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

[DizMomAndWife]

Loving your report so far! Reagan is adorable!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Loving your report! That is the exact week we are planning for 2017! We will have an 8 year old and a 2.5 year old, so it's awesome reading about how your dd is handling it all. Down to the first hair cut there if we can hold out that long!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Loving your report! That is the exact week we are planning for 2017! We will have an 8 year old and a 2.5 year old, so it's awesome reading about how your dd is handling it all. Down to the first hair cut there if we can hold out that long!

It was a great time of the year to go! The weather was wonderful, and the crowds were manageable. Your trip will be so much fun! Especially if you can hold out for the haircut. We loved that!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Epcot day continued

When we got done shopping, we parked the stroller somewhere (Although neither of us remember where) and walked over to Spaceship earth. We had FPs so we got right in with no wait. We had read before about holding your child up in front of your face so the picture is of them. We tried this, successfully! Reagan really enjoyed this ride. She kept pointing at things and babbling on and on. When the time machine flipped and we started going backwards, we had planned to let her "choose the future" by playing with the touch screen. She had zero interest though. It was also harder than I expected to lift her up to the screen. I guess because we were leaning backwards and gravity was doing it's thing? But she had a pretty good future, picked by her daddy (which I'm sure he would prefer to do in real life too ). When we got done there, we picked up the stroller from wherever we had left it and headed towards the Land again. We re-parked and re-gathered our supplies. I think we made sure we had diapers, wipes, her cooler, and her eating bag. So really, most of the diaper bag supplies were thrown in to our backpack. So glad we brought that bulky diaper bag . We had FPs next for Living with the Land so we marched up the hill. We first stopped in for bathroom break/diaper change, then headed downstairs for the ride. It was a good thing we had FPs because this line was actually pretty long! Reagan liked this one okay. She's pretty fascinated by trees. Towards the end though, she was done. It probably didn't help that she was getting hungry. We went straight from there into Sunshine Seasons for lunch. William ordered the grilled pork chop with mashed potatoes, and I ordered the grilled salmon with green beans. For dessert, William got the chocolate mouse cake, and I got cheesecake without the topping. I should have gotten the topping, the cake was pretty bland without it. That must be why its served with a topping Haha. Reagan had string cheese and fruit. She also got a few taste of William's cake and loved it!

I have to add that I felt like super-mom at one point during this lunch break. William was checking out, so I had Reagan and the backpack and was responsible for grabbing a table. I guess I could have just waited next to a table for William to come, but I decided I was going to do it all myself when I spotted the high chairs a ways away. I, with a baby on my hip and a backpack on my back, grabbed a high chair off a stack 3 chairs high, then carried it back to the table. I was pretty proud of myself .
During lunch, we discussed the afternoon. I was wanting to try something different than the plans. Since she had fallen asleep twice at MK yesterday, I thought she may do that again today. I proposed that we get her in the stroller, give her her cup, and walk around until she passes out. That way we would have more time to enjoy the World Showcase. William seemed skeptical, but went along with it. We got back to the stroller and implemented our plan. At first, it seemed that it may work! She was laying back, eyes closed, drinking her juice. We headed back towards the fountain and William said he would run into Starbucks to get our Epcot mug (3/4 of our collection complete!). I thought this was a perfect plan. I could sit in the shade by the character spot while Reagan fell asleep, right? Wrong.
This is the face that greeted me when I sat down and looked in the stroller:

There went my dream of exploring the WS with a sleeping toddler. At least she was happy, right? That picture was taken at 12:30, and we left the park immediately after. We were back quickly and she was asleep by 1:15ish. I remember being very impatient during this nap time and wanting to get back to the park. I volunteered to go to the food court to refill our mugs just so I could get out and do something.
I spotted this guy on my walk:

It was actually pretty terrifying, this thing was huge! But I survived, and completed my mission of hydration When I got back, it was a little after 2 and Reagan was still asleep. Then I made a dumb decision. We slowly and as nicely as possible, started waking Reagan up after she'd been asleep an hour. What was I thinking? She handled it well, and we got ready to head back to Epcot. I noticed she was getting fussy, and more than normal 'I just woke up from a nap and I don't want to be awake' fussy. There were actual tears, and her eyes were all puffy. Hmm, wonder what that could be? But we told ourselves she would be better when she saw Mickey and we went on our way. We got back to the park around 3:15ish. I sent a text updating my mom on everything around 3:25 as I was sitting outside Starbucks, once again. William had gone in to get us a coffee as a little afternoon pick-me-up. We sat there and drank our coffee and fed Reagan a snack while we waited for our FP window to open up. I was still seeing tears, but Reagan wasn't fussing anymore, so I just dismissed it. Maybe the sun was making her eyes water? (Spoiler- I remembered the next morning that I had been completely forgetting to give her her nightly allergy medicine! No wonder he eyes were puffy and watering. Poor kid ) Our FP for character spot was at 3:45 and we were in line right at that time. This set up was much better than the previous Mickey meeting. We were behind a wall until right before our turn, meaning Reagan couldn't see Mickey until it was actually her turn to meet him. The pictures start at 3:56, so we didn't have to wait long.
This was a very successful meet and greet, despite the red cry eyes and short nap. We let Reagan down so she could approach Mickey and she just ran to him.


She wanted to show him her shoes, of course.

Then she got some hugs, and posed for a picture


The posed picture cracks me up. She is actually saying cheese there, and it posing like a big girl!

From there, we quickly met goofy- she still wasn't very interested in him, but they did share a laugh

Yes, she's laughing here, even if it looks like she's screaming at him.

I've almost reached my 10 picture limit, so I'll continue in the next post. Cliff hanger: remember all that juice she's been drinking? Yeah that was a bad idea...

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Continued from previous post

After Goofy was beloved Minnie!



She loved seeing her old friend again!

We were out around 4:00, got the stroller, and headed for the WS. We once again thought maybe Reagan would stroller nap. She seemed tired. So we played her back, gave her juice, and headed towards Mexico. We peaked down at one point and she was wide awake. So we got her out and hopped on the ride in Mexico. Maybe she'll fall asleep on the ride! Yeah right. But she did enjoy it, and came off with a very wet diaper. We grabbed the stroller and turned around heading for the baby care center. It may be inconvenient to just about everywhere else, but it sure is close to mexico! We changed her diaper and went back to WS. We did some looking in Germany, but mostly just scanned the pavilions as we walked by. Seeing the topiaries was fun. Once we got around Italy, Reagan was just done. She wouldn't take her paci, she wouldn't take juice, she was done. She even chunked her paci overboard at one point and William had to go on a hunt. We knew she was tired, plus the sun was in her eyes, so we finally gave up. We booked it back though to the front of the WS and through future world towards the busses. When we got in line for the bus back to the resort, Reagan seemed to be happier. I went to get her out of the stroller so we would be ready when the bus pulled up. That's when we noticed it. Cue the most embarrassing parenting moment of the entire trip Remember all that juice Reagan had been drinking? Huge blowout! Poop everywhere!! I wanted to sink into the ground. We quickly got out of line and just tried to get out of the way. The bus stop was too far from any bathroom to even think about going back, but we were also too far from any large sidewalk. We got as far out of the way as we could and started doing something I never thought I wold do- changing my kid in the stroller! So there we were. Covered in poop (All 3 of us at this point), in the middle of a walkway (Not really, but it felt like it) changing a very mobile toddler , while everyone walked by looking at us like we were the worst parents in the world. It was horrible. We cleaned it up as best we could, got her changed into clean clothes and the others thrown in a ziplock, cleaned the stroller, got Reagan in the ergo, and got back in line with our heads hanging.
Once we got on the bus, Reagan was in a great mood! I guess I would have been upset if I had that much poop all over me too. But she was in a great mood now! We stopped in the food court for dinner once we got back. William had the chicken quesadilla, he said it was really good! I had the bistro grilled chicken sandwich and it was absolutely delicious. We ordered Reagan the kid's meal of mac and cheese, she really enjoyed it.

The pictures were taken at 6:15. We left dinner and went back for an early bedtime. I sent a text to my mom at 7:30, so she must have been asleep or almost asleep by then. My mom gently reminded us that all the poop was probably due to the insane amount of juice she as having. I wanted to keep her hydrated, so I hadn't even thought of that consequence. We decided the next few days would consist of more sprite and lemonade for the little princess.

Next up: Day 3- Hollywood Studios, a birthday, and dinner with Mickey!

 

[amberdc1987]

Wow. Y'all had a busy day at Epcot. We have all done what you did once or twice. Babies always have blowout diapers and the most inconvenient times. At least you were able to get her all cleaned up. I can't wait to hear more keep it coming.

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Wow. Y'all had a busy day at Epcot. We have all done what you did once or twice. Babies always have blowout diapers and the most inconvenient times. At least you were able to get her all cleaned up. I can't wait to hear more keep it coming.

Yes, we did! We were surprised almost every day by how much we were able to get done. Thank you! We definitely felt like the worst parents ever, but I'm sure it won't be the last time

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Before I dive into the next day, let me put my takeaways from day 2 (Epcot day)!
The high: Seeing the fishes!
The low: poop blowout of the century
The lesson: Don't wake a kid up from a nap! Also, give kid's their medicine! Also, check you kid's diaper every 2 seconds!
Lots of lessons from day 2!


The next morning we were up around 7. Reagan was in a great mood! But her eyes were still watery, I hadn't put 2 and 2 together yet on the allergy thing. We had breakfast in the room this day. Reagan had yogurt and cheerios. Have you ever tried to feed yogurt and cheerios to a toddler who just wants to run around the room? Yeah, its difficult. I finally got the bright idea to put her in the stroller That worked much better! We had breakfast, sunscreen'd up, and headed to the bus stop. This day was a stressful day at the bus stop. At POFQ, there are 2 bus hubs. One has busses going to MK, and HS (I think). The other hub had AK, Epcot, and maybe Disney Springs. We took our seats on the bench in the MK/HS hub. There was a CM walking around who I'm guessing was supposed to help direct and control the crowds. He just made things worse . There were a ton of people headed to the MK that day. A ton! He asked anyone going to the MK to come as far forward as possible, without crossing the yellow line. SO they did. This, obviously, created a sort of line for when the busses pulled up. People kept coming from the resort, making the line longer, even spilling into the other bus hub. But it was a definite line, none the less. The first MK buss pulled up and started loading from the front of the line. It took as many guest as it could, then left. Another one pulled up shortly after and did the same thing. The we saw a HS bus, and a MK bus pull up at the same time. The HS pulled up first and stopped right in front of the hub, where the start of the MK line was (Stay with me here). Since everyone for MK was still crowded onto the yellow line, this left us few HS people to push through to make our way to the bus. Due to the people-pushing and navigating I was having to do, I hadn't noticed, but apparently the CM told the other MK bus to go ahead and start loading from the middle of the line (it had pulled up behind the HS bus). The people at eh front of the line (that we were now pushing though) were not happy. I don't blame them! They had just waited through 2 busses, had finally gotten to the front of the line, and the CM was letting people in the middle of the line board first. Yeah, I would have been mad too!

Rant over.
So we got on our bus and made it to HS around 8:40. It was at some point on the bus that I realized I had left my phone in the room Man, oh man. So the pictures I post from today are actually from William's phone. When we went though security, the guy who searched our bags was having a good morning He was laughing and making jokes, when he searched our diaper bag he kept complimenting me in how organized it was Thanks, I try. By the time we got to the mickey scanners, they were already letting people in. We got stopped in the middle of the main street there, and I stole William's phone to take this picture:


Our goal was the Star Wars Launch Bay. We got on our way and we were in animation courtyard around 8:55. I wasn't sure where stroller parking was, so I asked a CM and she graciously offered to take it for me and park it outside the arch. So sweet This is where we got confused. I had ready on easywdw.com that there were 2 ways to enter the Launch Bay. You could sit through a short 'movie' about all the movies, or you could go straight in. We had no interest in the movie. We were kind of in a rush (we wanted to meet chewy! ) and I guess we didn't pay close enough attention. I also head a CM tell another guest that the characters hadn't arrived yet, but he could watch the movie and they should be there after. So, in a way, I kinda felt like we were being 'herded' into the movie. That's where we ended up, anyway. Whoops. This was my 1st experience trying to keep a 14 month old quiet for a movie. Yeah, it didn't go so great. We sat on the last row, at the very end. The exit was close by, and the walkway, so we just kinda camped there and let her run around. Another parent joined us at one point, it appeared they had made the same mistake. They played together for a little while until the movie was finally over and we could go. It was cool walking around and seeing how they had transformed this area. Chewy still wasn't there yet (we had a CM tell us the millennium falcon had some issues and was running behind ) Kylo Ren was there, but seeing as we hadn't seen episode 7 yet, we had no interest in her. We could either play video games, or walk through to cantina. I think we may have been the first people there. It was empty aside from a few CMs and the jawas. Oh the jawas. They were incredibly creepy. You can't see they face except for 2 glowing eyes, and they carry those plastic clappers around clapping in people's faces. Reagan didn't seem to mind them at first, until they used their creepy skinny black hands to tickle her. Then she was done. We did manage to get a picture though.


After the picture, we made for the exit. Another family was coming in and wanted to get a picture. Unfortunately, the jawas had taken an interest in Reagan and instead of leaving us to take a picture with other guest, they followed us all the way out to the next room. We thought it was kinda funny, kinda weird. Reagan was not a fan though. We were definitely were the first people into the next few rooms. We quickly looked a some of the memorabilia and merchandise, then left. When we got back into animation court yard, we were trying to decide where to go next. Suddenly, 2 storm troopers were coming at us from across the courtyard. They yelled at us to halt, then demanded to see William's ID. Well this was a predicament, who carries their ID into the parks anymore? They stood around for awhile while William tried coming up with an alternative (Uhh will you accept a picture on my phone?) and they finally gave up and told us to move along. In hindsight, i should have used the force to tell them William was not the rebel they were looking for Oh well! We stopped in the studio store to kill some time. There was lot's of Disney Jr merchandise here, so Reagan enjoyed looking around at her friends.

The kiddo is awake, so this report is being cut short! Up next though: The rest of our morning at HS!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Loving your report and my child is 18!!!! But Reagan is so darned cute!!! I like your writing style and your pictures too. Following along!!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Loving your report and my child is 18!!!! But Reagan is so darned cute!!! I like your writing style and your pictures too. Following along!!

Thank you! Glad to have you!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

After killing time in the store, it was finally 9:25 and our FP seating for Disney Jr Live on Stage was open. We didn't have to wait too long before they started letting us in, and there were tvs in line playing the hot dog song, so Reagan was a happy camper When we got inside, we chose spots in the middle, with just one family in front of us. These ended up being great spots! We had to wait until 9:40, and as we were sitting on the floor, it was pretty difficult to keep Reagan still. Thankfully, everyone around us had little ones too and they were all being wiggly. Being surrounded by moms and dads of other preschoolers definitely helped! I had kids bumping into me, my kid was bumping into them, and we were all okay with it It was nice.

Here's a few pictures I took pre-show:


Once the show got going, Reagan seemed to enjoy it. We watch lots of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Doc McStuffins, and some Sofia the First at our house, so she recognized those characters. She was even tolerant of Jake and the Neverland Pirates, although he didn't hold her attention like the others. There were a few times where the kids were invited to stand and dance, or pop the bubbles, Reagan wasn't too into that, and just sat in our laps most of the time. Sometime during the show was when I realized I had been forgetting to give Reagan her allergy medicine. I asked William to remind me to get it for her before nap! We got out around 10:00 and went on the hunt for our stroller. When we got on the other side of the arch leading into the animation courtyard, we were surrounded by strollers! It took a keen eye and some hunting skills, but thanks to our handy stroller sign, we finally found it!

We loaded up and headed towards Toy Story Midway Mania. We were still a little early for our FPs, but we parked the stroller in that area anyway. We had seen the spot to meet Sorcerer Mickey close by, so we hopped in line. Reagan wasn't having it though, and we didn't make it in. She kept wandering off when we sat her down, but would scream when we picker her up. We finally gave up and got out of line. We headed back to TSMM and got in the FP line. We were boarded within 10 minutes. Reagan enjoyed playing with the 3D glasses while we waited . I really thought she would enjoy this ride, I was wrong. I didn't remember it being that jerky, but I felt like I was having to hold on to her pretty tight as we whipped around. Maybe that was the problem? Or the 3D scared her? Or maybe she was just tired and cranky? Who knows. But we were happy when it was over.

When we got through there, we loaded her up in her stroller, gave her her cup (Of Sprite ) and headed to do some Star Wars shopping. We fix came across Watto's Grotto. We had never been in here, but it is set up super cute! We found lots of fun stuff, but didn't buy anything. Mike and Sully were meeting right outside, and when we came out, there was no one in line. We parked the stroller and quickly jumped in. Reagan has watched Monsters Inc maybe once. Maybe. So she had no idea who they were. Also, she was eating a cookie. But it was still an okay meet and greet.
Here are the pictures:

Mike tried to take her cookie:



We had to exit out the back and then walk all the way around to the stroller, so Reagan and I hung out in a little store by Studio Catering Co while William walked back to grab the stroller. We found a Princes Leia Minnie while we were there! Obviously we had to get that. Reagan loved it, and she already had a Jedi Mickey at home, so this was perfect. We went from here to the store at the exit of Star Tours. Tatooine Traders..? We found a set of pins for William's bosses kid's, but that was all. We headed towards the exit at this point, ready to get back and get Reagan rested up. When we got back up to the main street, there was a CM character there- one of the citizens of hollywood. She spotted William's birthday button and made a bee-line for him. She was yelling "WILLIAM! William!" but he had a one track mind, so I had to stop him. She said, "William! Oh I'm so glad I caught you! I'm Betty Shambles, so sorry I'm late! I've got to sing you your birthday song though!" She the proceeded to use her accordion to play and sing along to the Happy Birthday song. All of this took place right there on the main drag, and in-between two of the main stores. It was hilarious! William is pretty much the opposite of an attention hog, and he was pretty embarrassed, but he was a goos sport and we both laughed about it. Gotta love the pixie dust moments! .

We went from here into the baby care center to get Reagan changed before we headed back. This center is in such a weird spot. We got her changed and let her watch a little Doc Mcstuffins before heading for the busses. We just missed a POFQ one, so we got in line. A bus pulled up not too long later, but it was going back to POR. We said we didn't mind walking back from there, and jumped on. We were the only people on this bus, it was nice . When we got back, we walked though the lobby and out the back to head back to our resort. It was fun to cut through here, it brought back lots of good memories from our honeymoon! It was also a really nice day, weather wise. The walk back ended up being very pleasant.
I snagged this picture on the way:


We stopped by our room to grab our mugs, (and my phone) then headed on to the food court. William ordered a cheeseburger, and I ordered nuggets. Reagan ate off our plates, and I'm sure she had fruit and cheese as well. We got through and I got Reagan outside while William refilled our mugs to have during nap.
Reagan was entertained by her shoes:


Oh that chubby belly hanging out... I took this picture at 12:50, so despite minimal activity, it was still a pretty long morning. We got back to the room and got her down for a nap. She ended up sleeping for over 2 hours, and we were definitely not going to wake her!


Up next: Our afternoon at Epcot, and dinner with Mickey at Garden Grill!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Reagan had a good nap- over 2 hours! She was up just before 3:30 and we quickly got ready to leave. I as so anxious to get back to Epcot, it may be my favorite park! Reagan was in a great mood! Her allergies were better, she was rested, and ready to go have fun! We got back to Epcot a little after 4. Since we were all in good moods, we were able to get a picture on the way in:


William and Reagan were still in their Star Wars gear. I guess we didn't plan that too well

I remember getting in to the park and thinking we had right at an hour before we needed to check in for our reservation. It was at 5:20, so we needed to check in just after 5. We didn't want to ruin our dinner, but we wanted a little snack. We headed towards test track and bought a pretzel from a cart there. We snacked on that while we walked back to mouse gears and did some more shopping. It always makes me sad when I can't send things back to the resort because I'm not staying at least 2 more nights Once we had our fill of shopping, we headed towards the Land. We parked the stroller, hiding our gifts and pulling out things we would need for dinner, then went on in. We changed Reagan, then went ahead and checked in. It was right at 5, so we were still a little early. We got our buzzer and figured we would just let Reagan walk around and burn some energy while we waited. However, our buzzer went off almost immediately! We were seated at a lower level table that, at the time, was close to the front. They told us it would take about an hour to do the full rotation, which was perfect. We ended up being right back at the front when we were done! Since the walkways are narrow and the characters walk by, they couldn't give us a high chair, but Reagan did surprisingly well in just a booster. I think I only had to stable her once or twice. Pluto was walking by when we were being seated, but he didn't stop, probably thought we needed a moment to get settled, we appreciated that . We pulled out the placemat and bib, but seeing as Reagan had just had a snack, we knew she wouldn't eat much of the actual dinner. She was here for the friends, not the food. . Shortly after we got settled, Mickey came by and sat down next to Reagan. It was about this time that I realized the way we sat was going to be problematic. I was at a really bad angle for pictures. I could have switched with William, or gotten him to take the pictures, but I didn't do either, we just made do.
Here's a few pictures to start us off (Because I have very little idea as to which pictures go with which interaction):


This was our very first character meal ever, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but these were such fun interactions! Way more informal and relaxed. If we didn't get to do anything else, just this meal would have made the entire trip worth it . Rolls came out pretty quickly. We both enjoyed the honey butter! I also really enjoyed the salad. I mean, I probably could have eaten the entire bowl myself. This could very well be attributed to the fact that after 3 days in Disney parks, my body was in desperate need for something green! . We gave Reagan some string cheese since she wasn't interested in the rolls. The characters just kept coming.
Here are a few more:


Pluto got some fist pounds. And I think he was signing her hat in that first one.
Our food came out pretty quickly. Reagan enjoyed the mac and cheese topped with goldfish. I remember really liking the steak. And the mashed potatoes. And the broccoli, yum!! Reagan was mostly enjoying interactions with the characters though.
Mickey tried to eat her cheese at one point:


And the chipmunks got in some tickles:


I learned during this meal that red nose chipmunk= Dale and black nose= Chip. Learn something new every day! Also, chip didn't stop by very often, he would just keep walking. This was fine, Reagan couldn't tell the difference . Pluto was fun too. Reagan offered him some of her food and he motioned that he was full. There was also one interaction with Mickey when he tried to take her stuffed Mickey. She wasn't letting go though! silly kid. I made sure to tell the real Mickey that he was her absolute favorite and that "Ickey" had been one of her first words. He swooned. Good thing Minnie wasn't around. The CMs/characters here were just awesome. They made the meal. Reagan was so at ease with each of the characters and treated them like they were just old friends who had stopped by to eat with her. We loved it!

Since it was William's birthday, he got a special birthday cupcake with a candle in it. They even offered to sing, but he said no thank you. They did give him a card signed by all the characters though, along with some mickey stickers (These are still coming in handy around the house as rewards for good behavior and great distractions! ). I had a few bites of the cobbler, but I was so full I didn't eat much. Reagan didn't even touch her cupcake. The meal took us right at an hour, and we were almost back to the from as we were finishing up. The waitress pointed out the hidden Mickey to us before we left, so fun!

We stopped by the bathroom for a quick diaper check and potty breaks for us. Reagan was in a great mood, so we thought we would give the WS another chance. We started in Canada this time, really enjoying taking our time and looking around. It looked like Reagan might fall asleep for awhile there, but by the time we got around to France, she sat up and was really interested in her surroundings. She stayed like this, content and curious, for awhile. Her shoes kept falling off though, which was frustrating! Around Germany she started to get fussy so we stopped, put her shoes in the diaper bag, and put her in the Ergo. This made her happy again. We made our way around, back to the front of WS and even grabbed a few pictures on the way out.
Here's one:

The last picture we took was stamped for 7:15, so this was definitely the latest night we had in the parks. We were on a pretty packed bus on the way home, and ended up having to stand. I was completely fine with this. With her in the hip-hold, its actually easier for me to stand than to worry about squishing her foot behind me. We did have a nice older lady offer her seat to us, but I said no thanks. It ended up being an older lady and her mother on a trip with extended family. We had a good conversation with them, they were so sweet! We got back to the room and let Reagan run around and play while we packed up as much as we could. We tried to make the next morning as painless as possible! Reagan went down pretty easy that night, I sent a text around 9, so I think she was good and asleep by then.

Up next: Our last morning at WDW

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Quickly, before getting to our last morning at WDW...

My takeaways from day 3 (4? 5? No idea)
The highs: Exploring World Showcase...and Disney Jr!
The low: Toy Story Midway Mania
The lesson: Sit at a better angle for pictures!

Also, since we had met all of the characters we were going to meet, I went ahead and packed up her ear hat that night. Here's some pictures of it:


I saw this idea on pinterest, and wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was great! We used a white paint pen that I purchased from amazon. Just remember to get the pen started before using it!

Okay, on to our last morning!

We were all up around 7 to finish packing. We got ready, and then headed to breakfast. William and I split a breakfast platter again and we used a snack credit to get Reagan a yogurt. She had that and cheerios. After we ate, we decided to divide and conquer. William went to start loading the car. I took Reagan and went to the front desk. We had our debit card attached to our room, so we had already gotten an email with our receipt for the trip. We do this every time, and every time I forget whether we can still use our bands to charge things. So I went to ask. A very friendly CM let me know that we could charge with our bands up until 11:58 that night, perfect! When I got finished there, I went back to the room and tried to help William as much as possible. He had most of it done, so I ended up just packing the cooler with everything from the fridge (We had brought another small cooler for the drive down and back up). Once William was finished loading the car and our room was empty sad we headed back towards the lobby and bell services. We left the cooler with them- pretty awesome that they have a refrigerator to store in!- and headed to the bus stop.
Reagan was looking stinkin' cute in her mickey dress!


We had another annoying experience at the bus hubs again this morning. Everyone was crowded up to the line to get to the other bus hub for MK. So when our bus came, I felt like we had to push our way through a line we didn't even want to be in! It was all pretty confusing and stressful. But eventually we got on the bus . We were to the Animal Kingdom around 8:50, which is actually earlier than we had hoped. We got through security and stopped just long enough to get this picture

It was a beautiful day!

We went straight into the park and got caught up in the crowds. Once we got onto Discovery Island, we ducked into a store to get out of the wave of people filing into the park. We shopped here for a second, and I got some collapsable measuring cups. Then we ventured across the way to another store to get a few more souvenirs. We got my brother a classic Mickey shirt and Reagan an Ariel shirt. We asked the nice cashier where the Starbucks was. We hadn't been to this one yet! She pointed us in the right direction and off we went. We used a snack credit to get a venti coffee and bought the last of our Starbucks "You are Here" mugs. Yay! Collection complete! We went from there to the baby care center to change Reagan. This center was nice, but a little over-staffed. We walked into an empty room with about 4 CMs just waiting around. At least they were helpful! We had a few minutes to kill before our first fastpass, so we took the long way around and walked through Africa and a corner or Asia before crossing the bridge back onto Discovery Island. We had given Reagan a snack along the way and she seemed pretty upset when we parked the stroller and told her she had to get out. She got over it when we told her we were going to see Mickey, though. He's pretty magical. We parked the stroller at 9:50, right as our FP window opened up. Perfect! This was probably the longest FP wait we had the entire trip. We waited 20 minutes from the time we entered the line to the time stamp on the first picture. It wasn't too bad though, it was a pretty good setup. We were kept in line behind a wall, so Reagan couldn't see Mickey or Minnie yet. When it was our turn, we put Reagan down and let her do her thing. By this point she knew what to do. She pointed, gave high fives, gave hugs, posed. It was awesome.
Here are the pictures:


I'll continue in the next post...

 

[DizMomAndWife]

This was the best meet and greet we had of the entire trip. Reagan had it down by now, and seeing both Mickey and Minnie together was icing the cake.

We grabbed the stroller and headed towards dino-land. William had seen something about the boneyard being closed, but we thought we would just double check. Of course, it was. We debated riding triceratops spin, but it was warming up pretty quick and those dinos looked hot! No thank you! Dino-land was pretty crowded, so we headed towards Asia. Right when we got on the main path again, a little boy- probably around 9 or 10- stopped us and gave us his stuffed dinosaur he had obviously won from one of the carnival games. He said he didn't want it, and handed it to Reagan. I said thanks, and figured I should probably at least let his parents know, but by the time I turned around, they were gone. I can just imagine that mom being like "You gave it away?! Do you know how much we paid for that thing?!" But Reagan really loves that blue dino! We walked towards Everest and I had planned on going into the store at it's exit. Reagan had other plans though, she wanted out! There were a ton of people hanging out around the store, so I didn't feel comfortable letting her roam there. We kept walking and ended up in between the Mickey meet and greet and Flame Tree BBQ. We found a bench built into the stone wall right there in the shade and took a seat while we let Reagan play.


This was a great spot, since we were planning on Flame Tree for lunch that day. It was also shaded for us, and there was room for Reagan to roam without being in the way of traffic. Reagan was obsessed with leaves on this trip and kept picking up every one she saw and bringing it back to us. I think she eventually ran out of leaves. She had a blast hanging out though. William and I joked that we could have done this same thing in our front yard and she would have had just as much fun, but our front yard doesn't have Mickey, soooo yeah. We let her play until a few minutes before 11, then loaded up the stroller and got in line at Flame Tree. We were the 2nd family in line. A CM came out and asked the first guest something. He was by himself but apparently buying food for his family. After she talked to him, she came to us and asked if we wanted to be the family of the day and open the restaurant! Uh, yeah we do! She explained what we needed to do (she would shout out areas of the restaurant and we were supposed to ask "Are your Ready?!" really loud) but I wasn't paying close attention since Reagan was fussing. When we started, i was not prepared for the first one, and ended up just kind of muttering it after the fact But I caught on quick and got it the rest of the times! A sweet family behind us even offered to get a picture:


We each got a cupcake when it was all over, and went up to order.

I went first and ordered Reagan's, William came behind me and used the meal plan to order ours. Navigating through those people with a tray and a stroller was not easy! I found the first available table and sat down. I got Reagan all situated and started cutting up her food while William got our food and then went to find utensils and napkins. William and I both had the pulled pork sandwich and we both loved it! We got Reagan the kid's hot dog and she ended up eating the whole thing. There were a lot of ducks and birds hanging close by. There was even a crane type thing hanging out that scared the lady at the table next to us. She literally screamed in fear at one point. I don't blame her though, it was a bit scary!
After we got finished and all cleaned up, a CM took our trash for us and we headed to our 2nd FP of the day- the safari! Our FP was for 11:30 and the line moved really fast. The first stroller parking lot was full, and there was a CM there telling us the next one was just a little further, so go ahead have it ready to drop off. We already had Reagan out, so William grabbed the other bag out of the bottom and we quickly kept walking. When we go to the next lot, the CM there was able to take it quickly, and we never stopped walking. We just kind of pushed it to her .
We were seeing this at 11:41


We tried to grab a quick picture before we started going:


Reagan was semi-interested in this ride. Ironically, she kept pointing to the pictures of the animal above us in the truck, she seemed much more interested in them than the real deal. She sat still and looked around for most of it, but eventually got bored. There weren't a ton of them out, probably because we went in the middle of the day. We got done around 12 and grabbed the stroller from the massive and crazy parking lots. We headed from there to the baby care center for another diaper change. We also stopped for a potty break for me before heading out. We managed to get a picture in front of the tree before leaving though!

Gotta love those sun-in-your-eyes squinty pictures!

I don't want this TR to end! So I'm going to prolong it just a bit more and save the last post for later

Coming up: Getting on the road and heading home...

 

[amberdc1987]

That's awesome about the family of the day thing with Flame Tree BBQ, I didn't know they did that. Good to know. Once again, Reagan's pictures with Minnie and Ickey bring to tears. I love that she loves them so much. It's a great thing when they aren't terrified of the characters lol. I don't want this report to end either. Y'all will have to take another and let us know all about it. LOL

 

[Jenna319]

Loving your report! We are taking our 18 month old next month (it's actually her 3rd time in 7 months!!) and we are also staying at POFQ. I LOVE the Epcot World Traveler shirt - you have to tell me where you got it!! So cute!!! And your daughter is so smiley and photogenic!!