UPDATED 7/14/19: The Slowpokes' Guide to WDW aka the kids 1st trip! - A Sept 2018 report

[mustinjourney]

Following along -- I hope you like GIFs!!!

First, we quickly toured the Grand Ceremonial House and found our way to Captain Cook's to pick up some lunch. I was surprised by the small size of this QS location. Only one line to order and a few drink coolers?? There are two seating areas but both seemed small with tables squished together. The only hotel QS locations I've visited in the past have been Carribean Beach and All Star Sports and those were huge cafeteria style, so I guess I was just a bit surprised.

Deluxe people don't eat quick service! We are civilized!

Drinking out of a pineapple just makes everything more fun right?

The pineapple is fun the first time -- but it ain't free. FYI - if you ever order it again, ask for it without the pineapple. It saves like $5.

Since DH's back was in bad shape, he took a muscle relaxer and laid down under an umbrella

This is me on muscle relaxers...

And of course, they both kept wanting to go different directions so that was a fun challenge to constantly rangle them. So much for relaxing.

And I think DS did nap a bit so another #momwin.

The pulldown bed was so cute and perfectly sized for, it became DD's homebase during the trip.

That bed is shockingly comfortable. i've napped on it before when my kids fell asleep on our bed watching TV.

We LOVED it! I have no problem with multiple items being brought out at once, I prefer that over waiting long periods for food, but maybe some people regard that as being rushed and not having true courses? I dunno, but we had no problems with the flow of service.

Totally agree. When you've got kids -- I'm all for bringing food out ASAP. And if the food takes awhile -- just bring me some crackers. Anything!!!

I think we got refill on the wings and potstickers.

Yeah -- the appetizer plate is really good. I like the chicken a lot -- but the beef can sometimes be a little too tough. Not a seafood fan, so I always skip the shrimp. But the wings and potstickers ALWAYS get a second call.

While I was attempting to push both coconuts and drag both kids to the finish line,

I'm picturing something like this?

Rice Krispie treats for the kids and banana bread pudding for the adults. This is the only food I didn't love,

I know some people swoon over this bread pudding but I'm not a banana person so it just didn't work for me. I could have eaten a gallon of the caramel sauce though.

 

[mustinjourney]

Since I had alcohol included in the order I needed to show ID, otherwise they could have left the bags with bell service.

I'm at 50% on whether the driver requires me to be there. I've had several leave it with bell services without any problems, while a few have adamantly required I be there. One guy showed up early and called me to meet him and I explained that I was still on the bus and he wasn't supposed to be there for another 30 minutes. I did convince him to leave it with bell services.

DS naps ~2hours midday

Be thankful he still naps. My youngest DD stopped napping before 2 years old it seemed like. And even when she did nap, it was never very long. 30 minutes max.

With that said, she used to nap every now and then while at Disney, but it was almost always in the stroller (and one time on the people mover -- they let us stay on it a second time since she was sleeping)

Of course, as luck would have it, my normally early risers slept great through the trip and I actually had to drag them out of bed each morning.

Perhaps they were still on CST?

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

We do sound similiar, except TRIPLETS! Wow! I can't wait to see your adorable trip photos, I hope you'll do your own trip report!





So true! Yes, if we had been 2adult/2child I think it would have made a difference and the meal plan would have been more advantageous. I wish we could have gotten free dining but it wasn't available at the Poly during our dates. At least, with one under 3 I feel like we got a little break. DD would be so excited during character meals that it was hard to get her to focus on eating, but luckily DS ate aenough for the both of them each time so I felt we got our money's worth.




Yeah, I basically just kept a pile in the guest room, and kept adding to it in the months before.




I agree! I don't think I could cart around 9 dressess and acccessories either. Will y'all bring a single or double stroller? Even if the kids don't use it, which I bet someone would, it can at least haul around extra items.

We're doing a double and a single because we'll be walking to HS and EP from Boardwalk. I don't think we'll use them much during the park day, but we'll need resting room for all three on the trudge back from fantasmic. Might just bring the single on days where we're trying to hit the nighttime entertainment since all the shows end past their normal bed time.

 

[mustinjourney]

We're doing a double and a single because we'll be walking to HS and EP from Boardwalk. I don't think we'll use them much during the park day, but we'll need resting room for all three on the trudge back from fantasmic. Might just bring the single on days where we're trying to hit the nighttime entertainment since all the shows end past their normal bed time.

I can't imagine having more kids than adults.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I can't imagine having more kids than adults.

It's all I've ever known, so I'm used to it.

It sucks for things like aging out of strollers. If you have one borderline aged child, you can just accept that you may end up with a kid on your back at the end of the night and ditch the stroller. If we tried going stroller free and the kids were exhausted, we'd have a tough go of it. I can carry two up a flight of stairs, but not a half mile back to the hotel And ,if you alternate who has to walk, the walker will be an utterly miserable and slow companion for every darn step

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I just found your report! I am glad I found it before you got to far along in your trip! Can't wait to see how the first day goes!

1. DD will be starting kindergarten next year, making it harder to go in September, my ideal time…or so I thought. Spoiler: it was miserably humid the week we went, more humid than I have ever experienced in FL even in July.

This is basically when we decided to go the first time. It is the perfect timing. We thought, maybe we will come back in 5 years or something... ha!

6. I really wanted to go! Haha

All the more reason to go!

Did I mention we stayed at……THE POLYNESIAN!!! Ahh, so amazing.

We actually stayed here on our first trip. We loved it. We haven't been back. But this Feb we will be there for 2 nights and I can't wait!!!!

. Even at the tender age of 37, my DH has a bad back with degenerative disc disease and “throws” his back our periodically doing simple movements like twisting or shifting the wrong way.

So, my husband was diagnosed with the exact same thing! And he can throw his back out sneezing too hard! It is horrible!

It was a simple, minimally invasive procedure and it worked great for the sciatic issues, but he still is at risk for re-injuring his back and has to be careful with quick movements. Can you see where this is going??

My husband has had 2 surgeries so far. A simple clip of the bulging disk and a full on fusion of 2 of the vertibre. He has been MUCH better working out and trying to keep his core strong to make up for the spin's lack of strength. Basically, I TOTALLY understand what you guys are going through!

Unfortunately, once we were lined up in the queue for our bus we had a decent wait, maybe 15-20 minutes which felt like forever because I was sooo anxious to get this vacation started.

Ugh this is the worst. I feel like even 5 mintues feels like forever when you get to this point in the travel day!

I realized our airplane landed at 12:40pm. We loaded the DME bus at 1:15pm and arrived at the Poly at 1:50pm, so only 70min after landing at MCO, not bad.

Not bad at all! Especially with picking up your bags too.

​

I didn't take any pool pics that day but here is one from the internet of the kids area.​

This is why my girls want to stay here.

​

YUM!!​

YUM!!!! is right.

r, so he thought he was doing a good thing capturing the moment; instead we just have video of me embarrassingly laughing and then yelling at him not to video me haha.

Ha! Well, at least he was trying.

couldn't ever figure out why but I tried to look at it as a positive that we'd be up early and ready for rope drop! Of course, as luck would have it, my normally early risers slept great through the trip and I actually had to drag them out of bed each morning.

Mine too! I have to think it is because they are just literally THAT tired?!?!

. Well the fan is motion sensored for some reason, and INCREDIBLY sensitive. Every time you flinched near the doorway, that loud fan would come on.

YES!!!! All of property is like this. The fans are SUPER loud. I have to think it is because they really want to get that moisture out. But man alive is it loud. My youngest almost always gets up in the middle of the night to pee and that fan takes forever to turn off!

Great start to your trip report! Can't wait to hear if you converted DH or not!

 

[dbb727]

Perhaps they were still on CST?

Mine too! I have to think it is because they are just literally THAT tired?!?

Yes to both of these comments, I think they were probably still on CST plus being so overwhelmed and exhausted from all the excitement and the heat/humidity!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Loving your trip report. Our first trip Ds was 5 and DD was 20 months and while your DH is right that they won’t remember it I have so many happy memories of that trip!
I always get the banana sauce at Ohana’s On the side as I feel the same way.
Looking forward to more.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Loving your trip report. Our first trip Ds was 5 and DD was 20 months and while your DH is right that they won’t remember it I have so many happy memories of that trip!
I always get the banana sauce at Ohana’s On the side as I feel the same way.
Looking forward to more.

 

[dbb727]

Following along -- I hope you like GIFs!!!

Deluxe people don't eat quick service! We are civilized!

The pineapple is fun the first time -- but it ain't free. FYI - if you ever order it again, ask for it without the pineapple. It saves like $5.

Love all the GIFs. I'll be sure to take your tip for the Lapu Lapu, sans pineapple. Although will I like it as much?? Hard to know, guess i'll have to head back and do further research.....

 

[dbb727]

Before I jump into the “meat” of the report, I realized I forgot in the pre-trip section to give an overview of our park schedule/touring plan. Since our trip fell during Halloween Season, there were parties on Sunday and Tuesday night which would close MK at 6pm. Given our kids ages, early bedtimes and short length of the trip, we decided not to do MNSSHP. I LOVE Halloween and look forward to doing MNSSHP in the future, but I actually had no interest to get dressed up and trick or treatin’ in September so it was definitely the right decision for this trip.

The original plan was to do 1.5 day at MK, 1 day Epcot, and ½ day at DHS. Crowds would probably have been the lowest on Tuesday morning(party day) given the early closing at MK, but I had it in my head that we would start and end the trip with MK therefore Monday(all day) and Wednesday morning became our MK days. Tuesday would be Epcot. We planned to do afternoon breaks each day. Wednesday afternoon/evening became a flex option –-> initially, I made the difficult decision to pick HS over AK. This is controversial, but it really came down to Disney Jr characters, wanting to check out the new Toy Story Land and Fantasmic > ROL. If I could fit in a solo ride on TOT, then that would be good also.

But then in August, they announced that Disney Jr show would be closing on Sept 2nd and a new show replacing it later in the fall (which ended up being December). And I had a strong suspicion that our new fav character, Vampirina, wouldn’t be appearing until Halloween (I was pretty close to accurate). There would still have been enough to occupy us from 4-8pm: Frozen Sing Along, M&G with Olaf, Dinner @ H&V in seasonal attire, Toy Story Land and Fantasmic! but it was making me doubt whether to buy PH for literally 4hours on one day when my original reason for this park was for DD to meet Doc, Sofia and Vampirina. I hadn’t bought PHs prior to the trip, so I kept Wednesday as an open option: depending on how Mon & Tues went, we could decide whether to add-on hoppers for HS, stay at MK, relax at the resort or get dinner elsewhere. The other plan in the back of my head was to do Sanaa either Tues or Wed dinner if I could get a last minute ADR, that way the kids could still see some animals and DH and I could enjoy a yummy meal (DH loves Indian food so I knew this would be a winner for him). So those were the tentative plans. Without further ado, let’s jump into our first glimpse of Magic Kingdom !!

​

Can we make it to Rope Drop?
Day Two, Part 1
Monday , September 17th
Our first park day! Magic Kingdom – Fantasyland & Tomorrowland​

Itinerary:
*Rope Drop, Main St open at 8am, park open at 9am
*FP+ Peter Pan’s Flight 9:25am-10:25am
*FP+ Tomorrowland Speedway 10:25am-11:25am
*Lunch @ Be Our Guest at 11am
*FP+ Seven Dwarf Mine Train 11:40am– 12:40pm
*Break and naptime at hotel for DS/DH; DD and I possibly stay for FOF parade at 2pm
*6:30pm check-in for Happily Ever After Dessert Party!!

The goal this morning was to get to the park between 8-8:30 so we could have a little bit of time walking through shops on main street and getting PP pics before rope drop. Our plans did not include racing to 7DMT so no need to be at front of RD crowd and I didn’t want to stress everyone out in the very first hour of the first day anyhow!

It's amazing to me how time can fly by in the mornings, probably because I have to get three humans (myself and both kids) dressed, ready and fed. I also didn’t want to push us too fast this morning since DH's back was hurting and we weren’t sure how he would do with so much walking in the parks so I wanted to start off the day with happy attitudes. We had breakfast in the room which helped us to not have to awaken super early. I awoke between 6:30-7 with a goal to get to the Grand Ceremonial House by 8am to be on the monorail. My usual early risers were sleeping soundly and I finally woke them up after 7, maybe 7:30. I knew I needed some extra time to secure DD’s hair this morning so it could last all day without pieces falling out and being messy/disheveled; I’m really glad I took the extra 15 minutes or so because it looked great all day, even until the end of the night. So of course, as is typical for me, we were already running late, not arriving to the monorail station until closer to 8:20.

Side note: I LOVE the security checks being at the resort, I don’t think there was ever more than one other person going through security at the same time as us, mornings were especially easy.

After bag checks, we only waited a few minutes, then monorail yellow arrived (I think it was yellow? I’m not convinced I can tell the difference between yellow and gold honestly). We were soo excited for our first monorail ride and our SHORT trip to Magic Kingdom! Here is where I realized my 1st mistake. I had remembered the buses taking sooooo long on our last trip, so I was really excited to stay on the monorail loop but I overestimated how fast the monorail would be. I mean its only two stops right?? Well we sat in the station for a few minutes waiting for more people from the Poly, then stopped at Grand Floridian, with another "long" waiting scenario. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very grateful to not be on an hour long bus ride, but I was thinking 10-15 minute monorail ride and it probably was closer to a 20-25 minute ride. I was getting anxious to get there! I had already given up the notion of shopping on main street so now I was just slightly panicking and praying we wouldn’t miss rope drop.


I took pictures of the Grand Floridian from the monorail while stopped at 8:50 and then this one in front of the train station at MK was at 8:59, so not terrible.


We’ve arrived! I wish I could link the video since I love DD's expression when she sees the castle, but I can't figure out how to shrink or attach a video. First we saw the Main St Trolley pass by, and then turned the corner for our first glimpse of The Castle.


Even though we were a little behind schedule, I wanted to stop for some Photopass pictures because I knew the day would get hotter, our moods grumpier and my hair frizzier. The lines on Main Street were too long for my liking so we got up close to the castle and only waited a few minutes until it was our turn.



The pictures turned out great, kids smiling and looking at camera…. just wish I could get rid of the random people behind us haha!


Seriously though, I was a little annoyed with the photographer when i saw this setup, because this poor young girl's bottom was captured right next to DS head in at least 5 photos. I know there are going to be people in the background, but really! When he zoomed in, I think he could have noticed and either adjusted his angle or waited 10 more seconds but oh well. I found this little frame to fix the issue


Side note: Before someone calls me out, I'll admit that YES, we are wearing the SAME SHIRTS from the day before! I swear it's only for the morning and then we promise to wear new clothes each day! Seriously though, we had only worn our mickey/minnie tees for ~3hours the day before while on the airplane, and then changed as soon as we got to FL and I realized I really wanted to wear them for the PP pics so that's the reason. And I'm not gonna apologize either!

Since we were later than expected, the castle show had already ended and we were able to use the walkway through the castle. This was really special I think for the kids. We stopped to finish applying everyone's sunscreen(we somehow neglected to complete this task while on the monorail although we had enough time ), so we stopped briefly in the shade of the interior castle and then we were on our way!


My favorite view!

It’s time for our first ride! I wanted to hit Fantasyland first to try and get as many quick waits as possible out of the way. Since we had a FP+ for PPF scheduled, we first headed to…………

The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh!! Duh, who doesn’t want to RD WtP??


As expected, it was a walk-on but we took a little bit of time for the kids to explore Pooh’s house and honey pot outside which they really loved. I am a sucker for the theming here and I just love letting them explore. Finally we walked through the queue and onto our 1st ride! Its been several years since I’ve ridden this and it kinda felt like a bad acid trip in some of the scenes?? I’m not sure if any of us followed the storyline, but it was a great way to get our feet wet since our kids haven’t been to many amusement parks/carnivals in the past and we needed to gradually build up to roller coaster status.

At this point, I also became distracted thinking through whether DH would be able to do many more rides with us. Obviously, I knew roller coasters were out, but even him helping the kids into the ride vehicles was a challenge since he couldn’t bend over or move quickly if the 2 year old needed help. Anything jarring or bumpy would cause him lots of immediate pain, so as we were riding WtP I became very aware of how jerky it was and I was getting nervous for DH (couldn’t really talk to him since we were in separate cars). It’s funny, because I think of these rides as pretty tame, but once you are there with a tiny child who can’t hold their body upright or an adult with a back injury, you become very aware of every little jerk or twist. Luckily, DH came off the ride in one piece and said he felt ok, but I was quickly revising our strategy.

Our FP+ for PPF 9:25-10:25 was burning a hole in my pocket, but we decided to get some Princess M&Gs completed since they were literally steps away. I did a “quick change” with DD (pull dress on over clothes, take off tshirt underneath, done!) and we were off to meet Cinderella and Elena! This was awesome and the PP pics turned out just as I’d hoped.



I had our autograph books ready, sharpies out and had DH on video duties, but still it seems like a whirlwind doing character meets. There were so many MOMMY thoughts happening in those few minutes: I wanted everyone to be happy, not too shy, smiling for pics, interacting with the characters and also wanted myself to savor the moment and not be too focused on a video or picture. DD was always so excited to meet each character, I’d give her some suggestions on questions to ask but as soon as she was in their presence, she would just stare! Haha luckily the characters are all pros, take control of the situation and barely would let us get a word in anyhow.

Next: We were off on our coveted flight to Neverland. I was sort of sad to not go through the regular queue and have the kids (aka myself) see all the interactive stuff. My original goal was to do PPF right after WtP if the standby line wasn’t more than 20-30min and then be able to go back again with the FP+ if we wanted but when we didn’t even get onto Main St until 9am I knew that was unrealistic and was thankful I had booked the FP+. We basically walked right through, and I wasn’t even ready because as the CM was asking “how many?” I responded “2 and 2……unless we could all fit together....” I didn’t think that was a real possibility but just thought I'd test it out. I know some rides can fit 3 and even though the bench looked big I didn’t think they’d allow 4. But the CM responded, “sure, if the little one is on your lap than you can all fit” which would have been pretty cool but unfortunately as the CM said it, DH and DD were ahead of us and already loading a separate pirate ship so we just went separate. I did end up with DS on my lap in order for him to see over the sides, so I wish we could have all been together. When I mentioned this after the ride, DH said….”get over it!” I’m still trying, haha.

Side note: Have I mentioned yet how AWFUL the WDW website and app were when we were in the parks? I’d seen people complain on the DIS but it was ridiculously embarrassing and annoying how poorly executed their software and Wifi were that week. I heard laer that Disney was doing upgrades during that time in order to get thing ready for the new ticket system but regardless it was just awful. I had been following wait times from home a few weeks before and never had much trouble so I’m not sure if it was more a Wifi issue or the site itself. Literally, it would take more than 3min for the app to just load, and it constantly would crash or just spin when refreshing. I had really wanted to use the Tap-Grab-Modify strategy to our advantage, and I was able to grab a few extra FP+ through our week but for the most part I would often give up because I could honestly, no lie, could walk to the next attraction and go through the queue faster than the amount of time it would take the website or app to load. Part of the reason I felt flustered and rushed loading onto PPF was because I was trying to pre-order our lunch for BOG and the website kept freezing(couldn’t even get the app to open at that point). I should have pre-ordered our food a few days before, but DH is one of those “ I don’t know what I am going to want tomorrow until tomorrow” kinda people so that left me panicking trying to order while we walked between attractions.

We had stepped onto PPF at 9:58 and I was pretty happy with getting photopass, two rides and two princesses done during that 1st hour. I had bought a subscription to TP prior to our trip and of course had crazy plans timed down to the minute. I didn’t actually intend to stick to them all, but it allowed me to understand the order we should go in to minimize waits and back-and-forth walking. One of the best pieces of advice I read on a blog for traveling to WDW with kids was “Set expectations for yourself (the planner) for only ONE or TWO big goals for each day, so after that is accomplished, everything else is icing on the cake.” This was great advice that I tried to keep in the back of my head, I scheduled our important items early and then if we had to leave over a meltdown or back pain or anything else, I would not let myself get disappointed. So being able to check off several things in that 1st hour was a big win for me!

………And then we didn’t stay on plan for the entire rest of the day! Hahahaha

Up next: Be Our Guest Lunch, DD's first roller coaster and DH ditches me with two kids...

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

We stopped to finish applying everyone's sunscreen(we somehow neglected to complete this task while on the monorail although we had enough time ), so we stopped briefly in the shade of the interior castle and then we were on our way!

I hate sunscreen! I mean, I love that it's protecting my family from cancer, blah, blah, blah, but it's such a hassle with young kids. I feel like I should add sunscreen breaks to my touring plans.

As expected, it was a walk-on but we took a little bit of time for the kids to explore Pooh’s house and honey pot outside which they really loved.

This is a great RD ride with your kids' ages They can take a few minutes to explore the standby queue without being forced to stay in it for 30 minutes.

“Set expectations for yourself (the planner) for only ONE or TWO big goals for each day, so after that is accomplished, everything else is icing on the cake.”

I'm trying to focus on this as well. Make my FPs and ADRs my big goals and hopefully fill on with the other things I have planned.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I was thinking 10-15 minute monorail ride and it probably was closer to a 20-25 minute ride.

That does seem a bit long but I guess it makes sense. That first trip to the park probably felt like an eternity no matter what.

Since we were later than expected, the castle show had already ended and we were able to use the walkway through the castle. This was really special I think for the kids.

Going through the castle really is a treat! It is blocked off alot of times. And is very beautiful in there.

The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh!! Duh, who doesn’t want to RD WtP??

Actually probably not a bad idea. It is such a short ride and the wait can get long. To me, that makes it worth doing it early.

Very cute! I miss the days that my girls wanted to wear there princess dresses for meets.

I had our autograph books ready, sharpies out and had DH on video duties, but still it seems like a whirlwind doing character meets.

It's a lot of stuff to juggle!

One of the best pieces of advice I read on a blog for traveling to WDW with kids was “Set expectations for yourself (the planner) for only ONE or TWO big goals for each day, so after that is accomplished, everything else is icing on the cake.” This was great advice that I tried to keep in the back of my head, I scheduled our important items early and then if we had to leave over a meltdown or back pain or anything else, I would not let myself get disappointed. So being able to check off several things in that 1st hour was a big win for me!

This is def the best advice to give someone. We have been to Disney 6-ish times now, and there are still things we haven't done. There just isn't enough time.

I hate sunscreen! I mean, I love that it's protecting my family from cancer, blah, blah, blah, but it's such a hassle with young kids. I feel like I should add sunscreen breaks to my touring plans.

I hate to say it, but 10 and 8... they STILL complain about putting on sunscreen. Blek!

 

[dbb727]

An exciting thing happened today.................this little package came in the mail!



I haven't mentioned it yet, but I'll actually be back in the World for a short SOLO trip in just a few weeks! I'm actually there for just a weekend work conference, which just happens to be at the Contemporary so I've got a 3 day hopper to use in the evenings and try tp catch up on all the fun adult things I didn't get a chance to do last September (i.e FOP, Trader Sam's, TOT, FOLK, all of World Showcase). It's my first solo trip to WDW and while I loved our family vacation, I'm pretty excited to just breeze in and out. Plus it's Festival of the Arts while I'm there so my goal is kinda a re-do of F&W.

And my goal is to take better pictures this time for the next trip report. On this past trip, I really struggled to take pics while also living in the moment, pushing a double stroller and juggling everyone's needs so it'll be nice to get some good food and scenery pics for scrapbooking and TRs. Hope you'll join me on that TR too! So I'm going to try my hardest to finish this TR, before I leave for that trip. Fingers crossed!

 

[mamamelody2]

Joining in!
Your kids are cuties!

Your solo trip sounds fun, too!

 

[dbb727]

"The Plan Falls Apart"
Day TWO, Part 2
MK Day: Sept 17, 2018
​

When I last left off, we had just finished the golden hour after rope drop with our 1st FP+ for PPF. I was so proud of us for getting everything accomplished that I had planned…… but that was about to end. It’s good to have a detailed plan, but again flexibility is key. In our case, it had less to do with the kids and more due to DH’s back problems. Let me backtrack for a second.

After our very first ride, the bouncy journey on WtP, I had immediately realized that I needed to revise our day’s plan. I started looking to exchange FP+ while still on WtP actually. Our 2nd FP was scheduled for Tomorrowland Speedway but I knew that wasn’t going to work for us because
A. it would be too hard for DH to squat down and get in the car,
B. even if he could get in, it would be too jerky, and
C. it would be too far to walk with how slow we were moving and a waste of early morning time for DH to wait while I switched off and rode with each child (In retrospect, perhaps we could have sat 3 across?? but it still would have been too far to walk. Seriously, I love my husband and all, but he was moving slower than molasses due to the pain as he walked. So, it worked best to stay in Fantasyland and hit nearby attractions.)

I had planned that TS FP+ to balance out all the princess stuff and because my son loves cars, but I figured he wouldn’t even know that we missed it, so no harm really. I wasn't able to rebook a FP+ during the 10am hour, either there wasn’t anything nearby, OR (more likely) MDX was being wonky and I couldn’t access the system, but later in the morning I switched it. Our 10 o’clock hour WAS supposed to include Dumbo, Barnstormer, TS and possibly Voyage of Little Mermaid or Ariel M&G(probably too ambitious) before lunch at BOG, so new plan was to just drop TS and hit the rest.

BUT FIRST: Rapunzel bathrooms.

We got off PPF at 10:03 and DD needed a potty break, so that’s where we headed. I wish I had gotten some pics of the theming in this area, or a pascal magic shot but oh well. Our stroller was parked right there so I grabbed it and made my way back to DH and DS to head towards Storybook Circus.

And here’s where everything in THE PLAN fell apart.

DH says “How about we do IASW since it’s right here and that’s a classic, right?.” Sure but……. It’s not in the plan right now! I want to hit storybook circus and other areas before they get busier and we can get IASW as a 4th FP later!

That is was what I was thinking, but what I said was “OK, good idea.”

I was happy that DH was wanting to get involved, I didn’t want to be TOO controlling and I figured it really wouldn’t throw things off that much to do it now. Plus it made some sense to avoid the slow, slow snail paced walking to the other side of Fantasyland. So I re-parked the stroller exactly where it just was at and we jumped in line.

I should have looked at the wait before agreeing since it was at least 15 minutes, not as short as I expected and since the boat ride itself takes ~12 minutes it ended up messing up my plan to get over to Circus area but this is his vacation too, right??


DH and I enjoyed the ride due to the nostalgic factor, I think the kids were a little confused/bored honestly but at least it was a smooth ride we could all enjoy together.


Only my name appeared for some reason, we either missed the others by a few seconds or it was glitchy or I'm just the most special in the family.....

When we exited, it was already 10:40 and we were starting to feel the humidity building up. We were walking towards Storybook circus, but after stopping at a drink cart, DH dropped a bomb on me.....

He says “I think I’m going to need to go back to the hotel room to lay down, it’s just too much walking right now.” Ahhh we’ve only been in the park 1.5hours!!!?? I knew he was probably in excruciating pain and really sucking it up for me/the kids so I just let him talk it out and then I timidly said, “you wanna leave right now?” Luckily he said, No but probably shortly after lunch. OK, I can deal with that.

On to new plan #3. We decided to skip the circus area for now, look around Belle’s village area for a few minutes and then head back to check in for lunch. The most important FP+ of the day was 7DMT for DD and I right after lunch, so DH agreed to stay through that in order to wait with DS, then he would head back to hotel while I stayed with kiddos if they still had energy. I knew this would mean not doing Barnstormer at all since I didn’t think I could take both kids with me at once, but I was ok with skipping barnstormer over 7DMT. Our last trip to WDW was in 2012 and New fantasyland didn’t open until 2013 so all of this area was new to me as well and I was super excited to check out 7DMT as well as BOG.


We checked into Be Our Guest a few minutes early, walked across the bridge towards those huge castle doors. The A/C was very welcoming for all of us and lifted our energy. Pre-ordering was definitely worth it as we were able to go straight in to the podium, print our receipt and find a table within 2 minutes.

If you don’t already know, there are 3 rooms in BOG, only two were open for seating when we arrived: the Main Ballroom or the West Wing. I figured DS might be spooked by the West Wing since it is darker and can have loud thunder sounds, thus we opted for the main ballroom and found a lovely “quiet” space in the very back next to one of the magically snowing windows. (I have a lovely video of the snowfall, but I can't figure out how to upload a video!) I know it isn’t actually quiet in there, it’s a huge open cavernous cafeteria space with lots of noise but the location in the back felt as private as we could get and it was a great place to relax and recharge….. even with the lady at the next table having a loud conversation on her cell phone.

The Music Box room did have some people eating in there, I assume finishing up from breakfast since it was 11:05 when we arrived. The CMs told us it wasn’t open for seating but we were welcome to go in and take pictures, which of course we did!

We explored the castle rooms while waiting for our food, which took <10 min to be delivered to our table. I was happy to eat lunch here since the breakfast menu didn’t wow me, especially since it seems overpriced and I wasn’t willing to pay the premium even for the PPO benefit. The lunch items appealed to me more and would have been a great QS credit if we had been on the dining plan.



I had the Tuna Niçoise, typically I am a bit hesitant about eating raw items at an unfamiliar restaurant, but luckily we had great food this whole week and no upset tummies! This was a winner, especially on such a hot day, it was light yet satisfying.


Master's cupcake with the gray stuff...yes it really is delicious!

My only regret with pre-ordering was I wish I had ordered more than one cupcake. Since we hadn’t eaten here before, I wasn’t sure the size and we don’t usually let the kids have many sweets so it was just enough to split between the 4 of us, but I wished I would have also ordered the red velvet cupcake to try. I didn’t want it enough though to wait in a line and then wait for it to be delivered, since we were getting tired of sitting and ready for our next adventure!



After stopping in the West Wing to look at the rose, stopping by the restroom, and stopping for one more pic, we finally were on our way to Seven Dwarf Mine Train!


It was 11:45am now and the wait for 7DMT was 80 minutes, but with our FP+ we were on the ride in 5! This was DD first roller coaster and I was soo excited for her! It was a great 1st coaster since it’s smooth and has the added dwarf scene in the middle to keep the storyline. I’m a big roller coaster addict so all the options at WDW are fairly tame to me, but this was my first time on 7DMT and I enjoyed it as well. Great family coaster that everyone can enjoy together, but wow those seats really are small and I'm only 5'2".


Sadly, DD was completely covered in the rideophoto since it is taken straight on but I was able to screen shot from the video we got with MM so at least we have proof of her first coaster! Even though she looks hesitant, she did great and came off the ride unphased so I was happy to be creating a future thrill seeker.

We met back up with DH and DS who were waiting for us outside the ride and then parted ways so DH could head back to the hotel.

At some point I had been able to change our speedway FP+ to Ariel M&G from 12:50-1:50, but it was not even noon so we headed to the other side of Fantasyland/Circus since we had skipped it earlier. I decided to skip Barnstormer because without an extra adult I didn’t think we’d be able to ride this. I’ve since seen some friends pics where they were 3 across in the car, but I didn’t even think of it at the time so we just skipped it. We went straight to Dumbo, and even though there was no need to wait(it was a walk on), I figured the kids would love playing inside and I could use the A/C too. This play area was a huge hit and we spent at least 15 minutes here.


DS is obsessed with firefighters and firetrucks so he basically just sat here and made sure no one else could take his spot, while DD tackled the jungle gym area.

After successfully extracting them, we headed back to the ride, and proceeded to have our first meltdown of the trip. DS REALLY wanted to ride in a purple Dumbo since that’s currently his favorite color, but the two purples on this spinner were taken. I know we probably could have waited, but I try hard to not give in to whining children, so I assured him they were all the same and we loaded into an orange one. Once in the air he mostly forgot about it. This was probably my favorite ride with them, great views of the castle and DD loved being in charge of the controls!

Love this selfie as I was able to capture a bit of the castle in the background!

We still had some time before our Ariel FP+ so we headed to Under the Sea. The wait here was a little longer than I had hoped, about 18 minutes (I know I'm complaining about trivial wait times, but seriously every minute counts with a preschooler/toddler so my goal was always 15minutes or less, 20minutes max if it was a super amazing attraction). We Facetimed with DH to pass the time in line outside, and when we got inside to the animatronic Scuttle, DS was super into it. He kept saying “you stop bird!” and then everytime Scuttle would move/talk, DS would just crack up laughing. I guess he really thought he was in a conversation with the bird and it was pretty funny to witness.

We enjoyed out clamshell ride except we were stopped in the last scene for about 3-5 minutes. Probably letting someone on or off the ride, I presume. I was very thankful that they have a well orchestrated plan since they noticeably turned the music volume down to a manageable level while we were stopped. The volume is incredibly loud right at the end, basically a crescendo right before you are exiting and hearing that loop would have driven me to madness.

After a few short steps, we were in the FP+ line to Ariel's grotto and she was simply lovely. DS was a little too shy and probably tired at this point, so only DD took the pics. Luckily we were prepared and had her dinglehopper ears to wear. This would be the first of three times that we meet Ariel on this trip, but the only time with her tail so that was special.


Since it was after 1pm, I decided we really needed to get back to the hotel to try and get a nap for DS. One of the items on my bucketlist was to ride the Railroad, so this seemed like the perfect way to get back to the entrance/exit. It also would have been nice if I had decided to just walk through Tomorrowland since we never really got too far into that area, but oh well. Shoulda, woulda, coulda.

In theory, the railroad was a great idea. DS LOVES trains, although I think he enjoys playing with them more than rides on them. And again it was on my bucketlist so I’m glad to have checked it off. The problem was: Double stroller + 2 small humans and only 1 of me!


In all honestly, it wasn’t too terrible but I did have a minor struggle and bit of frustration here. I knew I’d have to collapse the stroller to board the train, and it actually folds in on itself really easy and has a strap to carry. The problem was that I didn’t realize that it won’t collapse with items in the baskets underneath (this model has two separate baskets), OR said items will just dump all over the ground. So I was struggling to clean up ponchos/raincover/waterbottles/princess dress/hairbows off the ground and shove them into any space in my backpack, while also watching two kids running around me. Luckily, I had found a spot to the side of the entrance so I wasn’t having to frantically do this while the train was loading or I probably would’ve had my own meltdown.

The next struggle came when we loaded on the train. Kids up first, no problem. Then I figured I could slide the stroller onto the floor or stand it up between the seat. Well, guess what. That darn thing was too wide for the opening to the seats. Even though it folds pretty compactly, it was still too wide to pass the opening or fit onto the floor. I had to first get up on the train, and then lift the darn thing over my head and sit with it on my lap for the ride. YIKES! Obviously, I was sweating by now and both kids were zombie tired, so it was a quiet ride. After arriving at the station, we were the last people off and headed for the ramp. Even though the kids were tired and cranky, I stopped for a pic and captured this little gem.

The conductor blew the whistle right as I snapped the picture and WOW was it loud!!! I don’t know if this makes me a mean mom but I find it hilarious!



Up next...Getting stranded on the monorail and HEA Dessert Party!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I haven't mentioned it yet, but I'll actually be back in the World for a short SOLO trip in just a few weeks! I'm actually there for just a weekend work conference, which just happens to be at the Contemporary so

How fun!!! That will be great! it is def a WHOLE different expierence without the kids.

This is pretty funny. But your telling of the stroller and the kids. Everything does seem to be a million times harder when you are the only adult with 2 kids. I get it.

 

[dbb727]

Joining in!
Your kids are cuties!

Your solo trip sounds fun, too!

Thanks for following along!

 

[portocall]

I'm enjoying your trip report. I don't know if I should the only one who does this but when I read kids names as letters such as "B" and "H", I have to give them actual names. So for the sake of this trip report your children are named Brynn and Hughes in my mind. Lol. I completely understand why parents do the letter thing. I did it myself when mine were little. And it doesn't matter what their names actually are. (I'm not asking)

My husband suffers from back pain like your DH. ItsIso miserable when they're suffering. But kudos to you for hanging out with the kids solo.

 

[mamamelody2]

You are not a mean mom. I would find that hilarious, too!!