"Riding the Bam Tram" A Toddler's First Trip to the World! Jan. 2016 Completed 2/24

[KTwiegs]

Hello and Welcome to my very first trip report!!!
I am Disboard addict but more of reader then a poster so I thought I would finally do a trip report because I love reading them so much and have helped a TON on our trips so I would like to possibly return the favor!

OK! Now for introductions.


This is my little Family!
Myself- Katie- I would call myself a more recent DW addict. My husband and I took our first trip together to the world 5 years ago and the bug bit, it bit HARD! we have been back 4 times since. I am a super planner and proud of it!
Favorite Dis Movie- Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Brave and so many more!
Favorite Ride- Tower of Terror
Favorite Disney Food- School Bread!

Husband-Jason- My disney partner in crime. He had been to Disney many times before we met while he was living in Florida but his true love for it really hit when we traveled together, insert the "aaaawwww"
Favorite Dis Movie- Finding Nemo
Favorite Ride- (More like obsessed!) The Haunted Mansion
Favorite Disney Food- School Bread!

2 year old Son- Wyatt a.k.a. Bugs or Buggy (nickname he has had since the day he was born and hears way more then his actual name!)
Our lovable crazy energy filled little boy! This was his first trip to "The World" as he calls it.
Favorite Dis Movie- Wall-E, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Nightmare Before Christmas
Favorite Ride- Winnie the Pooh and Pirates (or as he calls "Jack Boat")
Favorite Disney Food- Any Cake Pop

Not Pictured- My mom a.k.a. Bam (my son's new name for his Grams)
This was my mother's FIRST trip to Disney World in her whole life! She admittedly had attitude about disney world most of her life thinking it was a glorified six flags, overpriced, and wasteful. She has been completely converted and loved her trip so much!

Ok onto the trip!​

 

[KTwiegs]

Day 1- Travel and Disney Springs

We were suppose to start our drive down on January the 22nd but because of the East coast blizzard we left a day early. So we get another day at Disney AND don't have to deal with a huge amount of snow?!?!? yes please!
The car was packed, lists were checked and with that we were off.
NJ to Disney- here we go!
This was our first loooonngg car trip with my son and understandable I was really worried about it. We drove all through the night hoping he would sleep. Well with little bit of crying and a lot of hand holding with mommy and daddy (while driving mind you! ouch my shoulder!) we made it to Orlando!

***Side note- if you are wondering why we didn't fly it was purely about the $$$, we own a Toyota Prius and the total cost for us to drive to and from Disney was $95.00... seriously, that's it... totally worth the pain of driving!!***

We were planning to go to Universal at the end of our week but because of the change in plans we moved it to the beginning of our trip while we were staying closer to Universal.
We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites in Orlando for the first 2 nights of our trip.
We are members of their rewards club so not only do we love staying at these hotels we love earning points too!

After a nice 2.5 hour nap in the hotel for all of us we headed to Disney Springs (I literally just had to delete my typing of Downtown Disney) for dinner.
This is our first time experiencing the new parking lot.
It is really amazing. First its free... wow! Second the little light indicating how many spots are left in the rows are genius! I wish every parking garage had them. I do look forward to there being other spots closer because the walk is far to our favorite quick service restaurant.

Someone was excited! Wolfgang Puck Express!!


Our dining plan didn't start yet so we were on our own dime tonight!
Jason got the spaghetti, Bam got the rigatoni, and I took the hit and only got a cheese pizza so I could share with bugs and we didn't have to get him his own meal.




The Spaghetti Saga- when my husband got this spaghetti on our very first trip 5 years ago he went crazy for it. said it was the best he had ever had. This time it was much different and no where near as good. He was crushed and told me about it for awhile. Like a good wife I tried to listen but geeze the man was upset over this pasta!
My pizza was fine, nothing special.
But my mom's rigatoni was AMAZING! wow it was so good. very savory with a touch of spice. yum! we all ended up getting it again later on in our trip.

Someone got a Cake Pop on our way out. This kid became obsessed with these darn things! Anywhere we saw one he had to have it!

After dinner we headed to the shops for a look around then back to the hotel for some sleep.

Next up Mommy geeks out over Harry Potter!​

 

[Minniemoo15]

Following along...I've been to WDW many times and am going again this March - but this will be my first time as a mother! We are taking DD who will be 2.5, so I will be reading your TR and getting any tidbits I can about surviving WDW with a toddler

 

[KTwiegs]

Day 2- Universal Part 1

I will start this post with a confession...I am a Harry Potter FREAK!
I call myself a true fan because I have been into the books since the very beginning. I still remember my school teacher mother coming home with this new book the english teacher let her borrow because she thought I might like it.
That book was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The 2nd book had not even been released yet!
I went to all of the midnight book releases and cried my eyes out reading the last book.
These books are important to me.
The movies are amazing and wonderful but it's the books that hold my true HP love.

We got on our way as early as possible (not as early as I wanted but pretty good)
We arrived at the gates about 30 mins after opening.
It was sadly pretty cold and windy that day so we were pretty bundled up

We quickly walked (well everyone else walked I ran) to the entrance of Diagon Alley!


WOW!
I had been to hogsmeade before but this new expansion is amazing.
My goal was to ride Gringotts first thing in the morning before the line got too long.




I knew this ride would be good. I knew the line would be good. I didn't know it would be this good!!
Its amazing. I could just walk the line over and over and be happy.
The child swap for this ride is at the end which is great because my son and mom could still see everything and not actually ride.
My husband ended up chickening out ("I might get sick") so I road alone.
I didn't care!
Little tip is to wait for the very front. it makes all the difference in the world. fully immersive.
The ride is amazing.
After collecting my family we headed out to explore but first I had to get my hand on my favorite drink in possibly the world.


I got the regular butterbeer (too cold for the frozen) and my mom and husband got the hot butterbeer. They loved the hot, I wasn't a fan. But my regular was perfect.
This stuff is so good...
Confession: I had 4 butterbeers that day.... FOUR! hey its vacation right!

Next up the muggles continue to explore and a mommy faux pas of epic proportion!
​

 

[KTwiegs]

Following along...I've been to WDW many times and am going again this March - but this will be my first time as a mother! We are taking DD who will be 2.5, so I will be reading your TR and getting any tidbits I can about surviving WDW with a toddler

yay!! you are exactly the person I would want to read this! I was on the Dis everyday trying to get tips before our trip! thanks for joining in!

 

[MCharpie]

I'm following along, too! We're taking a 4-year-old and 2-year-old for their first trip in April. My husband and I haven't been since we were kids. I can't wait to read about your adventure!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

Joining in! I don't blame you guys at all for driving - the savings are huge! We do that sometimes from Ontario for exactly that reason. Your little guy is very cute

I'm a huge HP fan as well, and I look forward to seeing WWOHP some day. I'll live vicariously through trip reports until then.

Looking forward to reading more about your trip!

 

[KTwiegs]

I'm following along, too! We're taking a 4-year-old and 2-year-old for their first trip in April. My husband and I haven't been since we were kids. I can't wait to read about your adventure!

yay! how exciting! that is the trip I hope to take in 2 years when (hopefully) we have 2 children!
those are great ages too! my son was 2 on this trip and I think old enough to enjoy himself and kind of "get it" but still FREE!
and I think 4 years old is just that much better! can ride more rides and a little more well behaved (in theory! haha)
thanks for joining in!

 

[KTwiegs]

Day 2- Universal Part 2

With our butterbeers safe in hand we explored some shops.
I will say I was pretty disappointed by the weasley shop. From the outside it was awesome but inside it was just like zonkos in hogsmeade. There weren't even any new or exciting products like I hoped.
We looked into some of the other shops searching for the perfect shirt to bring home from Diagon Alley but I continued to strike out. We did stop in the stuffed animal shop (don't remember the cool wizard name of it) that place was great! I tried to get my son to want a cool HP exclusive stuffed animal but alas he wanted the snake. so he got it and he loves it.

We decided it was time to ride the train!
Being a 2 year old boy my son was very excited at the idea he would get to ride a train!
We scanned our tickets and walked into the train station

The attention to detail is just staggering... the whole line is just awesome.
I was freaking out about it all admittedly.

We got up to the front and waited for the train.
Buggy was really excited!

**this is his new "smile for a picture" face... its darn cute**
We boarded our train and made our trip to the village of hogsmeade!

this is such a great ride/getting you from point a to point b.
Totally kid friendly, my son loved it. on this trip we had a whole car to ourselves which was great.
We got off our train and headed out.
I wanted my mom to see the inside of the hogwarts castle so I thought we would just do the castle tour because we were not going to ride the ride.
Well I don't know what happened but we ended up in the line not in the tour. We have taken just the tour through before.
The line was long... way longer then I ever thought.
My son really wasn't having much of it half way through.

We got all the way to the child swap room and were told by a cast member that we were not in the right line for the tour and this was as far as we could go anyway... I was pretty annoyed because I had asked 2 separate people for just the tour.

So out we went to the village.
We checked out a few stores and I made sure to take my mom to the women's bathroom there! (a surprise guest is in there! don't want to give it away to those who want to be surprised but "she" should not be missed!)
We boarded the train back to Diagon Alley because I wanted to eat at the Leaky Cauldron for lunch.
The ride is different going back so make sure to ride it twice!
**side note, there was a family in our train car with 3 children under the age of 12 and no one in the family had seen any of the movies.... maybe that doesn't shock you but it shocked me!!!***

Well this is where that mommy faux pas comes in.
I am going to very honest here because as a new mother it is always comforting to me to know other people deal with the same bad moments with their children.
We have all been there!

There was a long line to get in for lunch... so we waited, and waited, and waited and my son was just done, over it. he started to really freak. laying on the ground, crying, trying to run away, and lastly right at the end of the line where we were about to order our food he melted down. screaming, crying, and he even hit me and pulled my hair. I was shocked. We have never experienced that before and haven't since but it happened...

But, honestly, it was my fault. the poor kid had basically been waiting in lines and standing in stores all morning and now he was hungry and tired waiting in another line. Not condoning the behavior but I understand it.

next up lunch in the leaky cauldron and reseting the child! ​

 

[Glam]

Following...
In August, I'll be going with my mom, sister, 2 school age nieces, and my almost 2 yr old son. DH is waiting till we go when our son is a bit older. This trip is shout the girls.
My DS is pretty chill, but I can see me overdoing it with my pace at the parks.

Looking forward to hearing about your trip with your little guy.

 

[KTwiegs]

Day 2- Universal Part 3

So I last left you with my wonderful beautiful son having the worst meltdown of his young life... boy was that fun..
$70 dollars later..... (yes $70 for 3 adult lunches and one kids) we were sitting and eating our lunch.
I was kind of disappointed where they sat us because we under a landing so you really couldn't see much of the restaurant. but it was packed so whatever you get you get!
I am sorry I have no pictures of any food or the restaurant because I was recovering from the great HP meltdown of 2016.
I will say that I got the fish and chips and it was very good. It was a HUGE portion. easily shared if you want to save some money. My husband got some kind of seafood pie thing, he liked it. and I can't remember what Bam got...
we got bugs the mac and cheese, he didn't have one bite. I don't recommend it. flavorless and gummy.
We left the restaurant, collected our stroller and this happened....

This was the greatest sight this mother could have ever seen...
my son is very sensitive when it comes to sleep, has to be his bed, completely dark, sound machine on, the works.
I was so worried how the whole nap thing would work on this vacation but I am happy to say he slept in this stroller like a champ for the whole trip.

We continued to explore a bit more.
we grabbed 2 pumpkin juices to take home with us... $6 a bottle... but worth it. we take a sip a day and it transports right back!
also make sure you check out knockturn alley, its great!
We made our way out of diagon alley to explore the outside "London" area.

This is where I discovered my HP souvenirs for the day

I love a shirt that is kind of secret. Like only people who really know Harry Potter would understand. Sirius is my favorite character in the books also so it was a perfect choice.
and who can pass up a talking shrunken head! I can't wait to hang him from my rear view mirror.
These 2 things are only found in the cart next to the knight bus. It basically has London themed things with some HP stuff sprinkled in.
We walked by the row homes outside diagon alley. (make sure to keep a look out from kreacher peeking out of the window!)

For the next hour and a half we walked all through both lands of Universal. We wanted to keep moving so the child would keep sleeping.
I will say this is the first time I had explored any other areas in Universal.
My opinion is its ok... I don't think we will come back for a few trips. not until our children can ride all of the rides there.
also, for just one day for both parks (so smart to put diagon alley in the 2nd park so you have to get the double ticket!) for 3 adults it was......$501.00 yes... you read that correctly...
The Harry Potter nerd in me had to go but not again for awhile.

next up finishing the day with some buggy fun!
​

 

[KTwiegs]

Day 2- Universal Part 4


We found ourselves at the front entrance of Hogsmeade so we popped back in from a child free look around and I had to get my 4th and final butterbeer of the day...
We bought a few cool HP mugs and said a final good bye to the lands of Harry Potter.

bye bye beautiful castle

We wanted to end the day in Seuss-land so bugs could get lots of playing and fun in.

Wyatt woke up happy and reset to our happy baby boy!
we rode the carousel and then rode the fish flying around thing 4 times in a row.
he loved it. He got to ride it with every combination of mommy, daddy, and bam.
I was glad he was good and happy on the ride. you never know what will scare a toddler...
We met the grinch which made me happy, I LOVE the grinch. an entire bathroom in my house is transformed into a grinch lovers paradise every December.

I was also glad bugs didn't freak out. the character thing was new for him and he only got more comfortable as the week went on.
We decided to call it a day and headed out of the park and to our car.

We stopped at the disney outlet on our way to get dinner...
that is pretty great place! we got a ton of stuff from $3 shirts, to $8 hoodies, to super cheap stocking stuffers and christmas presets.
i left with a huge bag full of stuff for only about $50 bucks.
We stopped at the Whole Foods in town for dinner from their awesome hot food bar.
we ate in our hotel and went to sleep.
Tomorrow was the main event!
Next up... Magic Kingdom!
​

 

[Minniemoo15]

I'm glad your LO slept in the stroller so well! I'm hopeful my DD will as well, since we are staying off site this trip and won't be able to head back for a mid day break.

I visited HP world 4 years ago and it was so awesome!!! Diagon Alley wasn't built yet though. I'd love to get back and see it, but like you said, the cost of one day at Universal is staggering. Especially since there isn't much for our toddler to do. So it will likely be a few years before I can nerd out HP style again !

 

[KTwiegs]

Day 3- Magic Kingdom Part 1

**Well buggy is still napping so I will try to get another post in!**

We woke up earlyish and because we had packed the car the night before we headed down for a quick free breakfast and we were out the door on our way to The World!!
I made sure my husband drove in the correct way so we could see this beauty!

I wanted my mom's very first day in Disney World to start the right way!

We enter the park about 9:30 (we missed rope drop... spoiler alert, we missed every rope drop no matter how hard I tried to get us out early enough, the toddler effect)

I had FP+ booked back to back early this morning. Also FP+ was new to me. we hadn't been since the FP+ and magic band upgrade. (more on my thoughts later)

we stopped and met rafiki on our way to Pirates.
bugs had no idea who or what he was. it was short forgettable meet.

My husband and I always start our trip at The Pirates of the Caribbean ride. not for any particular reason other then we live by the rule that humans are naturally inclined to go right so we always go left and pirates is the first ride we stop for.
I also was interested to see bugs reaction to this ride. Its dark, loud, a bit scary, and there is that first drop.
Well he did great. He did need to hold our hands through this and every other ride we did, but still no tears and happy!

next we jumped on the always crowd pleasing carousel. happy buggy.

We next did our first FP+ of the day, Peter Pan.
Can someone explain the appeal of this ride? I don't get it. I think the the little mermaid animatronic are way better and there is never the wait that peter pan gets. I just don't understand. but to each his own.
We did the little mermaid ride and everyone loved it, especially my mom.

I didnt use another FP+ that day... we could never get the timing right.
this first day had a steep learning curve for doing disney with a toddler.

We had lunch at 11:00 to beat the lunch rush.
We ate at Cosmic Ray's because I was craving a burger!
the burgers here are awesome! and big. way bigger then pecos bills.
no pictures sorry

Next Wyatt met his hero

It was a great meet. Bugs was totally star stuck.


We popped buggy in his stroller and he was asleep around 1230.
We were hoping our rooms would be ready early so we could go back unpack and be back in time to see the 3 o'clock parade. Sadly, that didn't happen but we did get ALL of the room request we had so it was fine.

So around 2:15 I got the text that our rooms were ready so we headed back to unpack and relax before dinner.

next up, dining with the beast in his castle and a special surprise for Bam.
​

 

[KTwiegs]

I'm glad your LO slept in the stroller so well! I'm hopeful my DD will as well, since we are staying off site this trip and won't be able to head back for a mid day break.

I visited HP world 4 years ago and it was so awesome!!! Diagon Alley wasn't built yet though. I'd love to get back and see it, but like you said, the cost of one day at Universal is staggering. Especially since there isn't much for our toddler to do. So it will likely be a few years before I can nerd out HP style again !

same thing, I visited Hogsmeade 5 years ago after it was finished and loved it but Diagon Alley blows it out of the water.
My best friend is a huge HP fan too so we are hoping our next trip there will just be the two of us... we will leave the children with the husbands.
but the cost... yikes! not again for awhile.

 

[KTwiegs]

DAY 3- Magic Kingdom Part 2

This was our 3rd time staying at All-Star Music. I really think its a great hotel and to us it is just a bed to sleep in so we love to save the money on the hotel room but still be on property. Not saying we won't try other resorts. Of course I have grand dreams on GF and AKL family suite but that is for future trips.
We requested our 2 rooms to be connected, first floor garden view near the parking lot and got everything we requested. I was so happy with our room placement. I actually called to make these requests (a tip I got on the DIS!)
We loved having the connection room with my mom so bugs could visit his bam when ever he wanted and also came in handy later in the week when he was taking a nap in our room.
We unpacked the car and started to unpack in the room and all of a sudden it was 4:30 and we had a ressie at Be Our Guest @ 5! Panic!
We raced out, parked, practically ran to the ferry boat, got off and again ran through the park to the restaurant. we got there at 5:01. probably a disney record if I do say so myself.
My mom and I laughed through the whole thing, starting our first night off with a bang!!
We checked in and waited near the doors.

Little Buggy photoshoot before dinner

We were sat quickly in the grand ballroom, I was so happy with our spot!

It is hard to get a good picture in there because it is pretty dark. Not as dark as the west wing room. When we went to explore during our meal bugs did not like that room. he would barely walk in to look around so glad we weren't sat there.

happily playing with the rose napkin.
Our server was so stinkin nice. She made our experience great!
Dining Plan tip- always ask if there are any fun drinks included. why get a coke when you can get something better!
The house made lemonade and fruit punch is included in the dining plan (no refills)


the fruit punch was amazing!!! maybe my favorite drink of the trip.
we all ordered the steak. it was really really good.

also comes with fries, I was trying (unsuccessfully) to hide them from bugs.

It was time for our little surprise.
My mom retired last year after 25 years of teaching. We didn't have a party (she hates being the center of attention) but I wanted to mark the occasion as well as little thank you for all she does for us.

It was a mini cake with vanilla cake and white chocolate buttercream.
she was so surprised and so happy. It was the most expensive cake I have ever bought but so worth it.
we finished our cake and had our dessert packed up to go.
we got the eclair, cream puff, and a lemon cupcake. The lemon cupcake was by far the best.
oh and our server brought wyatt alittle plate with the grey stuff which he inhaled. I even forgot to try it!

another cake pop... this kid loves them so much... grey stuff and a cake pop=happy toddler

The rest of the night was trying to navigate huge crowds
honestly I was shocked at the crowds for this trip. we have never experienced crowds like this.
We watched the fireworks and I really couldn't tell how wyatt felt about them
then he actually fell asleep at the end. weirdo.

we headed back to the hotel through the mass exodus after wishes.

next up, Epcot!​

 

[Glam]

I would love to do Universal, but it would be $1000 for our group for 1 day.that's not in the cards for this trip, when we could add another day at Disney for like $50!
My DH definitely wants to go when we head back to disney in a few years, so I guess I'll wait.
Love your pics and great description.

Also, so glad your buggy cheered up after his nap.

You're scaring me that you never made rope drop. Maybe I should rethink those pre park ADRs

 

[KTwiegs]

I would love to do Universal, but it would be $1000 for our group for 1 day.that's not in the cards for this trip, when we could add another day at Disney for like $50!
My DH definitely wants to go when we head back to disney in a few years, so I guess I'll wait.
Love your pics and great description.

Also, so glad your buggy cheered up after his nap.

You're scaring me that you never made rope drop. Maybe I should rethink those pre park ADRs

Well actually we had a pre park opening ADR at tusker house and made that no problem... I guess because we HAD to make that we did...
I still have never seen the opening show at MK and always have wanted to...

I will book more pre park opening ADR next trip. It makes you get out the door and also because we drive we get a great spot!

 

[KTwiegs]

Day 4- Epcot- Part 1
Our morning started a little later because we weren't in a rush to get to the park.
We got to the park easily and quickly around 10 and headed to the The Land area. We rode the nemo ride first thing. Wyatt is a big fan of Nemo. Well the ride wasn't a big deal for him but the giant tanks and fish made him happy as a clam!


We did do turtle talk with crush but half way through wyatt was bored so we moved on.
After a long time exploring all that the seas had to offer we headed over to The Land.
We love the Living with the Land ride and we knew my mom would go nuts for it.

She is an environmental science teacher, master gardener, and an all around earth lover.
Well this ride blew her mind.
She ended up signing up for the behind the seeds tour. She had to hang back to wait for the tour so we parted ways for little while.
We spotted a Baymax meet and greet and Wyatt was so excited! we waited in line (well one us waited in line and the other one had to hold bugs so he could always see baymax haha)


It was a pretty good meet. Baymax can't move much but still its snuggly baymax so its good.
**They make you remove all pins, bags, etc before you go meet baymax, I know I read that they were having trouble with this meet. It seems to be going well now**
It was 11 so World Showcase was open and that meant it was nacho time! My husband and I LOVE the nachos in Mexico. They are a great size for sharing and on the dining plan you get a delicious all natural popsicle!
So I bet you know what that means!!?!?!!!

Happy baby with a pop!
This was one of my favorite meals of the trip purely because I could relax and eat because wyatt was so happy and content eating his watermelon popsicle. (it was soooo good!)
After we finished our mini lunch we strolled around the world showcase until we met back up with Bam.
She loved the tour. I pushed her to do it and she was so glad she did.
Its only $20 by the way!
Wyatt had just fallen asleep by the time we made it to France. I had wanted to try a treat from there for many trips now so it was time!

Cinnamon ice cream with caramelized apple and crumble crunch

Lemon with crispy meringue

Well... here is the thing... It really wasn't all that great. I had expected big things from this ice cream and it really did not deliver.
I am a pastry chef so I am a self proclaimed dessert snob but even my mom and husband said it was just alright.
We moved on through the lands. I stopped at Morocco and I got a Henna tattoo, I love those things. I get them any chance I get.
Next we went to Japan to do pick a pearl.
I do it every trip. I am collecting pearls for a necklace. It is so much fun. Even just to watch it. I highly recommend it.

Bugs had woken up so we took him to the train display.

He could have stayed here aaaaaalllllll day. He just kept running back and forth following the train.
The touring continued through the different countries.
We had kind of missed our window for a mid day break so we were just killing time before our 6:30 ADR.

Epcot at Sunset... you just can't beat it.

Next up dinner in Italy​

 

[oOJulieOo]

I'm so happy to have found your report! We are planning a trip in October with our 6 year old daughter and our son who will be 2 and a half. I am a bit nervous about how my son will do because he is not content to sit for more than about 30 seconds at a time! It's very interesting for me to see which attractions Wyatt liked and how his tolerance was for lines and meals and everything. Thanks for sharing!