"Wow! Ickey!" A toddler's 1st trip. Feb/Mar 2016

[DizMomAndWife]

Welcome to my very first trip report!! I've found other reports with young kids to be very helpful, so I hope mine is as well. This was our first trip with our little one, definitely a different type of adventure! I can't wait to share it with you!

First, let me introduce myself and my family. There's me, 27 year old stay at home momma, pastor's wife, and Jesus lover. Then the hubs, William, 28 year old sport and rec pastor and wonderful daddy to our baby girl. Lastly, our little princess, Reagan! She was 14.5 months old during our trip.

Here's a semi-recent picture:


William and I were passholders- they expired right after we got back but we got good use out of them, especially for living over 4 hours away. We'll definitely get them again at some point, right now they just doesn't make sense for our lives.
This was, as the title states, Reagan's very first trip. We went in with the mindset of it being about her. We didn't plan any thrill rides or late nights. We had experienced that side of the World, now it was time to experience it through her eyes. We knew she wouldn't remember it, but we have great pictures, and we remember it!!

Since I wasn't sure I was even going to do a trip report until we were halfway through the trip, I didn't do a pre-trip report, I'll throw that in now

Here are our daily plans.

Monday, Feb 29th: Travel, check in, and Disney Springs!
-Aim to leave the house at 9:30 after a normal morning at home and any last minute packing
-Stop for lunch at Chick-fil-a in Lake City, Fl around 12, back on the road by 1:00
- Arrive on property around 3:30, check in and get settled, buy milk for the week, etc.
- Take a boat to Disney Springs to shop and have dinner
-Dinner at Earl of Sandwich around 5:00, then take the boat back around 6:00.
-If everyone is happy, try to catch a movie under the stars, swim, or roast marshmallows back at the resort. Otherwise, sleep!

Tuesday, March 1st: Magic Kingdom!
-Up at 7, getting ready, eating breakfast in the room. At the bus stop by 8:00.
-Arrive at MK around 8:20, through security and wait on Welcome show.
-In the park around 8:50. Kill time in town square, diaper change, shop, buy a balloon for the stroller.
9:15- check in at Harmony Barbershop for Reagan's first haircut! Appointment at 9:30.
-Out around 10, meet Mickey with FP+.
-Out around 10:15- head to Fantasy Land, park stroller and get on Peter Pan with FP+ around 10:20.
-Ride Its a Small World around 10:40.
-Lunch at Columbia Harbor House at 11:00, then ride Haunted Mansion with FP+ 11:30ish.
-Out around 12, grab the stroller and book 4th FP+ on our way out of the park.
-Back to the hotel for naps, then head back to MK around 3:30.
-If back in time, see Festival of Fantasy parade, then on to Dumbo to play on the playground and ride.
-Rest of the evening based on FP availability, wait times, and Reagan's mood.
-Dinner at Pinocchio's Village Haus around 5:30. Afterwards, play it by ear and don't push it. Go back to resort when she's tired.
-Once back, set up for tomorrow and sleep!

Wednesday, March 2nd: Epcot!
-Up at 7:45, do whatever worked best yesterday morning, aim to be at bus stop by 8:45. Arrive around 9 and in park by 9:15.
-Head to Seas pavilion and ride nemo, then let Reagan explore the aquarium.
-10:00ish- shop, explore, let Reagan lead the way.
-10:30- ride Spaceship Earth with FP+. The back to Land pavilion.
-Ride Living with the Land with FP+ around 11:15, the lunch at Sunshine seasons around 11:30.
-After lunch, back to hotel for naps. Head back around 3:30.
-Use FP+ at character spot around 3:45, then head to World Showcase. Explore until about 6-6:30 or until we're tired.
-Dinner either at epcot, or back at hotel food court. Then normal bedtime routine and set up for tomorrow before going to sleep.

Thursday, March 3rd: Hollywood studios, Epcot, and William's birthday!
-Up at 7:15, at bus by 8:15, at the park by 8:45.
- Head to Star Wars Launch Bay to meet Chewbacca and explore.
-9:30- use FP+ to get priority seating at Disney Jr Live on Stage, show starts at 9:40, over around 10.
-Use FP+ for Toy Story Midway Mania at 10:15, then Star wars shopping before heading back to the hotel.
-Lunch at the food court before naps. Afterwards, even more rest time at the hotel, maybe swimming, before heading back to Epcot for dinner.
- Take bus to epcot around 4:45, check in for dinner by 5:15- reservation at 5:25. Garden Grill!
-After dinner, head back to resort and pack as much as possible to make tomorrow easier.

Friday, March 4th: unplanned day, check out, and travel home.
-Today's plans were contingent on how Tuesday went. We initially had FPs for MK attractions, but had said if we were satisfied with our one day in MK, we would switch them to Animal Kingdom FPs and spend our last day there.
-Either way, it was the goal to be on the road shortly after lunch, and back to our house around 7pm.

I am a planner, no doubt about it. I usually over plan and over pack for every Disney trip, but this one was over the top! I wanted to find a balance between getting everything done and not over doing it. It's also different bringing along a kiddo! Besides all the stuff she just absolutely needs, I also had to pack Disney specific things. Like themed outfits, and plush characters to play with in the room. Man oh man we had lots of stuff!

Not knowing I was going to do a trip report, I didn't take many pre-trip pictures, but here are a few!
Some trip attire:


Including a raincoat, just in case.



I read a lot about preparing toddlers for Disney trips, so we watched lots of YouTube.


That's it for now. Coming up: Our first day!

*Here's hoping I'm attaching these pictures right, I'm doing everything from my phone since that's where all the pictures are!!*

 

[209Disney]

Following along!! Thinking of taking our two toddlers next winter!

 

[Disneydragonfly]

Following! Our daughter was 16 months when we took her for the first time last march. We are planning a September trip where our youngest daughter will be just about the same age as your daughter!

 

[tortilla24]

No babies on my June trip but I'm here anyway!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Following along!! Thinking of taking our two toddlers next winter!

Yay! I hope you find it helpful!

Following! Our daughter was 16 months when we took her for the first time last march. We are planning a September trip where our youngest daughter will be just about the same age as your daughter!

I really feel like it was a great age to take her, we all enjoyed it!

No babies on my June trip but I'm here anyway!

Baby-less trips are certainly fun too!

 

[nimbuscat]

Following along! I'm bringing my 20-month-old on her first trip to Disney in August!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Okay, before I dive into our first day, I wanted to throw in a few things that turned out to be really helpful for us.

- Diaper bag organization. For some reason, the diaper bag and the stroller were my 2 biggest causes of anxiety pre-trip So I went to great lengths to make them less stressful. For the diaper bag, I completely emptied it out and then made labeled Ziplocs for all of her stuff. We had one marked 'Diapering' which we kept stocked with 5 diapers. One marked 'Snacks' which, obviously, was stocked with snacks. And one marked 'Eating' which we kept stocked with 3 disposable placemats, 3 disposable bibs, and 2 spoons. We got the placemats and bibs in bulk on Amazon. Best buy ever, so convenient!! As far as snacks, Reagan has a mouthful of teeth, so we were pretty limitless. We brought mini cheeze-nips, mini vanilla wafers, and ritz-bits. All individually packaged.
We also kept a paci and paci clip, her extra outfit for the day (also in a Ziploc), a pack of wipes, and hand sanitizer. We never brought toys into the park and we never felt we needed them.
-Soft-sided cooler. Okay, really more of a bottle bag, but whatever. We kept this with us at all times. We threw her cup in there, along with extra juice or a small water/sprite/lemonade bottle, string cheese, and usually a fruit cup or apple slices we had brought with us.
-Stroller Signs. You can't be on a disboards thread longer than 2 seconds before you hear about marking your stroller and that CMs will move them. We took heed! We printed out some super awesome personalized stroller signs, put them in sheet protectors, and used string to tie them to the handles of the stroller. Was is a big balloon or a bright scarf? No, but we never had a problem finding our stroller!

-Mousekeeping envelopes. There are lots of places you can find printable ones online, but I just took regular envelopes and decorated them with markers. Then we put a $5 bill in each and packed them up. So easy just to put a pre-packaged envelope out every morning rather than search for cash!

-Ergo. Yep, I couldn't believe it. I wore Reagan a lot when she was little. But she's a big girl! I never would have thought that I would ergo her at Disney. We primarily used the stroller, but I got that ergo (buckled for a hip-hold) out more often than I thought I would. It came in handy when she wanted to be held, but my arms were tired. But mostly, it came in handy for bus rides. Remember my anxiety over the stroller? The ergo helped tremendously! I would load her up as we made our way to any bus stop, then we would basically empty out the stroller. I would wear Reagan and the smaller backpack, William would carry the diaper bag and push an empty stroller. Then, when the bus came, it was quick and easy to fold and load. It was awesome!! Disclaimer, I do not own an ergo, we borrowed one from sweet friends!

Okay, on to the fun stuff, day one!!

Despite a late night Sunday, Reagan was up and ready to play at 7:30 Monday morning! We all ate breakfast, got dressed, and we're on the road by 8:30am.
Reagan got to wear her newest Mickey shirt to celebrate the occasion: Please notice the crazy hair. I had almost given up fighting it at this point, the haircut was well timed.
We stopped around 11 for lunch at chick-fil-a in Lake city, fl. This was about the halfway point for us. William got his regular, but I got 12 grilled nuggets, thinking I could split them with Reagan. I also ordered her a fruit cup, and I brought in a string cheese for her.


She ate the cheese and fruit soooo....success?!
I thought she would enjoy playing on the playground some, and that she would burn some energy doing it. But she was having no part of it this particular afternoon, so I counted my losses and we got back on the road pretty quickly. We made sure to rub some lavender oil on her feet and give her a paci in the car, hoping for that car-nap! Thankfully, after a minimal amount of fussing, she gave it up and slept for 1.5 hours!!

About 1:00 we received the wonderful text message that our resort room was ready! We were staying at Port Orleans French Quarter for the very first time. For our honeymoon, we stayed at Riverside and walked through the FQ at some point, I think to eat dinner. We said we would want to stay there one day, and now we have! We picked this resort because of the small footprint. It's the smallest of the moderates. We have stayed at value resorts in the past, but knew we would be spending more time in the room, so a moderate was worth the extra cost. A deluxe just wasn't in the budget this trip. Anyway, we requested a room close to transportation, on the 3rd floor. Our hope was to be close, but high enough up so we didn't hear too much. We got room number 7327. So building 7 (not too close, but not too far) and 3rd floor. We got to the resort around 2:00 ( ) and went straight to our room. William used a magic band from a past trip and the door unlocked, no problem! We loved the room! We went ahead and unpacked completely and set up the pack-n-play. We had brought ours from home since Reagan is used to it and we could attach her music thing. Since I was wearing my newest magic band, the one from this trip, I thought I should just double check that it worked on the door. Good thing I did, because it didn't work! So we all headed to the check-in desk. The CMs were friendly and the lady who assisted us had no problems getting everything linked. Funny part- Reagan's band worked on the door, just not mine or William's While we waited, another CM gave Reagan a bead necklace and a doubloom to throw in the fountain, so fun!
Once we finished there, we stopped over and bought a small thing of milk from the gift shop, then headed to the room to put that up, and pack up for our night at Disney Springs. I put Reagan in the ergo before we left the room, and William pushed the empty stroller along the river to the boat. We walked up right as a boat was leaving, so we had to wait another 20 minutes. Reagan enjoyed a nice vanilla wafer snack while we waited. Here's a picture:

The large umbrella over the waiting area was convenient.

We got to DS around 3:20, got Reagan back in the stroller, and started exploring. We bought a key chain for a friend back home, and William got a shirt. I think we got Reagan's earrings then too. We also made sure to pick up a birthday button for William and a first visit button for baby girl. We tried attaching it to her shirt, but she just wanted to see 'Icky' and almost ripped a hole in her shirt. We then attached it to the stroller canopy and it stayed there all week.
We all got hungry pretty early, and figured it would be a good way to beat the crowds if we went ahead and ate so we parked the stroller outside and got in line for Earl of Sandwich at 4:45. This place is our tradition. Since our honeymoon, it's been the very first place we eat to kick off the trip, and it has yet to disappoint. We told the first guy we were on the meal plan. William ordered the chicken avocado, I ordered the club, and we ordered a side of mac and cheese for Reagan to have. We learned our first value lesson at this time When we got up to the place to pay, they told us the mac and cheese would count as a meal. Huh? We didn't order her a kids meal plan... Nope, they were going to use an adult meal plan credit to cover her food. Woah! Not what we meant to do! We explained that we wanted our meals to be deducted from the meal plan credits, and we wanted to charge her mac and cheese to the room. Changing this in the computer took a lot of time and effort. Poor CM He was eventually able to fix it though. We ate outside, it was very pleasant
After we were all full and happy, we did a bit more shopping and looking around. Reagan found a Minnie mouse bigger than she was, and was very sad to tell it bye bye. We finally got in line for the boat back home around 6:15 and we were back by 6:45. We got all of our outfits out, packed the cooler, and attached the sign to the stroller for the next day. Reagan was in bed by 7:00 and out! Most fun thing about sharing a hotel room with a toddler is getting to sit on the floor of the bathroom while they fall asleep at least the bathroom is nice!!
Overall, it was a good day! We stuck mostly to the plan, which made this type-A momma very happy.
Last notes for the day:
High point: Arriving on property!
Low point: Not much. Maybe the fit in the car before the nap?
Lesson learned: If you aren't clear, quick service restaurants will try to charge you for 3 adult meals, so be clear!!

Up next is our first day in the parks- Magic Kingdom!!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Following along! I'm bringing my 20-month-old on her first trip to Disney in August!

Yes! You'll have soooo much fun!!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Before I get started on Magic Kingdom day, here are a few pictures that did't upload on the last post. (Now I've figured it out- just took me forever!)
The infamous nap in the car ride down:


Reagan throughly enjoying her mac and cheese at EOS:


And a few travel necessities for our little family- Essential oils! We even brought the diffuser. It sure helped!!


Okay, I'll upload more pictures and actually dig into MK on the next post

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Tuesday, March 1st- Magic Kingdom Day!
Our original plan was to be up at 7:15, but William and I were both up at 6:30 and couldn't go back to sleep- we we're too excited! So we got up and got ourselves ready first, then slowly woke Reagan. She is not a morning person. Sleep is of high value to our little lady, she takes after her momma in that way . We ate breakfast in the room that day (I made muffins at home and brought them with us. As well as mini donuts and oatmeal cream pies. Only the best and most nutritious foods for us!). We made it to the bus stop at 7:45. Here's some photo evidence:

As you can see, we were getting use out of the Ergo already!

After a short wait and bus ride, we were here:


Reagan enjoyed running around pre-crowd:


We got pretty good spots to see the welcome show initially. We pulled up the stroller next to another family and let Reagan burn some energy. I remember a quick interaction with a young couple sitting close by, as Reagan tried to take their resort mugs. Anything with Mickey on it is automatically her's, right? They didn't seem to think so But they were nice and played with her. A little closer to go time, everyone was asked to move up and make room for more guest. We lost our spots, but ended up at the wall, right in the center. Still pretty great spots to see the show! We had shown the welcome show to Reagan on Youtube and she loved it. The live version was no different. When the fire chief came out, she immediately knew what was happening and got excited. They didn't run the train for the show this day, so Mickey and friends just walked out from the station. Y'all. When she saw Mickey and started yelling, "Ickey! Icky!" I almost cried. She was so happy to see him!!
After the show, we were allowed in the park. I sent a text as we were walking in and its marked for 8:50. We went in on the right side and parked the stroller by the Town Square Theatre. (First real stroller parking experience! ). Since our appointment wasn't until 9:30, we didn't need to check in until 9:15. Our plan was to buy a balloon for the stroller, but we didn't see any out this morning. Maybe it was too early? We walked up main street some, then looked around in the emporium. We got some pictures with Goofy:


And then with Minnie:

As you can see, the rising sun was causing some issues. (Dang sun, come on! We're trying to take a picture here! ). After these pictures, we noticed there was a small line forming outside of Harmony Barbershop. I knew we had an appointment, but I did have a minor, inner panic moment thinking we would be behind schedule. We headed over there and checked in. We were on the list by 9:05ish and the hostess said they would probably get her in my 9:20 and to hang close. We switched off following Reagan around, I snapped this picture when William was walking around with her:



Right at 9:20, they called Reagan's name and we went in. Pretty good since our appointment wasn't until 9:30 . This was such a great experience! Reagan was in desperate need for a haircut, we had been holding out for this trip. They got her in a chair and started with the Mickey stickers. So many Mickey stickers. Then spinning light up toys!


Continued in the next post!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Continued from last post:


When our lovely stylist was finishing up, a photo photographer walked in and was able to snap a few pictures for us. The next few pictures are a mixture of his, and ours.


The way she's looking at that lady. Like, "uhh, you want me to wear those? Are you crazy?!"



I loved the way the pictures turned out, and the haircut. It was most definitely worth the experience. She didn't even notice she was getting her hair cut I'm honestly wondering now, how toddlers get haircuts anywhere else .

Short post, but I've almost reached my 10 picture limit, and meeting Mickey is next, so I'll start a new post.

 

[DizMomAndWife]

We finished up at Harmony Barbershop at 9:40- way ahead of schedule! We had a FP+ to meet Mickey from 9:20-10:20 (Or something like that ) So we headed that way. This was probably one of the things I was looking forward to the most, but was also nervous about. I was nervous that after all her Mickey-love, she would see the real thing and totally freak. But I was really hoping she would love him, as we had scheduled Mickey time every day of our trip.
So we headed over to the theatre and jumped in the FP line. No one was ahead of us, and we got into the first holding room pretty quickly. It was in here that Reagan realized she had Mickey ears on and she didn't like it. So they were quickly removed and put away in the backpack. It was around this time we realized we hadn't brought in the paint markers for Mickey to sign the aforementioned ears. Oh well, we would have plenty of opportunities! We waited a short time in the first room before they started counting party numbers and letting folks through to the next room- where Mickey actually met. We were the last party to be allowed into the next room and if I could go back, I would have let the group behind us go ahead. Being the last group in meant that Reagan could see Mickey, but had to wait quite awhile before she could get to him. Cue toddler fit. The good news was, she wasn't afraid of Mickey! The bad news was, we had to hold her back from just running under the ropes and to her beloved hero. Turns out toddlers don't get lines, who knew? It was exhausting, and we were getting many a dirty look from other guest and even the CMs. Just a joyful time, really. When it was finally our turn, all that stress melted away.
I'll let the pictures do the talking, here's her initial reaction:


Then she was just in shock:


She did that face over and over again. She just couldn't believe she was with Mickey! He copied her pose, which was adorable, then I think I was trying to get her to give him a fist bump. Just ignore my weird face and look at the love on her's


She was so in love!


I know Mickey talked, but I could't tell you one word he said, I was too in the moment! I do, remember, however the CMs telling us not to let her touch Mickey. When we picked her up for the posed pictures, they made us put her on my outside hip. She was not a fan. I separated her from her beloved! So the posed pictures didn't turn out great:


We never had this problem the rest of the trip. None of the other handlers had a problem with her touching his nose or face. Maybe this one is different because he talks?
But hey, at least she loved him! This was certainly a highlight of the trip. Leave out the fit before, and the fit as we had to leave, and it was perfect

Up next: We check out the Baby Care center and take Reagan on her 1st ride!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

After meeting Mickey, we were definitely on cloud 9 It had gone so well! We walked through the store after the exit (And came away without buying anything ) and got our stroller. There was a CM rearranging them, of course, but this turned out to be helpful, as our had been blocked in. William managed to wiggle it out and we made our way up main street. Since we were so ahead of schedule ( I want to say we were done with Mickey around 10) and the FP for Peter Pan didn't start until 10:20, we knew we had some wiggle room. We stopped into the baby care center to go ahead and change Reagan. I had read on various websites that the baby care centers were awesome, but that doesn't even begin to describe them! The private rooms and huge changing tables made it much easier. We are very appreciative of this service . We got done there pretty quickly and checked wait times. We decided we could squeeze Its a Small World in before Peter Pan, and maybe get an early lunch. The wait for IASM world was only 10 minutes, so we headed that direction. We parked the stroller around Rapunzel's tower (The absolute craziest stroller parking!) and just grabbed the essentials. I got worried when I saw they were using the extended queue, but we were on fairly quick. Reagan is usually a pretty well behaved kid, and very interested in her surroundings, so I wasn't too worried about her on rides. She absolutely loved it!

She sat still and just looked all around, pointing things out. (BTW these pictures are stamped for 10:20 and then 10:30, so we were doing really well on time!)
First ride definitely did not disappoint.
When we got through here, we walked right across to use our FPs at Peter Pan. Same thing here, she loved it and sat still the whole time! She was very interested in the black lights on the ceiling . After peter pan, we stopped by the stroller, grabbed necessities, and I went to change Reagan in the rapunzel bathrooms. While not up to baby care center levels, it got the job done. I love that there always seemed to be a paper towel dispenser close. I would just get a long sheet and make that my changing pad, worked great! While I did that, William got the bottle bag and 'eating' bag out of the diaper bag and put them in our backpack. We didn't bring the whole bag because, who needs other things (Like wipes) for lunch with a toddler?!
The plan was to head to Columbia Harbor House. I had read that they opened at 10:30, and since it was about 10:45ish, we were good, right? Wrong. I guess because it was the off season, they weren't opening until 11:30. We went in though, and were very confused at why there weren't more people there. Duh! So we went back out and debated our next move. We were definitely hungry, and schedule wouldn't allow for waiting until 11:30. We had planned on Pinocchio's village haus for dinner, so maybe that was an option? They didn't open until 11 though. There was Peco Bill's close by, maybe there? Eh. I knew I wanted Columbia Harbor House at some point, so I was fine making it our new dinner spot. But William had been looking forward to Pinocchio's. So off we went. We eyed out a table over looking IASW, but had to get in line to order. We had a few minutes until opening, so we were able to look at the menu. Turns out William had been looking forward to the pastas they serve at dinner, but wasn't in the mood for the sandwiches at lunch. Whoops! But he settled for chicken nuggets. We still hadn't mastered the whole 'ordering quick service with a baby' thing. But we were learning slowly. I went first and ordered mine and William's meals, scanned my band, and used dining credits. Then William ordered Reagan's kid's meal, and charged it to the room. That part worked out great! Now the question was- How do we get 2 trays of food and a toddler back to the table? My idea was, I'll take the toddler and the backpack, William brings the food. Genius right? So that's what happened. I got us an awesome table over looking IASM, got Reagan a high chair, put down her placemat, got a bib on her, pulled out her string cheese, and waited for William to arrive. I kept an eye out for him so he wouldn't wonder around forever. But here is where my plan went awry. I had thought the CMs would realize what he was doing, and help him out by putting everything on one tray. Apparently no body told them what I was thinking. Crazy, right? So William comes around the corner balancing 2 trays full of food and 2 large drinks. I went to help him as soon as I could, seeing as I didn't want to leave Reagan unattended. But he handled it like a champ, My hero!
We got settled and ate. I had the pepperoni flatbread, it was tastier than I was expecting . As mentioned, William got nuggets and fries, and we had ordered reagan an uncrustables kid's meal. Man, those kid's meals come with a ton of food! She got the sandwich, apple slices, carrot sticks, yogurt, and a drink! That much food probably could have fed her for days She dug right in on the sandwich, and it was about this time I realized our mistake of not bringing the wipes. Well, this was going to be interesting! She finished most of the sandwich, as well as the string cheese. We debated the apple slices, but they had the peel on them, and seeing as she had never had an apple with the peel on it, I didn't want to risk a choking hazard on the first day of our trip We put the yogurt in the cooler to save for later. We got her cleaned up by wiping the condensation off of our cups and creating our own wet wipes. Gotta do what you gotta do, right? As we were packing up to go, I noticed 2 things. 1- there seemed to be 2 families about to battle it out for our table. I wanted to stay and watch, but we were on a schedule. 2- Reagan was pooping. So we, once again, stopped by rapunzel's bathrooms for a diaper change. After she was all clean, it was on to Haunted Mansion! I had heard mixed reviews on this ride with little ones, but my opinion was (and still is) that she was just too young to be scared. She doesn't know what a ghost is, so how does she know to be afraid? Plus, it's one of mine and William's favorites. We took the Marceline to MK tour on our anniversary the May before this trip and got to go behind the scenes and under the HM. Very cool. So, we jumped in the FP line and were in the stretching room in no time. Reagan was being exceptionally good at this point, I imagine it was just Disney magic We made it through the stretching room with no screams or fussing and were on into the hallway. Reagan especially liked the wall. That's a fun wall. We boarded our doom buggy and went on our way. Reagan immediately settled and started taking it all in. Or so I thought. I was talking her through the scenes, "Oh wow Rea, look! A piano!" and about the time we got to the upside down stairwell scene, I looked down to see she was out. I mean OUT. Snoring and all. I guess it wasn't being scared I needed to worry about, but being bored! We had to grab a picture on the way out to document how she felt about her first ride on mommy and daddy's favorite attraction:

Ha! It still makes me laugh! The moment that followed, however, not so much. I learned another important lesson this morning.
We honestly didn't know what to do at this moment. Reagan hadn't fallen asleep in public in months! We wanted to stick to the schedule as much as possible though, so on we went. we grabbed the stroller and headed to a shady spot over by the Peter Pan meet. I told William I thought if I was careful, I could get her in the ergo with minimal-waking and then she could sleep in the ergo while we did our thing and rode the bus back. Me and my bright ideas. It actually may have worked, if my hand hadn't slipped in the process, causing me to hit her in the back of the head. Whoops! But we got her ergo'd and got her paci out. Maybe she'll be merciful and go back to sleep like we planned? Nope.
So we made our way to the FP kiosks by diamond horseshoe and waited to make our 4th FP selection. We elected for meeting Ariel from 4:50-5:50 that afternoon. We headed out through adventure land (wave hello now, because we won't be seeing it again this trip!) and to the buses back to the resort.

Up next: Do we all get great afternoon naps? Spoiler: No.

 

[tortilla24]

Oh my goodness Reagan's reaction to Mickey.... Glad it was such a good start!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

We got back to the resort around 12:30 and set up for nap time. We put lavender on Reagan's feet, turned off lights, and took our spots on the bathroom floor . When that didn't work, we tried to lead by example and act like we were taking naps too. That didn't work either. We finally admitted defeat and got ready to go back to the MK. We were back around 2, and had absolutely no plan! We had thought about Dumbo, especially since they now have the indoor playground and it would be nice to get a break from the heat, but the wait was 40 minutes. We wondered around storybook circus and finally decided on meeting the characters back there. i had thought there were two separate waits. One of goofy and donald and another for daisy and minnie, but all 4 were meeting together. This had a 40 minute wait as well, so we just made sure to have snacks and juice for the wait. When we got close, we got out Reagan's ear hat and the paint pens. We had to get the pens going before we handed them to the characters, so its a good thing I looked at the directions. That would have been embarrassing! The wait seemed to take longer than 40 minutes, but we didn't time it. W kept Reagan happy with snacks, her hat, pointing out the characters we were about to meet, etc. If we had gotten desperate, we could have pulled out the phone and looked at youtube or taken selfies, but thankfully it wasn't that bad. Once we got started, it went really quick.
Goofy was up first:

Reagan was semi-interested in him. He wasn't wearing his signature hat, so maybe they through her off There's a stuffed goofy in her classroom at church and the volunteers tell me every week how much she loves that thing .

Next up was Donald. He was pretty fun!


He got a few tickles in, and signed her hat as "Donald Duck, #1!" Haha!

Then it was off to Daisy. While she's a fan of her at home, she was not at all interested in this version:


Minnie was next. Reagan loves Minnie, so I was hoping this would be fun for her. I wasn't disappointed!


We put her down and she ran (as fast as her little legs can) to meet her. She stumbled on the way:



But Minnie made it better


The photographers here were great, and so patient with her! Reagan was very interested in Minnie's pokadots. She didn't fuss when we had to leave either, so that was an added bonus. We left there and stopped in the bathrooms near by for a quick diaper change. When we got out, it was a little after 3. We debated trying to make our way to Main Street for the Festival of Fantasy parade, but the wait at Dumbo had dropped down to 10 minutes, and we couldn't pass that up! We re-parked the stroller and got in line for Dumbo. We didn't even stop walking through the line until we go to the outside area right before loading. Funny moment happened here- We set Reagan down and let her explore right around us in line. She grabbed the pant leg of a random woman, thinking it was me, then got really confused To top it off, right after this, a little boy behind us in line grabbed my leg and held on, thinking I was his mom. Poor guy, he was pretty embarrassed. It was still funny though . Reagan enjoyed Dumbo, but I actually got a little dizzy. I think I just needed a snack . When we got off, we grabbed the stroller, and gave Reagan her cup. We laid the stroller back because the sun was in her eyes, and made our way to Gaston's Tavern. Gotta have that Lafou's brew! When we in and in line to order, I left William and took the stroller to go find a table. I looked down and saw Reagan was almost asleep. I grabbed a table in the corner and quickly switched the cup for the paci.
Success:


We sat and enjoyed our snack while she got a quick nap in. It was very pleasant

Up next: The rest of our afternoon at MK!

 

[amberdc1987]

I can't wait to read more! Your daughter is adorable and the pictures of her meeting Mickey and Minnie had me in tears (especially the one of her looking up at Minnie). I can't wait to see the rest of her character encounters (I predict more tears). She seems like a very well behaved baby and just kind of goes with the flow. Keep it coming.

 

[heaven2dc]

Your little daughter is super adorable! Love her reaction to the characters - especially Minnie Mouse <3

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Oh my goodness Reagan's reaction to Mickey.... Glad it was such a good start!

I just melted!

I can't wait to read more! Your daughter is adorable and the pictures of her meeting Mickey and Minnie had me in tears (especially the one of her looking up at Minnie). I can't wait to see the rest of her character encounters (I predict more tears). She seems like a very well behaved baby and just kind of goes with the flow. Keep it coming.

Her interactions with the characters made the trip worth it! Thank you so much!

Your little daughter is super adorable! Love her reaction to the characters - especially Minnie Mouse <3

We were not disappointed!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Loving your report so far! Reagan is adorable!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

We left off while Reagan was getting a little power nap in at Gaston's Tavern. We sat and enjoyed our snack for awhile, then ventured into the Beauty and the Beast themed store across the way. We got Reagan a Beauty and the Beast little golden book. It's my favorite! We debated waking her, as we wanted to ride Journey Under the Sea before we meet Ariel, but we knew she needed to nap, so we let her sleep as we headed back to story brook circus. We did some shopping there and then headed back through fantasyland, without any plan in place. Luckily, we were right in front of Journey of the Little Mermaid when she started waking up. We parked the stroller, got her out, and hopped in line. It was 4:40, and there was a 15 minute posted wait, so the timing was pretty good . The wait must have been shorter than that, probably more like 5 minutes. She still wasn't totally awake, so she was pretty cranky. But once we got going and all the music started, she really like it! We went straight from there into the FP line for the Ariel meet and greet. I didn't look to see how long the stand-by wait was, but we waited longer than I am used to for FP. Reagan was entertained by the shells in the concrete, and the rock walls. When she got tired of that, we kept her entertained by taking turns wearing her ears. We finally made it in for Reagan to meet her first princess.

Ariel was sweet, but Reagan could't have cared less. We knew our time with a happy baby was coming to a close, so we quickly grabbed the stroller, stopped in for a diaper change, and made our way to Columbia Harbor House. William ordered chicken nuggets, I meant to order the fish and chicken combo, but I accidentally ordered the shrimp plate. Whoops! It was really good though, so happy surprise! Reagan had string cheese, fruit, and juice we brought with us. I also got the tea and lemonade slush as my drink- it was delicious! We're big fans of Columbia Harbor House. It is usually quiet and cool, and the food is pretty yummy as well . Reagan was in a better mood after dinner, and we may have been able to stay a little longer, but we didn't want to push it, so we headed towards the exit. We were able to get a few castle pictures in on the way out though!


One good thing about leaving after dinner is that the busses are pretty empty, making them way more pleasant We got back around 6:30 and got Reagan in bed. She feel asleep quick, I guess we wore her out!

The next day: Epcot!

We had another early morning. Got up and dressed, then headed to the hotel food court for breakfast. Since we had the quick service meal plan, but had booked a table service meal later in the week, we had 2 extra meals. We decided to use one this morning to get a breakfast platter to split between us. We also got Reagan the kid's version of the same thing for $5. The adult platter included eggs, mickey waffles, bacon, french toast, and a hash brown. Plenty for the both of us! Reagan's had eggs, mickey waffles, and fruit, so she was a happy camper too:


William went back to the room to put our cups away (We're not fans of bringing them into the parks) and I was trying to get a picture of Reagan's Epcot shirt. This is the best I could do:

Gotta love toddlers!

So off to Epcot we went! We weren't in any sort of hurry to get there, and didn't make it by rope drop. Once we got in and through security, we headed for stroller parking by the Land pavilion. We parked the stroller and headed for Nemo:

I took that picture at 9:28, so I'm guessing we were on the ride by 9:30. There was no wait. Reagan enjoyed looking at the fishes. She sat in between us for most of the ride, but got a little scared of the shark and wanted to sit in my lap from then on. Once we got done there, we explored the aquariums a bit. We had never done this before, but Reagan seemed to enjoy roaming around. She probably would have been just as happy without the fish, but at least we had something to look at while she stretched her legs
I took this picture at 9:45:

We left right after this. This is when I made my first bad decision of the day. Since flower and garden festival had just started, we wanted to explore some of the special playgrounds. I wasn't sure of where they are, but we wouldn't need the stroller, right? Bad choice. We walked past imagination and towards the world showcase on some sidewalks I had never walked before. There were some gardens set up, looked pretty interesting, lots of pretty flowers . We finally spotted the new musical playground around the corner, right before the world showcase on the Canada side. We noticed the sign that the playground was for 2-5 year olds, but went in anyway Reagan is big for her age, right? She didn't make it too far in before she got distracted by the grass. It was some pretty thick astroturf, and part of it was painted yellow, obviously a show stopper!
She did play with the xylophone some though:


We were probably here under 5 minutes, so definitely worth the long walk over there, right? We went from there to the baby care center for a quick diaper change. Well, it would have been quick, if the baby care center wasn't waaaaay over there. Man, I was really regretting that no stroller decision at this point! We went from there into innovations, purely for some rest and AC, that long walk had gotten us! Reagan and I walked around while William walked back to the Land to get the stroller. Such a servant!
Reagan enjoyed playing with the dots on the floor:

She also liked the leaves on the wall behind her.
Once William got back, we headed to mouse gears and did some shopping.

Up next: Spaceship earth, lunch, and a nap!