"I'm going to see my SISTER!" A first timer's TR with little kids- UPDATED 4/27

[delyrium]

Hi all! I wasn't sure whether to do one of these, but I have the sense that no one in my real life really wants to hear the level of detail that I want to go into about our trip.

Here we are. Starting with me. Kind of a cynic about all things Disney, but with very high expectations for our trip. I never went to Disney as a child, and was always envious of everyone who got to go, so this was the culmination of a childhood dream. I planned obsessively to get us there, and drove my family crazy.

Then there's R- He's a tinkerer and a collector. He gets a kick out of mechanical things, and can seem very serious at times, but has the heart of a child. He went to Disney with his family once when he was a teenager, so in the early nineties.

And here are our little ones. Amelia, almost 6 years old, Olaf-lover and ninja wanna-be. She's feisty and goofy and full of love. And Oliver the Octopus Dumptruck, as he calls himself. He is by turns eager to please and very strong-willed. In short, he's almost 3 years old.

So, here’s the plan. We fly in on April 2, and stay seven nights at Port Orleans Riverside. We plan on six days in the parks- two at MK, two at Epcot, and a day each at DHS and AK. I have a pretty precise plan, but I don’t want to be too tied to it. Things can get hairy with the kids, and who knows how they’ll handle everything? I guess we’ll find out.

 

[delyrium]

Part 1: “Here we go into outer space!”- A plane ride, arrival, and Epcot.
Part 2: Not ready for the Yeti- A day in Animal Kingdom sans thrill rides.

 

[delyrium]

We had told the kids about the trip about a month and a half before hand, giving them ample time to get mentally prepared, while giving R and I ample time to get tired of Amelia telling everyone “WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD IN 27 DAYS!”

We did most of our packing the day before, and had some real trouble making compromises on what toy friends we could bring. We finally settled on their little lemur toys, who were our close companions for the whole trip. They helped us through the plane ride, along with some lunchables and a viewing of Frozen on the iPad. It went very smoothly, except that my seat mate was a bit of a loon. R was on one side of the aisle with the kids, and I was on the other side with a mother and daughter.

We arrived at MCO, and were very impressed with the airport, as well as the signage and staff in the Disney Magical Express area. I felt that this was a good sign of things to come.

It took longer than we’d hoped to get to POR from the airport- really I had no idea what to expect. I did not expect to get teary eyed when seeing the the Disney World sign for the first time, but I totally did.

I’d hoped to get to Epcot by noon, with a 10:25 arrival time at the airport. I had a FP for Soarin’ that expired at 1:40, so I was a little anxious. When we finally arrived at the resort, the line for online checkin was pretty long. I had faxed a request for a certain section of the resort, and a ground floor room, but there was no indication the fax was received. I was starting to get a little irritated. But the kids were happy, watching Mickey cartoons on the TV in front of the checkin desk. We got our first visit pins, and I got my birthday pin, and we were off to our room.

We snacked on the rest of the lunchables, got the kids out of their winter clothes, and prepared to get the bus to Epcot.

When we got there, we had about twenty minutes to find our way to Soarin and claim our FP, so we really had to hustle. We got there with just a few minutes to spare. R agreed to take Oliver, and A and I went in the FP line. This is where things really went south. For our first ride, that we’d rushed to get to, and ignored all the sights on the way, the line was 40 minutes. That’s a conservative estimate. We kept going through what R later started calling “decoy lines” without knowing how much farther there would be to go. I texted R at one point, and he said he was doing okay, and that he and Oliver were having fun going up and down the escalators. I texted back “Disney-riffic!!” Eventually he figured out that they could go on The Land while they waited. Oliver loved it. Amelia though, was started to get more and more nervous about the ride, and started to consider that she might be afraid of heights, and I wished we could just get on already and be done.

Finally, we got to the front of the line, and rode Soarin. It was lovely. Amelia said, “I didn’t LIKE it… I LOVED it!!!” The cast members in the ride were awesome and funny, too.

After we reconnected with R and O, we decided that we were all starving and could do with some food, so we stopped at Sunshine Seasons. I had the rotisserie chicken, and R had the steak and blue sandwich. Both were good, and our first foray into Disney dining was less expensive than we’d feared. We did not purchase the dining plan. A random cast member stopped by the table and gave the kids stickers, which was one more small event where we started to realize that Disney is a different sort of place.

R thought Amelia and I should go on The Land, too, so we did. I enjoyed it, but Amelia was spooked by the parts with lightning.

Next was Nemo. The ride was enchanting, though Amelia was not a fan of the big scary fish. The aquariums were great, and when one of the scuba divers waved to Amelia from inside the tank, she was thrilled.

We headed toward the World Showcase, and on the way we found the Monsters U playscape, which the kids loved, and we found it a relatively shady spot for the grownups to take a rest.

I rested for a couple minutes, but by now it was around five o’clock, and I’d read this was a good time to find a short wait for Anna and Elsa. I got to Norway, and asked a CM about wait times. “An hour to an hour and a half- it’s not that bad right now!” “… it’s really not,” said I. But I just could not bring myself to do it right then. it was hot, and we’d been up since five, and I was exhausted. Oh, well.

By then, the kids (okay, Amelia) had been bugging us for souvenirs for long enough that we had to crack. So, we went into Mouse Gear and got some mouse ears.

Not these ones (though Maleficent is my favorite)

These ones.

After that, we were ready to meet some friends. I wasn’t sure how Oliver would react to the characters, but he seemed to like them okay.

We had a FP for illuminations, and there was some mega confusion about how to find the viewing area, but eventually we did find it. I got the kids a snack, and grown-up drinks for the grown-ups, and we settled into our spot, along with some other families and a number of very friendly ducks. Illuminations was incredible- some of the best fireworks I’ve seen.

Back to the resort, on a very crowded bus. We had some bit of difficulty getting the kids to sleep in an unfamiliar place, and we all had to be up bright and early the next morning for Animal Kingdom!

 

[delyrium]

Hi again! Not sure if anyone's actually reading this, or if I'm just detailing it for the sake of family history and planning our next trip. Either way, I'm hoping to get the whole thing down, eventually. It's slow going so far, though!

It turns out, on your first trip to Disney World, it’s not all that hard to get out of bed for your first full day. Still, we were dragging a bit, and after tanking up on grits and oatmeal (obtained with the help of Garden Grocer and the room coffee maker- thanks for the tips, Dis!), we rolled in around 9:30 or thereabouts. It was already a hot day, and it was quite a hike from the bus stop to the entrance. I figured out later that we had chosen the two most walking intensive parks for our first two days. I’ll do it differently next time!

We had a FP for the safari, so we headed in that direction first. On the way we took in some of the sights- I really wanted to avoid the entrance FP+ rush from the day before at Epcot. Still, I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss our slot. We got there, and once again found a really long FP+ line. I have no idea why our luck ran this way for our first two ride-based FP. Anyway, the couple behind us was talking about their frustration with the FP+ system, and voicing a lot of the complaints I’ve read on the Dis. I started talking to them, and it turned out she and her husband had been to the World countless times. She really talked up Touring Plans and the Lines app. I told her that I was reluctant to follow a plan too closely and turn into the family drill sergeant. After I said that aloud, I realized that I really needed to be less wishy-washy about making plans from then on, though. Once I decided that, I think our trip really improved! I started to look at touring plans a bit while on the Safari, and decided that we were going to follow our new friends’ advice and try and go against the flow of traffic wherever possible.

The Safari was pretty freaking cool, I have to say.

After that, it was time for a snack. Mickey bars, anyone?

Being from Michigan, we do not really see lizards out in the wild. These guys are fast! I can’t believe he held still long enough for this shot.

We spent some time in the Dino area next, and went on the Triceratops Spin. It was a winner all around.

There was some kind of Bug’s Life Dance Party going on at this time, and I tried to get the kids involved. But… Amelia isn’t really much of a dancer, and Oliver found the entire thing extremely suspicious. We moved on.

It was lunchtime, and we took a bit of a detour to the Flame Tree BBQ. It was crowded and complicated to get our food, and then to find seating. Very worth it, though. The food was good, and the pavilion where we ate was just lovely, with a great view of Expedition Everest, which is where our next FP+ was. Weellll… maybe the view wasn’t that great of an idea. Amelia told me very seriously that maybe she would like to go on that roller coaster when she’s seven or eight. I tried to talk her into it, but the more she looked at the drop and heard the screams, the more she balked. Oh, well. next time for sure.

So, instead of EE, we went to the Dino playground. The kids had a blast, but by the time we left here, my nerves were absolutely shot. How many ways are there to lose a kid in that labyrinth? Okay, a lot.

About 5 seconds after this pic was taken, I was ordered to put Oliver’s shoes back on. I was the only parent who listened.

Upside down boy!

Next, we were suckered into buying a misting fan for the Girl, after hours of cajoling. We headed toward Asia, and saw this awesome DJ and Indian dancers.

Drumming with dad.

We grabbed a couple much needed beers in the absolutely lovely area surrounding the EE pavilion and nursed them while walking around. We were wiped, and although R would have loved to have stuck around longer, I told Amelia we could go back to the resort for swimming right after the 3:00 parade. Oliver was sleeping in the stroller, and the $17.95 fan was already broken.

What a beautiful park, though. I feel like we missed over half of it.

When we got back to the resort, we found a towel animal! And artfully arranged toys!

R wanted nothing more than to flop on the bed for the rest of the day. But I had promised we would get in the pool. So, we rested for a few minutes, then got our swimsuits on and spent some time splashing around. At least… A and I did. On his first foray into a pool since last summer, Oliver decided the experience was not for him. He and his dad wound up going back to the room.

We had dinner at the POR food court, and bought a couple refillable mugs. These were really great throughout the rest of the trip. I’m not sure they quite paid for themselves, but they were so massively convenient. For my dinner, I got the create your own pasta- for $11, it could have fed the two adults in our party, and was fairly tasty, as well. I’d recommend it to anyone on a budget, or with a big appetite.

We did our best to get to bed after that. The next day was going to be MK, and we knew it would be the best day yet.

 

[annie170]

I'm enjoying your trip report!

"We grabbed a couple much needed beers" Love this! You and I would get along just fine!

 

[delyrium]

Thank you! It was so hot and sunny, and while we were walking around, a young woman came running up and said "OMG You have beer! Where did you get it??" and I kind of pointed in the general direction of the cart, and she dashed off.

In retrospect, I'm pretty bummed about missing Expedition Everest. We should have gone on it with Rider Swap. We also had a FP for Finding Nemo the Musical, but it went unused. We wound up seeing it before our FP time, during a point where we really needed to chill and rest. We weren't in the best seats (off to the side, just out of range of the bubbles), but it was still cool.

 

[SunshinesOrangeBird]

You have such a beautiful family and I am emensely enjoying your Trip Report. Port Orleans is the best moderate at WDW. It has the best scenery and atmosphere.

Using touring plan and other crowd forecast sites are a big help. Before I knew about touring plans I used undercover tourist world disney world app on my iphone. It is the best app, it has menus, prices and other information. This app was my buddy when planning my trip. I would avoid all red crowd forecasting parks...and I never waited on line for over a half hour.

Your trip looks so much fun and I can tell it was amazing!!!!

 

[delyrium]

You have such a beautiful family and I am emensely enjoying your Trip Report. Port Orleans is the best moderate at WDW. It has the best scenery and atmosphere.

Using touring plan and other crowd forecast sites are a big help. Before I knew about touring plans I used undercover tourist world disney world app on my iphone. It is the best app, it has menus, prices and other information. This app was my buddy when planning my trip. I would avoid all red crowd forecasting parks...and I never waited on line for over a half hour.

Your trip looks so much fun and I can tell it was amazing!!!!

Yes, I loved the POR atmosphere. if we'd had a couple more days it would have been great to spend more time at the resort. I do regret not having taken more pictures of the grounds. We were in the Magnolia Bend section, and there was a fountain outside our building that was lit up all white at night. The children thought it was AMAZING, and it was a lovely sight to come home to.

Once I started using the plans, I found we were able to travel much more efficiently, and then have more freedom to do spontaneous things we saw along the way with the time left over. It worked out well.

 

[LindseyLou2222]

Following along too! . Such a cute family!