Wills First Adventure Trip Report COMPLETED

[meldobe]

Just read your trip so far, loving the pictures can't wait for more updates.

 

[Wills Mom]

Just read your trip so far, loving the pictures can't wait for more updates.

Thanks Hoping to get time to at least update this at some stage over the weekend.

 

[Wills Mom]

Day 6 - May 9th

Myself, James and Will all woke at 8.15am today. Will ran straight to his Nan and Pops room to wake them and we all had breakfast at the house. By the time we were dressed, had sandwiches made and were piled in the car it was almost 10am so we arrived at Animal Kingdom around 10.30am.



My sister and I left everyone to explore while we ran ahead to get FPs for the Safari. We got a return time of between 12.25-1.25 which I thought was great considering we were so much later arriving than I had originally planned. There was a 20 minute wait for Expedition Everest which was more like 10 so some of us rode that while the grandparents took the babies. Will fell asleep in his buggy for about an hour after we got off the ride so we just walked around and explored a bit. I looked around the shops while everyone else did Its Tough To Be A Bug and by the time they were out it was almost FP return time so we made our way to the Safari. Will woke up just before we got there - great timing! I have to say this was by far and away our best ride on the Safari! There were loads of animals around and the giraffes walked right up to our truck so we got a great look. No lions of course - I've only seen one once on this ride and I've been on it quite a few times













After the Safari a few of us went on Kali River Rapids, was labelled as a 10 minute wait that turned into 25 minutes. And it was HOT so we were delighted to get absolutely soaked to the bone! Alas no pics
We made our way to the exit after that, stopped in Walmart on the way home for some essentials and spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool. We all stayed up and had a few drinks by the pool after dinner. A great end to a great day!

 

[Wills Mom]

Day 7 - May 10th

Today I was up with Will at 7.15am - not the best morning for an early start after the drinks the night before This is what I woke up to:



So how could you be annoyed at that perfect face!

Got up and left everyone else to sleep while we played. Everyone else made an appearance around 10.30am. My parents had very kindly agreed to take Will today as we were heading to Hollywood Studios and my parents aren't overly fond of that park so they stayed home.
Upon arriving at DHS (I can't remember the time!) we made our way straight to Tower of Terror to get FPs with a return time in the next 40 minutes. We went straight to Star Tours and it was pretty much a walk on. This was my first time on it since the refurb and I loved it. My cousin did too, both of us are big Star Wars fans



Back over to ToT and got FPs for Rock N Roller Coaster on the way which had a return time within the next 60 minutes ToT was great as always. My sister has an unreasonable fear of this ride but being the good sport she is she rode it!





We then did the Backlot Tour (and being the nice people DH and I are we strategically placed the unsuspecting first time visitors on the side that gets wet in Catastrophe Canyon )



We also fitted in the Great Movie Ride before our return time for RnRC.



And made our way back over to RnRC stopping for a few pics!





We walked straight past a 60 minute queue Gotta love FP! And after that we all headed for the car park. Had some pool time with my little man who had been very well behaved for his Nan and Pops. He was over tired though as he hadn't napped for his Nan so everyone else headed out for dinner while James and I fed and bathed Will and he went to bed early. We played Scrabble - how exciting and worse still, James beat me! We were in bed early ourselves, so tired we didn't even hear the others come home.

 

[Wills Mom]

Day 8 - May 11th

Today was our second wedding anniversary! We originally had loads of things planned but in the end we decided to just have a lazy day! James got up with Will and let me have a lie on til 10am. After breakfast myself, James, Will and Pops headed to the Clubhouse which had a small play area and pool. We messed around for a while and Will had great fun!











Got a few bits in Walgreens on the way home - namely Boogie Wipes as Will still had a runny nose from the air con on the flight. Will napped from 1-3 after which we had lunch and made our way to the Florida Mall. Bought Elmo shoes for Will and wedges for me in Payless Shoes. DH looked at eternity rings but I didn't see any that really caught my eye. I spent a good 45 minutes browsing Barnes and Noble before carefully choosing 3 books and we left around 6.30pm. It took a while to get home as traffic was just awful!
We got Chinese food from China Gourmet on Hwy 27 and it was delish! We all shared Honey Chicken, Chicken Curry, Orange Chicken, Bourbon Chicken and Sweet and Sour Chicken Balls. It came to just $40 for 5 mains plus sides!





After dinner we had a pool tournament in the games room, my dad won! My parents and my aunt and uncle drove down to the Boardwalk for the evening. Will had a bath and got ready for bed and he was asleep by 10pm. Shelli, Ciaran, James and I sat by the pool and had a few Corona Lights before calling it a night around midnight.

 

[Wills Mom]

Day 9 - May 12th

Will woke up at 6am! I got him into our bed and he slept til 7.30am thankfully! We had breakfast and played and he napped at 9.30am. He definitely hadn't had enough sleep the night before! We had no plans today as it was Mothers Day in the US so we reckoned everywhere would be jam packed!
I bought scrapbooking materials in Walmart that afternoon and have the scrapbook of Wills First Adventure almost halfway done! I'll upload pics of the finished product at the end of the TR
Everyone was tired so we all slept for a good two hours in the late afternoon and by the time we all were awake there was no time to do anything other than have dinner and a swim. Myself and Will were fast asleep by 9pm after having a long hot bath.

 

[meldobe]

Wow was that a rhino in the water on your safari? so many animals out and about! Hadn't thought of picking up scrapbooking bits from walmart may have to take a cab to one on the next visit.

 

[Wills Mom]

Wow was that a rhino in the water on your safari? so many animals out and about! Hadn't thought of picking up scrapbooking bits from walmart may have to take a cab to one on the next visit.

Yeah it was a rhino SO many animals out that day, we've never seen so many! Made for a lovely change
The scrapbook stuff is so cheap and really light so not taking up too much valuable suitcase space I kept little souvenirs everywhere we went - receipts, tickets, extra fastpasses, DS's First Visit button. Its quite time consuming putting it together so it might be a while before its finished!

 

[Wills Mom]

Day 10 - May 13th

Today we were going to Islands of Adventure and as Will was quite unsettled at night my parents kindly offered to stay home with him again. Poor little man got a tooth that day so thankfully it was just teething but he was really off form with it.
So it was to be just myself, James, Michelle, Ciaran and Stephen my cousin (his wife was to come too but at 6 months pregnant she felt very tired so opted to take the day off) We arrived at IoA at 9.30am and made our way straight to the Hulk, followed by Spiderman - both of which were just a five minute wait (if even!) We then made our way to the WWoHP and onto the Forbidden Journey which showed a wait time of 30 minutes but it only ended up being 20 minutes!









We rode Dragon Challenge (Red) which was a walk on and had a butterbeer before leaving Harry Potter!







We walked over to Seuss Landing and decided to get an early lunch in Circus McGurkus. I had the cheeseburger which was cheap and cold but filled me up fast which was all I really wanted. We made our way back over to Toon Lagoon and all of us excepting James (who hates getting wet on rides) went on Bluto's Bilgerat Barges and Dudley Do Right, both of which were a 5 minute wait. We got soaked to the bone and had such a fun time!









We decided to do the Hulk one more time before leaving. It was a walk on and we did the back row, which is my favourite on that ride. We left around 2.30pm after trying on loads of hats (as you do!)



Had a dip in the pool with my little man when we got home and then he napped. we had dinner and decided to drive over to Celebration to wander around for a while. I want to live here!







We played with Will for a while when we got home. We all hit the hay at 10.30pm, absolutely wrecked after a long day!

 

[Wills Mom]

Day 11 - May 14th

We decided to take it easy again today. Chilled out by the pool until around noon and then went to the outlets at Vineland Avenue. I got 2 pairs of Sketchers for $70 (with 30% off the second pair) which I was delighted with. Everyone else went around the shops while I brought Will for an ice cream and a bit of a walk until he got tired so we all met back up and headed back home. He slept til around 5pm and then we had dinner. My parents hadn't quite finished looking around the outlets so we went back there for an hour. We were back home and in bed by 10pm.

 

[Wills Mom]

Day 12 - May 15th

Today was Seaworld day! So after a breakfast of bagels, fruit and other cold goodies we realised that we were out of formula for Will so we had to delay our departure time and instead go to Walmart. By the time we were back with the formula we realised Will was tired and needed a nap so there was no point in bringing a tired toddler in the car as he wouldn't sleep long enough so we let him sleep from 10.30 to 11.30 and once he woke up we were ready to go. Due to our later arrival time we paid for preferred parking again and headed straight for the Blue Horizons 1.30pm show. The kids loved it!











Alas my batteries went in my camera just after the show so I don't have many pics from that day! We fed the sting rays and then went on Manta which was a 10 minute wait. We had brought sandwiches and everyone ate them after the ride on Manta. We queued for the dolphin feeding then and luckily we were one of the first in the queue. We got 3 trays at $7 each and each tray had 3/4 mini fish in them. Will didn't really understand what was happening but we bought the pictures at the end so its a lovely memory to have! We had never done it before so we enjoyed it! Will climbed into his buggy straight after and fell straight asleep (you guys will think that all my child does is sleep ) so we went on Kraken and queued for the front row while my parents explored the park with a sleeping baby! Everyone else stuck around for One Ocean but for us its not the same as Believe so myself, James, Will, Shelli and Ciaran left. Will had woken up hungry so when we got home James made Spag Bol for everyone and it was yum!
Everyone else headed to Walmart after dinner but I stayed home with Will and gave him a bath before bed. I had a nice peaceful hour on my own before the gang got back home and everyone had a few drinks before hitting the bed just after midnight!

 

[Wills Mom]

Day 13 - May 16th

Will stayed home with his Nan and Pops again today. They were all tired after the long day at SW. My cousin, his wife and their son also stayed home so myself, James, Michelle and Ciaran brought my aunt and her husband to EPCOT. I love visiting during Flower and Garden so got lots of pics!







We arrived just after 10.30am and Michelle and I ran ahead to get FPs for Soarin. There was already a wait time of 60 minutes so we were happy enough when we got a return time of 1.50pm. We brought my aunt and uncle for their first trip to Club Cool - obviously no one liked the Beverley
Onto World Showcase where we picked up Dole Whips and caught the boat to Morocco.



We walked back along by France and into the UK where we got fish and chips and ate them sitting outside. They were YUM!



















We made our way back around WS and over towards Japan where Ciaran wanted to buy Michelle a pearl. It was a lovely experience and really made her day! They were told to come back later to collect it as they got it made into a necklace. We slowly meandered through the other pavillions until we made our way back to Soarin for our return FPs! This is my aunt and uncles favourite part of any WDW trip, they just love Soarin!









We left the park at 2.30pm but picked up more FPs for later that evening for Soarin as we were coming back to collect the pearl necklace. The return time was between 6.50 - 7.50 so gave us loads of time to get back.
Got back to the villa to a happy little boy who was swimming with his Nan and Pops. The three of them had had a great time. My mother even had a big roast beef dinner cooking so we all sat down to that and ate every last bite! After that we collected my cousin and his wife who were coming instead of my aunt and uncle (who had gotten a little burnt that afternoon so just wanted to relax at home) and we headed back to EPCOT around 6.30pm. Got straight onto Soarin and thankfully there was no problem using the FPs for my cousin and his wife instead of my aunt and uncle. They had never been on Soarin before and they loved it as much as we do! We walked around WS and ended up in Norway where I had a school bread just before the fireworks started. We had a nice spot and everyone (except James, the driver!) had a beer standing there enjoying IllumiNations! It gets me every time!





Drove home and on the way stopped for some steamed dumplings from the Chinese. Will was fast asleep since 8.30pm so had a Corona with James and went to bed soon after.

 

[Wills Mom]

Wow I can't believe I haven't updated my TR since October!! I'll be back online this week to finish up and start planning our next WDW trip

I do have good reason for not finishing sooner. I had a couple of complications in my pregnancy and with Will hitting the terrible twos before actually turning two I had a busy few months! On February 11th, a week past my due date, I gave birth to our second son Jamie after a very unexpectedly fast labour (a bare 61 minutes from start to finish!) Hands are definitely full now but DH has given the go ahead to make plans to bring the boys back to the World so obviously the first thing I'm doing is coming back here to get all Disney-fied

 

[janeyb]

Huge Congratulations to you and the family, that's fabulous news. I'm glad to hear all is OK, despite your difficult pregnancy. Another trip to DW with your boys will give you something lovely to look forward. Those first few months although so rewarding and filled with love, can also be bloody exhausting and challenging!

I'm just in the process of planning DD3's third trip to DW and she's only just turned 16 months! It's just so easy though to take the children to DW though isn't it? even at such a young age as there is always such a lot to distract them.

I found taking her at 7 months an absolute breeze, 13/14 months was a little more difficult with her wanting to walk instead of going in pushchair etc and the temper tantrums that went with that (she started the terrible twos at about 10 months)! She also went the entire outward flight only sleeping for one hour and the rest of the time didn't sit still for more than a few minutes at a time. But then I know you took Will at a similar age so you know exactly the challenges that age brings. When she was 7 months, she slept in the BA bassinet for most of the journey there and back so that was so much easier.

Good luck with everything. Enjoy your new son. X

 

[Wills Mom]

Day 14 - May 17th

Today myself, James and Will left everyone else at the villa and went to visit MK ourselves. It was the BEST day of the whole trip! We got the monorail to the park and arrived at the gates around 10.30am. We made our way straight to the People Mover as Will was already looking quite tired so we rode it twice without getting off and he fell asleep on the second go round, at about 11.05am.





While will slept in the City Mini we strolled around at our own pace to get FPs for Winnie the Pooh and the M&G with Mickey. We got surprise FPs for Dumbo with these FPs. All FPs had a return time of 12.15-1.15. Will woke up around noon so we walked back to Fantasyland with a stop in the Christmas shoppe to buy decorations (a tradition of ours!) and we were back at Winnie the Pooh for just after 12.15. Will took it all in, seemingly mesmerised by the entire thing.





Next was Dumbo. He was so devastated to get off this ride he cried for a solid 10 minutes!





Afterwards we did the Mickey M&G. Mickey was GREAT, he interacted so well with all three of us. He made kissing noises when Will gave him a kiss and hug, it was adorable!!





We bought a couple of things in the Emporium after wards including a lovely WDW photo album and lots of little bits for Will. I think we were buying stuff more for our sakes than for Wills



After a final stroll around we bought ice creams and then got the monorail back to the car park.





On the drive home there was a horrible crash on the 192 so we were told the road was closed and we had to drive a whole HOUR out of our way to get where we wanted to go. James had a big dispute with the guys on the scene, things got fairly heated as we were literally 3 minutes drive from our villa and Will was getting over tired. We turned around and keyed the address of our villa into the GPS, started to follow the directions and James decided on the off chance to turn back around and see if we could pull into the nearby gas station and just wait it out. About 5 minutes after we pulled into the gas station the traffic started to move, they had cleared the road!!! After they telling us to turn around and go so far out of our way! James had a few choice words for the guys as we passed them, all I can say is thank heavens he decided to go back to the gas station and wait rather than doing all that unnecessary driving!
Will fell asleep the minute we got back to the villa and as everyone else had already eaten myself and James got take out from China Gourmet. Everyone went to play crazy golf afterwards and I stayed home with Will. We had a bit of a splash in the pool, quick shower and the two of us were fast asleep before the rest of them got back.

 

[Wills Mom]

Day 15 - May 18th

Will was very unsettled overnight so he slept in with me and James. he made James get up with him around 7.30am and let me sleep til 11.30am We all had breakfast and made our way to the outlets on I-Drive. We were very lucky and got parking straight away! This was so surprising as the place was absolutely jam packed!! We spent an absolute fortune in Clarks (shoes for Will!) Forever 21 (clothes for me) Charlotte Russe (same!) Converse and several other sports outlets. Will napped for about an hour in the buggy so we got most of the shopping done while he slept When he woke up we headed back to the car and went home. On the way we stopped for KFC which was absolutely HORRIBLE! We got Will his dinner back at the villa and nipped to Walmart to pick up some essentials. James dropped me and Will back to the villa and they all went to play crazy golf again as they had won a free game the previous evening. Once Will went to bed I watched some SVU on tv and had a really nice time relaxing in peace and quiet. I was asleep again though by the time the rest of them got back.

 

[Wills Mom]

Day 16 - May 19th

Will was wide awake at 6.50am and it was my turn to get up. Oh the pain Got him ready and then woke my mother and James, leaving the rest of them sleeping. We met up with my aunts family and headed off for our ADR at Chef Mickeys. We checked in 5 minutes earlier than our reservation time of 9.25am and were seated almost immediately The characters came out at 9.30am so the timing was great! Goofy was the first character at our table. His visit was like he was moving in fast forward! Pluto was next and he had very little interaction with any of us, barely stopping for a photo!





Mickey and Minnie were next and they made up for the less than impressive performance by the previous two. We all enjoyed meeting these two!







We had some napkin waving before Donald got around to us. He was good, though not as fun as Mickey and Minnie had been. Will loves Donald though and he got so excited to meet him he grabbed Donalds beak and pulled very hard All we could do was laugh! Donald made a rather quick exit after that





We all really liked the food. I had a bowl of mandarins, strawberries and watermelon and then this plate of hot food.



I also got another pancake, mickey waffle, some more creamy breakfast potatoes (which were amazing by the way!) strawberries and donut holes. You could have rolled me out of there I was so stuffed Will had a little of everything but I think he pretty much ate his weight in strawberries, they were definitely his favourite!
Our table of 7 adults (the two infants were free) came to $270 which included the automatic 18% service charge. The service was not deserving of the tip in the slightest but the food and characters were great and we will definitely be going back. We were finished and on our way out by 11.15am.





When we got back to the villa all the men folk decided they were going for lunch and drinks to Devenneys pub just down the road, there was some sort of football match on. The rest of us went to Walmart for about an hour, I bought stuff to make a scrapbook of our trip and also Mickey decorations for Wills birthday (getting a little ahead of myself there but couldn't help myself!) The men were gone for the rest of the day so we just relaxed.

 

[Wills Mom]

Day 17 - May 20th

Our last full day. We basically spent today packing up and lounging by the pool. In the evening myself, James, Shelli and Ciaran went to Red Lobster on the 192 for our last supper It was delish, the bill coming to $173 for the four of us.





My first ever Bahama Mama - it was divine!!!

 

[Wills Mom]

Day 18 - May 21st

Today we were all up by 8am and rang to see if we could have a late check out of the villa. We got permission to check out at noon at no extra charge We tidied the villa and packed the car and sadly said goodbye to our temporary home We made our way to MCO stopping at Barnes and Noble on the way (to feed my book habit!) There was a massive thunderstorm on the way and James could barely see the road due to the rain pounding down. We arrived at MCO in one piece though. We dropped the car back and got our receipt saying we'd drove almost 900 miles on the trip! The queues in MCO were so long and we only barely made it to the gate with minutes to spare.

The food on the flight was horrible! Luckily we had made time to stop for a quick McDonalds before departing MCO! Will nodded off after the (abysmal) dinner having charmed every single air hostess he came in contact with He slept 6.5 hours til we were almost at Gatwick. There was a free seat beside us so myself and Will curled up on two seats and slept until a fellow passenger was trying to take a bag out of the over head bin above us and a glass bottle of Jameson whiskey fell and smashed on the floor which scattered glass everywhere and covered myself and Will in whiskey - and also the man and his small daughter behind us. The guy who made the whiskey fall did not even apologise which I found to be SO ignorant! In all fairness to Will he didn't even cry bless him!! He actually woke up smiling! He's a little star!

We got through Gatwick and made our connecting flight to Dublin with minutes to spare. When we got to Dublin and collected our bags we quickly realised that Shelli's bags had been lost! She filled out the paperwork to have it recovered and thankfully it was delivered to her door first thing the following morning.

 

[Wills Mom]

Fast forward to May 30th, nine days after flying home. James and I found out an extra passenger had tagged along. Our Jamie arrived exactly nine months after our second wedding anniversary which we celebrated in Florida

My two boys meeting for the first time:





Now just to get planning our return trip! I'm so excited to be looking into bringing our boys to our happy place, once theres a trip date decided I'll get cracking on a PTR. But for now thanks so much for reading along!