about. We decided to see if it was open, but had our doubts because it’s back by Space Mountain and there was no one back there. We asked a security guard who was directing people away from the Mountain if there was still a path to Toontown back there, and he motioned us on through. Lucky break number one. There was a rope blocking off the start of the path, but two construction workers were going through, and asked if we were going inside also. We said yes, and they lifted the rope and let us through. Lucky break number two. We headed on down the path. It was completely empty, but hey, it’s on the map! We decided to just press on and see what happened. So far two people could have stopped us but just let us keep walking. When we got down to the end, there was a rope and a CM right there by Mickey’s house. He was a little confused that we were there – apparently they don’t do rope-drop at the back entrance any longer, but we were there, and he told us that as soon as the front rope dropped he’d let us in. It was 9:40 at this point – and over his shoulder we saw the mob approaching. “Oh,” he said, “Guess they’re already in.” HUGE lucky break number 3 - as we had no idea Toontown would do an early rope drop and we got there JUST in time! So he dropped the rope, and led us directly into Mickey’s house – we were welcomed as the First Family that day. What incredible luck!! Other families were not let into the house as we were personally escorted through, alone, with a Disney photographer, and we had special alone time with Mickey and Minnie in the Judges Tent. Minnie kissed Caden and he got to shake Mickey’s hand. That was definitely our MAGICAL moment for the week!

Once we were done, we let the boys play for a few minutes in Donald’s Boat while we waited for the next train to take us to Frontierland. We were on the train by 10, much earlier than Wednesday, but the park was starting to crowd up a little faster than it had that day. When we disembarked at Frontierland there was already a 45 minute stand-by wait for Splash Mountain, so we grabbed a FP for 11:30 and walked over to Adventureland to see what sort of lines were forming there. The first ride we came across was Pirates, with a 5-minute Standby. And even that was an overstatement. We walked right onto that one. It has been renovated quite a bit since Becky rode it ten years ago, with Jack Sparrow written into almost all the scenes. We really liked the eerie, computer generated image of Davy Jones that the boats pass through in the beginning. The boys seemed to enjoy just looking around though they weren’t really following what was going on.
After a brief bathroom break we headed down to Jungle Cruise, where there was just a 20 minute wait. We had snacks and juice while we waited. It didn’t take too long to get on board, and the kids enjoyed this one too. It is kind of showing its age, but they’ve spiced it up with very sarcastic, self-effacing tour boat drivers, who complain that this is where a 5-year degree in religion landed them, or reprimanding the guests for just staring at them because, “This isn’t TV. I can see you too.” So the kids enjoy the fake animals, adults enjoy the humor and the shade. At one point the guide told us sarcastically how afraid he was as we drove into the temple, and Caden (who was sitting right next to him), said with empathy, “It’s OK. You don’t need to be afraid. It’s just pretend!”
After that we still had some time to kill so we let Caden choose – the Swiss Family Robinson tree house or the Haunted Mansion. He wanted to check out the tree house, so he and Becky did that while Connor enjoyed getting sprayed by the tikigods by the Magic Carpets (too long a line for that right now). Caden had very little interest in seeing the family’s rooms, he just liked the steps and the concept of being in a tree house. So that didn’t take too much time, he just zoomed through.

We walked up to Liberty Square to check out the Haunted Mansion, but the line was 25 minutes long (no FP - why is that, anyway?) and it would be hard to fit that and Splash Mountain in before lunch, so we took the river walk over to Frontierland, where Caden and Shawn enjoyed chasing Briar Rabbit through Splash mountain.
We headed back to Liberty Square (no luck catching the paddleboat!) and saw a line to visit with frontier Donald. We hadn't met him yet, and it was only about a 10 minute wait so we hopped in line.

Now we were really hungry. Most of the shaded tables in the Liberty Square area were taken, so we parked ourselves on a brick wall around a tree (with pelicans beneath it who seemed mighty interested in us!) and had our packed lunch and some more mouse ears ice cream!

We thought about trying to squeeze in the Haunted Mansion, but it was down for maintenance. So instead we went over to the carousel for Shawn to try his luck at the Sword in the Stone.

He must have used up all his luck getting into Toontown as the sword didn't budge, but he’ll always be Becky’s King Arthur!
The would-be king left with the smallest prince then to get him down for his nap, and Becky stayed to see Mickey’s Philharmonic with Caden, who loved it every bit as much the second time as the first! After that he was willing to check out the Mansion again, which was up and running. There was a 25 minute wait, and then once we got on it, it did shut down briefly. We were stuck under the upside-down staircases for two or three minutes, long enough for Caden to be a bit uneasy and to spend some time worrying over how the exit onto the moving floor would go. Luckily it didn’t last too long. We got a goofy looking ghost in our car at the end, Caden kept staring at the mirror and then whipping around to try to see it in our car, that was pretty funny.
On our way back down Main Street he found the trolley car tracks and pretended to be a train, and just as we got to the end, Mary Poppins came strolling right across our path. Caden ADORES Mary Poppins and was immediately enamored. She invited us to join her in the shade where he chattered up a storm with her. She said laughingly that he reminded her of Michael and that she “quite enjoyed” talking to him.

Once it was time for the picture she motioned to the camera and said, “Say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!” He hesitated and responded, “Ummm…why don’t we just say cheese?” As we were leaving he complimented her on her umbrella and she thanked him and explained that it helped her to fly. She asked if he flew, and he responded, “No, not yet. I’m just a kid. But when I grow up and become a superhero, then I’ll fly just like you!” He truly was the perfect age for this trip – old enough to appreciate the magic of it, and young and innocent enough to have the most beautiful nonsensical conversations with the characters!
He enjoyed the ferry ride back to the cabin once more:

We got back around 3 and sadly, realized it was time to start packing up a bit...but Shawn had one more trick up his sleeve to celebrate our last night...Stay tuned!

 

[Porphyro]

We had one last treat to enjoy, one that we’d decided we’d cancel if we had to, based on how the boys were doing. But they both rested a good long while and had been cheerful the past two days – so we decided to go for it. Shawn had researched and booked a dinner as a surprise for Becky to celebrate their upcoming ninth anniversary. He saved extra money on the side and added it to the travel budget, and he’d even packed nice clothes in a separate bag without her knowing, and didn't tell her until after we'd arrived, because he wanted her to help him decide whether or not the boys could handle this. But they both rested a good long while and had been cheerful the past two days – so we decided to go for it. So we bathed the boys, got all dressed up, and got into the van to drive to the Wilderness Lodge – we were headed for Artist Point.
We could have taken the ferry, but that would have involved a bus first, so we just drove the 5 minutes. The interior of Wilderness Lodge is just something you need to experience. The soaring front hall is incredible to look at, with all the open corridors above, the beautiful wood work, and fountains.
We’d expected a wait, but with 5:50 reservations we got to sit right away, it was pretty much empty. We were surprised to find that we had special menus set out with a Happy Anniversary message for us.
Shawn ordered the Grilled Buffalo Sirloin and Becky had the signature dish – Cedar Plank roasted Alaskan salmon. The steak came with goat-cheese polenta, ancho-cherry compote, baby golden beets, asparagus, and a dark chocolate red wine reduction. The salmon came with spring beans, English pea gnocchi, baby carrots, and a bacon vinaigrette. The boys split a grilled chicken breast and steamed veggies. They also got funny straws which of course, all kids love, and the servers were extra sweet to them. It's nice that Disney has formal restaurants that cater to adults, but those same restaurants are fully prepared to meet the needs of kids as well. Again, the chef came out to talk to us about potential allergens, but this time it was immediate. The food was truly spectacular. The salmon was perfectly seasoned and so tender it fell apart in your mouth. Shawn really enjoyed the buffalo steak. Steak is his favorite food and this definitely put a new spin on it. The boys behaved very well, as their anniversary gift to us!

For dessert we were treated to dessert wine on the house, and our dessert (chocolate covered cheese cake, it was divine!) had a candle and a “Happy Anniversary” wafer. Caden enjoyed an ice cream sundae with mouse ears!

The servers all complimented us on how well the boys had done – we're sure they see quite the range of behaviors, and there’s nothing you can do to make a parent’s day like noticing the good behavior of their kids and remarking on it. Everyone notices the bad, most people don’t say anything when they do what they ought to!
The dinner had been served very quickly which got us back into the cabin early enough to get the boys to bed and pack up the van. This would be our last night in our wonderful Disney home, but we had one more park to conquer!

 

[Porphyro]

Our kids are SO maddening sometimes. For the first time in 8 days, they were still asleep when the alarm went off. On the ONE day we had to be up early to get in plenty of time at the park before we started on our long trip home. We actually had a hard time waking them up, and they were groggy and disoriented (of course). They laid on the couch watching cartoons while we finished packing up the perishables and throwing away leftovers. We gave the bag of charcoal and matches we’d bought to our next-door neighbors, since the storm had “rained out” our grill plans.
Check-out was a breeze. Shawn just called the front desk and told them we’d be checking out, we did one (or two, or three) “final sweep” checking every drawer, under every bed, in the tub, for anything we might have left, and then had the boys say goodbye to good old 2321. Connor of course didn’t get it, Caden may have been a little sad, but we’d been away from home long enough that he was starting to miss his own bed and favorite stuffed animals. This was a good length of trip for a 4-year old. He’d declared several times on the trip, “I really like this cabin, and I’ll stay here for a little while, but then I’d like to go home and see my fish.” He is such a good kid!
We were in the DHS lot by 8:00 am, and at the gates at our usual time. The kids were still not in the best of moods and would probably have still been sleeping at this point if it had been up to them, so the “Lights Camera Action” welcome show was pretty much lost on them. As soon as the rope dropped, we veered right onto Sunset Blvd to ride Tower of Terror first. Caden was technically tall enough, but this was one ride he still needs to work up the courage for. We obtained the parent swap, and Becky got in the stand-by line (about 5 minutes at this point), while Shawn took the boys up to Pixar Place to get our Midway Mania FP. It took him awhile to fight the crowds up there, Becky had been off the ride a good 10 minutes before he made it back, with a drooping, already tired of walking Caden. She and the boys parked themselves in the shade and enjoyed some snacks (the dried fruit we bought at Winn Dixie – mango, papaya and pineapple – was a huge hit with the kids!) while Shawn took his turn. We stopped for a few pictures - you can see how Caden was feeling, he's doing his "I won't do what you tell me to do" pose in the second pic:

Hard to believe, but the FP the boys obtained at around 9:15 for the Toy Story ride were for 11:30. Those things go FAST!
So we had a lot of time to kill between then and now. First we went to see if we could make the first Playhouse Disney show, but it had already started. So we found Luigi’s garage – not on the map, but several CM were helpful – and got in line to see McQueen and Mater. This would normally have THRILLED Caden but he was still being a bit grouchy and all he did was complain about the noise from their engines.

That little journey ate enough time that we could head straight back to Playhouse Disney for the second show of the day at 10:30. We got in line about 5 minutes before the doors opened, and once inside, got the boys settled on the floor. There’s a LOT of little kids in this room, crawling around, bumping into each other – some of them not smelling so great – but it was nice to be in a room full of parents in the same boat as us. You know, 30-somethings who know all the lyrics to “Handy Manny” and so on! This is a cute little show, and seeing both the boys faces light up when the theme music started and the Mickey puppet popped up was really something. We didn’t get great pics because it was so dark, but every time the theme changed – from the Clubhouse to Handy Manny to Little Einsteins to Pooh – there were just audible gasps.

And at the end of each song, Connor let out a heart-felt “Yeeeeaaah!” Of course the kids are asked to participate a bit (saying the magic words to get the clubhouse to appear, dancing with Pooh, etc.). At first Caden was OK with this but then the crankiness started to kick in. He has this weird personality quirk where he HATES to be compelled to do something as part of a group unless he’s really comfortable/familiar with the situation. He’s been that way since he was a baby and has really mellowed out over the years, but that can make shows a nightmare. Most kids love to jump up and do whatever the performers ask, but he just freezes up and shuts down, and can get angry over it. That’s what started happening the longer we were there. He did enjoy the bubbles blowing from the ceiling and the confetti shooting at us at the end, but was all too ready to leave by the time the show ended. If he’d been more rested it probably would have been better!
We still had 30 minutes to kill before riding Midway Mania, and walked over to the Backlot tour, which we’d almost had time to do prior to Playhouse. And of course it had shut down for technical difficulties. We wondered if this happens all the time, or if we just had bad luck this week!
As we headed back through Pixar Place we saw Green Army man outside the Woody photo spot. Apparently he’s not out much, and there wasn’t much of a line so we got a really sweet picture of Caden saluting with him (though in his mood, it took some time!).

The line to see Buzz and Woody was marked at 25 minutes, and that’s exactly how much time we had left. This was the longest we waited to see a character the entire time, and it was not exactly pleasant, with the moods the boys were in. Caden wanted to see Woody NOW, and Connor kept wandering away. At least we were inside.
When we were next, they had to do a “switch” - this had happened to us yesterday with Donald as well. We ARE having bad luck!! This one didn’t take long, thank heavens. Caden was sure they weren’t coming back!

We got out just in time to use our FP. We still had to wait about 15 minutes to get in. The ride is really cute – it’s full of 3-D carnival games – shooting a ball, darts at a balloon, etc., and you play for points and accuracy. It’s about 5 minutes long, and moves you from game to game. Even Caden hit a decent amount of the targets. Connor had a big whopping zero but never figured out how to shoot, and had a hard enough time keeping his glasses on!

Shawn had the highest score, but Becky had the best accuracy! This ride was fun, definitely better than Buzz Lightyear at MK, but neither of us really felt it was worth all the fuss and the posted 90 minute waits!! We’d never do that one without a FP.
The Backlot was open again but the boys were winding down so we decided to have some lunch. We got a table at Studios catering – Becky got the Greek salad and a few orders of apples; Shawn and the boys found a vendor and got some corn dogs and we split a delicious Coke smoothie. This was our third and final counter-service meal – all of which cost us about $20, so $5 a person…but two of our “persons” are rather small. We’ll cherish these cheap days. When we come here with two teenage boys…yikes!!
As we were eating, a CM came up to us and said he’d noticed one of our balloons had partially deflated. Shawn had bought two of the “Mickey head balloon” inside a balloon at Magic Kingdom, and we’d brought them in with us today and tied them to the stroller – we were afraid being trapped in the van all day would make them pop. Anyway, he gave us a voucher for a free one to replace the one with the “dented” ear. That was awfully nice, one of those “Disney” above and beyond services that puts a smile on your face!
Then we headed off to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. This was a much bigger hit with the boys than the boneyard. Caden’s favorite part was the “spiderweb.” It is an intricate net that kids follow up to a “nest” and then back down. He must have gone through it 20 times.

Connor even made it through once, and that was a lot of climbing for a little guy! Connor’s favorite thing was the caves. He loved to run through them and go up and down the stairs, but that was a bit strenuous for whichever parent was with him – they were about 3 feet high, so he could run through at breakneck speed while one of us had to huff and puff after him bent over in half! Easier said than done!
It was after 1:00 at this point and we wanted to get going - well, we didn’t WANT to get going, but we needed to be in Savannah before it got too far past bedtime. We had a potty/diaper-changing break and then realized Caden’s sunglasses were gone. Becky had them tucked into the top of her shirt, but assumed while she was bent in half chasing Connor they must have fallen out. She went back in to the playground, and the CM at the gate had them, someone had turned them in. Everyone really is nicer at Disney!
With that, we headed, slowly and reluctantly out of the park and to the lot, with a lot of longing backwards glances. It’s always sad to leave, especially when you don’t know when’ll you come again, and how your family will be different when you do. This trip, with all its memories and things peculiar to a short chapter of our lives with two tiny boys, had come to a close.

Next up - the trip home and what we've learned!

 

[jana616]

OK, all caught up. Great updates! I am SOO jealous of your back entrance into Toontown. I felt like I researched everything, but I'd never heard of that. How awesome for you guys to get First Family treatment! We did get to Toontown at 9:45, which was a great tip to know. We were in the very first car for the Barnstormer, which was fun. Gotta do whatever you can to keep the lines short for the kiddos!

You've made me consider the cabins for the next time we go. It looks like a more relaxed way to go, which would be nice. Glad the boys were so well behaved for you at dinner!

Can't wait to read the finale!

 

[Porphyro]

Glad you enjoyed the TR! Re: the Toontown entrance - I think we got lucky in the fact that the website we got the info from was out of date or not written for when most of Tomorrowland is shut down - maybe that path is just closed during the construction, or maybe it'll never open again. No CM was ever very clear on that matter of whether or not it's "supposed" to be used. It's still on their official park map (you can see it along the right hand side right next to the tracks), and there's still a rope at the Toontown entrance - maybe it's meant to keep people IN Toontown, not out - but hey! We were so glad they didn't make us go all the way back around or it would have been hours to see Mickey. Just one of those things that worked out!

 

[Porphyro]

We left through the main gate and got onto the highway straightaway. Both of the boys were cranky and needed naps. Connor fell asleep about an hour later, Caden of course feels he is far too old for this, so to make up for it, he just whines. The going-home drive wasn’t nearly as pleasant as the coming-down drive!
We were able to drive without any stops thanks to Connors nap, all the way to northern Georgia, where we stopped at a Waffle House. Caden has never been to one, and has always begged to go, so to mute the pain of leaving Disney, we fulfilled his life-long dream of eating at a glorified truck stop. The kids plates were cheap and the waffle was the same size as an adult portion – that is to say – bigger than the plate! If we’d known that we’d have had them split one! It was starting to drizzle as we left, like even the weather was let down. We were only a couple of exits away from the Inn at this point.
We got there around 6:30, took our showers, and got ready for bed. Tonight Pinocchio was on. Caden knew the story from Little Golden books, and wanted to watch it “until the whale part.” Did we mention his #3 fear is being swallowed by a whale? We keep trying to explain to him that we live in a land-locked state but it still keeps him up at night...
Lights were out by 9:00 and it was a quiet night. Thank heavens Shawn’s cough was subsiding enough for him to be in the same room with the family!
The boys woke up around 6:30 so we got another early start on Sunday. This time there was no traffic, no delays of any sort, just a long, boring drive through South Carolina. We stopped at the North Carolina welcome center for lunch. It had recently rained and all the tables were soaked, so we sat on a dry bench and had a picnic, finishing up some of the lunch supplies from the week. From there we drove on into the mountains, and through a couple of incredible downpours that passed as quickly as they arrived, leaving water pooling on the highway. Since Connor had been in the car a long time it took him awhile to fall asleep, and then Shawn drifted off, and right as we crossed into Kentucky, Caden dozed off as well, so the last hour was a quiet one for Becky!
We arrived in London around 5:00, and took aunt Margie out to dinner at Cracker Barrel. Caden was full of stories, and was able to list his favorite Top 10 attractions in order. Overall I think Soarin’ is the one that made the biggest impression on him. He also talks a lot about meeting Mickey Mouse, playing in the pool, Mickey’s Philharmagic, and Big Thunder Mountain.
We spent a quiet, relaxing day with the family on Monday (the only excitement was finding that Connor had thrown up sometime overnight, but weirdly, he seemed fine all day), and left around 7, thinking the boys would sleep. Caden actually did fall asleep north of Lexington, but Connor babbled happily away to no one, and threw stuff at us until we crossed the Brent Spence bridge into Ohio, then he suddenly passed out. We carried two very asleep boys into our house just after 9:30 and started the long arduous task of unpacking, which isn’t even close enough to interesting to include in a very long Trip Report! We were bone-tired at this point, but were so happy that our trip was a success, and one that Caden, at least, will remember for a long time. Becky was SO excited to have been wrong about it being “too much,” and Shawn’s favorite memory from the trip? On Thursday, Becky was reading the “Return booking” deal details in our cabin, and came to him and said…”So how much, exactly, would it cost to come again next summer?” That's when he knew the trip was a success!
There are always some arguments to be made for waiting until the kids are older to fully experience Disney, but after the week we’ve just had, we could definitely make some arguments for doing it when they’re little, too. If we’d just had one toddler – then, maybe our money could be better spent elsewhere…but for Caden the trip was pure magic, and Connor had fun because the rest of us did! We just don’t know if Caden will ever enjoy it again in the way he was able to this time.
Overall take-aways from this experience:
- Becky was amazed at how different the entire resort experience is from just visiting one park for a day. When the day isn’t a marathon of how-much-you-can-fit –in, and you have a nearby place to relax and hang out, the mood and feel of the whole vacation changes. It’s more relaxing, less stress, and SO many more parks to experience, not being limited to just one. And each park is so unique in feel and environment. There’s really something for everyone!
- This was our experience, during what we believe was a decently crowded week – GET THERE AT ROPE DROP!! We really don’t see how you can get much done otherwise. Most of the time we had 5-6 attractions done before 10:00 am, and had obtained fastpasses for one other big attraction at that point. Other than the Lion King show, we got everything done on our list. We did our top priority and/or slowest loading rides first, and found that most of the “secondary” attractions had little to no lines during this first hour. And it was just more pleasant in general to not have to deal with wall-to-wall people. It really starts getting packed between 10-11. The touring plan sites were SO worth the money just to help us put things in order to get the most accomplished.
- If you have small children, USE PARENT SWAP! We didn’t see this offered or described in much of the Disney-official literature, just in our guidebooks and from our friends. It is the best-kept secret ever. It’s like Bonus Fastpasses – as many as you want, free access to the FP line at any time of day, even before the FP lane opens. And your older kids get to ride things twice. Don’t “waste” a FP when you can use a parent swap, and then you can go get a FP for something else.
- Love the Disney policy of bringing in food – or lack thereof. Every amusement park we’ve been to has restricted outside foods. For whatever reason, Disney realized it made much more sense to have happy families during this economic crunch and lets us pack our own lunches. I can’t figure out how they come out ahead on this one, but maybe it didn’t make a big enough difference to them and is actually something just (GASP) nice to do for people. Anyway, we took good advantage of this, cutting down on money spent and time waiting in lines at peak dining hours.
- Love the free parking in all resorts and parks for resort guests. We used this A LOT and didn’t have to rely on the transportation system’s schedule.
- Try to plan specific times to meet with characters instead of just hopping line wherever you see them – that can eat a LOT of time, because they are everywhere and the lines are long. Remember, Mickey’s Toon Town fair in MK opens before 10 most days, if you go there immediately you can cross a lot of characters off your list with minimal wait.
- Have a code word with your spouse or other adults in the party, for when things go “awry.” It can be something planned in advance, an inside joke, or something that you overhear at the park. For us, the “WE’RE GOING TO GO HOME TO MICHIGAN!” woman gave us what we needed to keep our cool, keep our perspective, and keep frustration at bay before any arguments could begin. That would get a laugh, then we’d take a deep breath, and go on about the day.
- Don’t push the kids (especially the little ones) too hard. Don’t lose sight of the fact that this is for them – their memories, their experiences. If everyone has stopped having fun – LEAVE. Even if more than half the party has stopped having fun – LEAVE. Vacation if FOR YOU, so be flexible and be willing to drop a few things from your to-do list for the sake of everyone’s sanity. There will be other trips, and it doesn’t have to be a marathon. When it’s hot and you’re all tired, go to your room and rest. It was this attitude, and ONLY this, we are convinced, that got us home actually feeling refreshed and rejuvenated and not completely drained.

We can’t wait to plan our next Disney trip! We might go along with extended family next time, but this will definitely become a family tradition!

 

[Charlefours]

I'm a bit behind but I wanted to comment that I loved your TR! It looks like you had a great time. I did not realize Disney is being more relaxed about food being brought into the parks. We are anticipating eating breakfast most days in our hotel room, packing snacks and drinks. We have the dining plan otherwise but we are definitely planning on taking a break midday to relax.

Love the pictures--so cute! Your sons are adorable Did you order your Photopass cd prior to leaving or when you left? I am anticipating on doing this because, from what I have gathered, it is definitely cheaper.

We have park hoppers on our tickets right now but I am questioning them and whether or not we will use them enough to make it worthwhile. We like several restaurants in Epcot, which is probably the big reason as to why we have them, so we can go there in the late afternoon/evening to get dinner. Perhaps I should rethink this...who knows, I still have time before I have to make ADRs so I may be able to plan accordingly and remove the to save money.

Glad you had a wonderful trip! I am hoping this becomes a family tradition for us too. Did you like the cabins overall and felt like the worth the extra money (over a value resort say)? Something to consider the next go around.

 

[Porphyro]

Did you order your Photopass cd prior to leaving or when you left? I am anticipating on doing this because, from what I have gathered, it is definitely cheaper.


Did you like the cabins overall and felt like the worth the extra money (over a value resort say)?

We did order the photopass prior to leaving, but I'm not certain that it would have been worth the money had we not gotten to be the "first family" when we got to Toon Town. We just couldn't be bothered to stop for every picture opportunity, and standing in line with the characters wasn't a first priority for everyone in the family - although it was a big deal for the kids.

I really did feel that the cabins were worth the extra money, we saved a ton compared to what we would have had to spend in the parks for meals - and the privacy and seclusion were priceless. Not to mention that having the extra room was invaluable when Shawn came down with that cough and had to sleep in the living area.