Just back - Grumpy, Goofy and Tigger live it up - trip report

[Wosmama6]

Howdy! We just got off the plane yesterday and I want to do a trip report before I forget everything!

Me (Goofy), DH (Grumpy) and DS2 (Tigger) arrived Sunday 10/25 at AoA for our first vacation as a family. DH works a LOT, and though DS and I travel often, he's usually either excluded or only there for a portion. So this was really special for us. This was also my first trip in a decade, and the first time I'd ever stayed on disney property. It was my husband's first trip in over 20 years. My 28 mo old son is in love w/ "Mad gum" (translation: dad gum) which is what he calls Mater.

Originally, I had booked Pop and upgraded our dining plan to TS. We would just walk over to AoA to swim and eat. Then I found out that you can't pool hop, so I switched us to an AoA Cars suite and dropped memory maker and the dining plan upgrade to make up some of the upcharge. The plan was to tour in the morning, nap and then swim in the evenings. This turned out to be a mistake, I think, but more on that later.

Anyway, we hopped off DME at 1030 after a 4am wakeup. DME is AWESOME. The luggage handling alone is worth it. Room wasn't ready, so we headed to Magic Kingdom. We walked in to the Move it Shake it party, which to DS was an amazing parade. He was enamored w/ the sitting goofy statue near town square, so I knew this would be good.

We hopped on the peoplemover because of course there was no line and then hopped in line to meet buzz lightyear. He was FLOORED. I will post pictures later, but I realized right away I needed to add many character greets to our plans. We also rode the tea cups, the carousel, FP+ mermaid, and headed to the splash station, which for some weird reason he HATED. I think the train scared him? So odd. And then had our ADR at BOG.

Honestly? Our fries were hard, my sandwich was soggy... I was not impressed. Glad it wasn't OOP. The castle is magical, of course, but eh on the food. The desserts were good, at least.

We then hit up Dumbo w/ FP+ which was the only ride the entire trip he requested to ride twice!

We had FP for the FoF parade, which we knew he would love. He fell asleep on the walk from new fantasyland, and WOULD NOT wake up for the parade... and then they delayed it, so we headed back. Of course he woke up on the bus and refused to nap the rest of the day.

When we came back at 3:45, we still had no luggage (our flight arrived at 9:30) and no amazon box. We had to call three times to get the amazon box delivered... they explained that they were inundated with luggage but it still felt very un-disney to have to call with a reminder so many times.

We enjoyed a meal at Landscapes of Flavor, and DS stared slack-jawed at his heroes, Mater and McQueen. He slept in his pack n play, which would only happen once more for the whole trip...

Tip: Bring a white noise machine. We had no issues with the paper thin walls with that thing on.

Day two coming up!

 

[Wosmama6]

Day 2 was my 30th birthday!!! We had originally planned to go to MK using EMH and TP info... but someone clued me in to EasyWDW and boy am I glad. Josh said NO DON'T GO even though TP predicted average crowds... let's just say my husband was more than happy when we passed a line snaked out of the bus waiting area for MK and were first in line at AK. We looked back at MK and the crowd levels were 9/10 that day, so whew... thanks, Josh.

We were up and on the bus earlier than expected, so I called dining res on a whim as there were no TH available on the app. Sure enough, they had an 8:15, and we had an awesome breakfast in an awesome environment. DS was so cute meeting his other favorite, Goofy, as well as Mickey, Donald and Daisy, and dancing around the hall with Goofy. We didn't make it out in time to be front of the line for Kilimanjaro, but we waited less than 10 minutes. That's a breakfast worth paying for, for sure.

We then headed to the train (DS loved) and affection section (DS said "I don't wike goats" which cracked us up) and there was no line for Chip and Dale, so DS had a blast with them (and definitely had no idea who they were). then we FPed the Lion King. DS just loved that show, of course.

We FPed Kali River Rapids, but he was 37". Big sad face for us. So we switched it up, and my husband insisted on It's Tough to Be a Bug... and DS wasn't scared! At all! I was shocked. Immediately I said "if he can do that, we are definitely doing Haunted Mansion".

We ate at Flame Tree BBQ, which was tasty and too much food. On the way to Dinoland, DS started getting fussy, so we just headed back to the room for a nice long nap. Sad that we missed the Boneyard and Nemo, but a tired DS is no fun, so we'll hit it next time. There's definitely more we want to see at AK, and it was DH's favorite park!

After an excellent nap, it was time for our ADR at Boma! We loved AKL and my husband just kind of gaped at me when I told him we could've stayed there cheaper than the AoA suite. The dinner was FABULOUS. I love soup/salad kind of things and ate at least 3 zebra domes (it was my bday!).

DS WOULD NOT sleep in the pack n play, even when we waited til midnight to try to move him... needless to say, it was a coffee heavy 8 am ADR the next morning.

Tip: Those curly ribbon gift toppers from the dollar store make a great stroller marker... cheap, small, but conspicuous enough to stand out!

Next: Day 3 and MK!

 

[Wosmama6]

On day 3 we had an 8 am ADR at CP. I was shocked by the line to just get in for the ADRs! I felt like MK was a little bonkers the whole time we were there... but DS met Pooh, Eeyore and Piglet (his favorite). The food was mediocre and we were out of there by 8:30 easy. If I could go back, I'd skip this for sure and keep my money.

We got great pictures in front of the castle that I may actually purchase and then headed to Adventureland... the drizzle was falling at this point and we were one of just a few people on that side of the parks. We walked onto Pirates and then magic carpets. Then we FP+ed Jungle Cruise. Look, I get the nostalgia, but this one's really gotta go... Then we moved up our Haunted Mansion FP... and DS wasn't scared! But the hitchhiker ghost part wasn't working... and that's by far the coolest part.

We did small world, which is just... again, maybe I'm just not diehard, but ugh. Then we were able to snag an FP for Belle, which was just fantastic. DS was the pepper shaker and LOVED Belle. He was so proud of the bookmark, pointed to Belle's picture on it and said "Mommy!" and that made every penny of the trip worth it for me

We went back to Adventureland for the highlight of the day... a meet and greet with Woody and Jessie. Can't wait to add those pictures. He LOVED that even more than Buzz, somehow!

Then of course a Dole Whip... I'm not entirely sure why I didn't love it, since I love pineapple and soft serve, and it seems to be a universal favorite...

Anyway, we headed back for naptime and our first foray into the Big Blue Pool, which is just plain awesome. DS loved the splash ground and couldn't get enough of the "MINE" seagulls.

We enjoyed LoF again... the food is good for QS, for sure. DS was really into the caesar salad they serve with the pizza??? So random.

TIP: Once you've used your FP, see if you can move up your next one. That saved us a ton of time... I'm sure it doesn't work with the big headliners, but for what DS could ride, it worked almost every time!... We would have 3 FPs used by 11 am and ready to book a 4th if necessary!

 

[Wosmama6]

Day 4 was Epcot. A downpour was predicted, but what's a little rain?

We were first in line when they opened Spaceship Earth 15 minutes early, and DS loved it. We headed to Nemo with an FP we didn't need and walked right on to that and Turtle Talk when it opened. We spent a good deal of time looking in the tanks before heading over to the Lands... the rain started, so we grabbed breakfast after a Living with the Land FP that we definitely didn't need. Sunshine Seasons was as awesome as promised!

We then high tailed it to Norway, because I was determined to get some school bread before the deluge... it started sprinkling, and by the time we detoured for a lettuce wrap at south korea and were eating school bread (OMG YUM) and lefse (having lived in Minnesota, it wasn't the best I'd ever had), it was POURING. It didn't show signs of letting up, and DH just said, eh, let's go! So... go we did. We snagged ravioli in italy, and DH felt insulted by the size of his beer. At this point we were getting miserable, soaked to the bone, and many of the F&W booths were simply closed because of the heavy rain. We went to France and got treats at Boulangerie. I was hoping for L Artisan des Glaces, but that too was closed... I guess due to the crappy weather?

We hoofed it hard back to the entrance, skipping Figment and anything else we might've been interested in...

and then we waited 30 minutes for an AoA bus while FOUR, YES FOUR Pop buses arrived. I was more than livid as we were soaked, the stroller, DS... we were so soaked we couldn't wear our shoes the rest of the trip.

We couldn't wait for a nap, but DS had other ideas... after two hours of tossing and turning, we just called it quits. DH said "hey, want to go to HS?" HS wasn't on our plan due to the limited attractions tall enough for DS, but hey, whatever.

Off we went and boy was it fun!! MGM was always my favorite park back in the day, but it is definitely a hodge podge mess now... but still really fun. DS liked Lights, Motor, Action for the first 15 minutes or so... then he and DH went in honey i shrunk the kids. DH had lots of nostalgia for it, but he said it didn't live up. Ah, growing up. Then we hit up a short McQueen and Mater line, and DS of course loved it... I think they could do this better?

Then we FPed Disney Jr and this alone made me glad we ventured to HS. The "snow", bubbles and "gold dubloons" were just amazing for DS, and the puppets were amazing to all of us. Truly a great show.

Then we hit up the great movie ride, and between the crappy acting and outdated references... well, this one could go too. We ate at ABC commissary, which was gross but had very nice staff.

Our goal was to make it to Fantasmic, and we did! We got a decent seat near the back of the sebastian section. I remembered the show from 10 years ago, and loved it just as much this time. This was the only time DS said "mommy, I stared" (of the dragon). DH thought it was great, too. We got up toward the end of the finale (to the death stares of people next to us) and watched the finale standing toward the exit... which got us on the AoA bus and back to the resort by 8:30! It was perfect as DS was nodding off. We really loved this day, in spite of the rain. We didn't get to do all we wanted, but we did enough, and we had some spontaneous fun to boot.

Next up: final day and day 3 at MK!