She's a big sister and an expedition leader: A party of 8 with a 9 month old September 2016 TR

[GrandCalifornian]

WOO HOOO We just got back from DISNEY WORLD!

and we're exhausted...

but we took a ton of pictures and we can't wait to share them and let's be honest re-live the trip!

So on we go with our 2016 Trip report. Is everyone excited?

As we have in our previous trip repoorts, we will both contribute to the report, with Paul making comments in Blue and Melissa sharing her thoughts in Orange.

Introductions:

I'm Paul, a now 36 year old daddy of two, Mechanical Engineer, and car guy. At Disney World my favorite places are the resorts, and I enjoy the resorts boards on the DIS. My favorite park is Epcot, and my favorite ride is Test Track. My favorite movie ever is Cars, without a doubt.


I'm Melissa! Otherwise known as Mom. My family owns an elevator company and I work in the office shuffling papers. In the last couple years Paul and I have been doing some photography work on the side as well. I like to sew in my spare time but I didn't do any of it for this trip as I have in the past becase of our latest addition. My favorite Disney character is Stitch but I'm a Perry the Platypus fan too. My favorite WDW park is Epcot followed closely by Animal Kingdom.


Here's Allison! She turned 7 the day after we returned home. She's in first grade this year. Allie was very into jewelry and Tsum Tsum this trip.


Here's Marshall, the latest addition to the family who got to have his first experience with Disney parks on this trip. He turned 9 months old on the trip but is a big guy who is already wearing size 2T clothes. His favorite park is Epcot because they have an awesome babycare center and his favorite attraction was the Tiki Room.


We were joined once again by Grandpa Jim and Grandma Nancy, who were making their third trip to WDW with us. They are Paul's parents and enjoy Disney, especially with the grandkids. They will likely join in at some point during this TR.


We were also joined on this trip by Brandy and Jon. They are great friends and fellow Disney fans.


That brought the number of people in our traveling party to 8, which was the biggest group we have ever planned for. We gave everyone the option of choosing which meals they wanted together, but everyone wanted all of them so all of our ADRs were for a party of 8.

Where:

The home resort for this trip was the Wilderness Lodge.






We figured it would be perfect to have the close proximity to MK and boat transportation while touring with a small baby. It is also my favorite resort, and one that Brandy had seen pictures of and really wanted to stay at.

Small baby? Try young large baby...

Well, we didn't know he was going to be huge when we started planning. Actually we didn't even know he existed yet when we first discussed taking a trip with Brandy and John.

Yes, let us step back two years.....

So, if you followed or read our previous Trip Report, which I highly recommend you do, it's great reading, you'll recall that we visited the art store in Downtown Disney... innocent on it's face

We saw a cute painting of Dumbo flying over fantasyland and I commented that it would look neat in a baby's room. Not our baby's room, or even that we wanted a baby's room, just that it was cute for a baby. I liked the bright colors.


Well BOOM fast forward to Easter and John and Brandy are talking about a September 2015 Disney trip. I got excited but knew that we probably couldn't afford to go that year especially if I was pregnant.....

Not so fast, Before the "BOOM" appearently I ignited something with that comment because that was the official start of discussing having annother baby. It lit a fuse with Melissa that would result in one more little family member.

so I took a test on Easter Sunday and.... no Disney 2015.

We had other things to be very excited about.

So yes I did get baby fever big time, thanks to that Dumbo print. But the seed had been planted for a big ole trip in 2016.

And that brings us to this report. We hope you enjoy following along as we comb through pictures and relive an epic journey to Walt Disney World.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Table Of Contents:
Introduction
"Do You Want Your Water in the Elevator?"
"You're Gonna Need Four Elephants"
In Search of Quinoa, Ice, Potatoes, and Flaming Marshmallows
Fireworks, Safaris, a DISmeet, Yeti Encounter, Goat Snuggling, and Chipmunk Wrangling
Eat, Shop, Repeat...
Rope Drop, a Makeover, and Dining in Beast's Castle
It's Raining, It's Pouring...
A Busy Half Day at MK
A Water Themed Afternoon, with Ohana for Dinner
Laziness, Laundry, Shopping, and Golden Tickets
A Swimming and Shopping Evening
We're Heading to Japan
Hollywood Studios and an Epcot Evening of Food and Wine
Scooting Along from MK to AK
Nemo, Jambo, Boma, and even a Parade
Bouncing Back and Wrapping up at MK
Wrapping Up at Epcot
Heading Home, Eventually
The Wrap Up


Prior Reports:
She's free before she's three, touring the world with a toddler: September 2012 Trip Report
She turned 3, but the DDP's Free, a WL Bounceback PTR: September 2013
She's a Princess, a Superhero, and a Rockstar -a September 2013 Trip Report
She's Turning Five at Disney World - a September 2014 PTR
She's Five at Riverside - September 2014 Trip Report
She's Going to Show Him The World - September 2016 PTR

 

[WDWKOOK]

Great timing! I get to relive your trip, after returning from mine a week ago, which included a little bit of your trip

Your family and friends photo turned out great - no one is crying!

 

[KnK]

Looking forward to comparing trips.....we were there the same time. Write away!!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Great timing! I get to relive your trip, after returning from mine a week ago, which included a little bit of your trip

Your family and friends photo turned out great - no one is crying!

The fact nobody was crying is entirely because we had the best photopass CM ever, who overheard us trying to convince Allie to get out of the stroller for the picture. He was a true pro, and the results showed it.

We're glad to have you following along, and it was great to meet you during the trip.

Looking forward to comparing trips.....we were there the same time. Write away!!

We love being there in September. The low crowds are nice, and this time we did well as far as the weather was concerned, except for a little tropical storm that caused us to have to swim through World Showcase one night, but overall it was great. We're glad to have you following along. Perhaps you'll be in the background of one of the pictures...

 

[Wood Nymph]

I'm very excited about reading a new Paul and Melissa trip report.

It looks like it was a big success.

 

[bellesBFF]

oh yay i'm here right at the beginning following along! your children are so cute

 

[CuteAsMinnie]

So excited to now look forward to your trip report! I love how Melissa and Allie are posing the same in your great family pic!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I'm very excited about reading a new Paul and Melissa trip report.

It looks like it was a big success.

Thanks, we're glad to have you following along. We are very happy to have pulled off a trip with this many people and had it go so well, and pretty much as we had planned. There will be a lot of details to share, which should be fun.

oh yay i'm here right at the beginning following along! your children are so cute

Welcome, we're glad you're here. We should post about our travel to WDW soon.

So excited to now look forward to your trip report! I love how Melissa and Allie are posing the same in your great family pic!

Thanks, we're excited too, but that's just because we get to go over all the fun we had at WDW. As long as real life doesn't get in the way too much we should be able to share more soon. The picture was completely orchestrated by the great PhotoPass guy. He was amazing. It was taken on our way in to MK early for our Crystal Palace ADR.

 

[I_Luv_Stitch]

Following along, loved reading all your previous TR's, congratulations on your new baby (I know he's more than 9 months now!) love how Allie and Melissa's poses are the same in the group photo!

Looking forward to reading more

 

[buddha112]

Looking forward to more

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Following along, loved reading all your previous TR's, congratulations on your new baby (I know he's more than 9 months now!) love how Allie and Melissa's poses are the same in the group photo!

Looking forward to reading more

Thanks so much, and welcome to this report. He's still our little baby, no matter how big he gets.

Looking forward to more

Thanks for following. You won't have to wait long, we're ready to post more right now...

 

[GrandCalifornian]

My day started with the alarm set for 2 AM so that I could get up, shower, and go pick up our friends from their shop where we would be leaving their car and my parents car since we don't have enough parking at our house for our cars and theirs.


Marshall and I snoozed for a little bit and then got up when Paul left. I got all our last minute stuff together and got Allie up and dressed.

We met right on time and soon were on our way back to our house. That's where the shuttle was supposed to pick us all up so we didn't have to deal with driving to LAX and parking there. Being me I was concerned about whether the shuttle would show up, and whether it would have enough room for all of our luggage.


Luckily the van got there right on time with carseats installed and enough seatbelts and room for our luggage.


The shuttle was so nice, it made the trip to the airport effortless, and I didn't have to worry (once it arrived). It took us right at an hour to get to the airport, so we were there at 5AM.


It was super easy and we were all very excited to be on the way to Disney!

After we dropped off our bags (for which we used our extra DME tags on John and Brandy's bags because they didn't know to bring or attach the yellow stickers) we headed to breakfast at Carl's Jr. in the terminal.


Our plane boarded right on time, and we were lucky enough to get on first since we were traveling with the baby.


It was pretty smooth sailing all the way to Orlando.

It was our first non-stop flight, and was just over 4.5 hours. It went well, and it was so nice not to have to deal with a layover. Once we landed, we were already in Orlando.


We got our texts saying our rooms were ready, and then knew our room numbers and location. We got three rooms next to each other in a location of the resort we haven't been in before, which I knew right away.

This is because he has the whole floorplan memorized, it's gonna rock his world when all of the construction is done and room numbers change in the south wing.

Don't even go there...
Another advantage of flying United was our gate was in Terminal B, so the walk was shorter from the airport monorail to the DME buses.


It was like magic!

We were directed to a waiting bus, and didn't have much longer to wait.


We learned that Fort Wilderness would be the first stop, followed by our Wilderness Lodge.

It was great fun to walk into that beautiful lobby for the first time of the trip.


We love the lodge and it felt like coming home. We walked in the lobby and right past the front desk! It was crazy strange to already have our room numbers.

We walked down the ramp by Roaring Fork to the elevators. This bank of two elevators were the only ones working during our stay, but it worked out fine. Then we headed upstairs to our rooms to drop off our carry ons.

Marshall was super excited to be able to get down and explore the place.


Allie claimed her bed as the one by the window.


Then we headed downstairs to get some dinner at Roaring Fork. The food was great and the dining room was almost empty. We started putting the dining credits to work right away.


I got the roast beef sandwich and it was delish! We got a strawberry cupcake and a magic cookie bar to share for dessert.

Then we walked around the resort for a quick tour. We visited the villas lobby and Carolwood Pacific train room.


I crossed the lobby bridge for the first time of the trip:


Even though the resort is undergoing some major construction you don't really notice much when you're walking around, this construction wasn't nearly as obtrusive as the last round when they redid the main pool area.

After dinner we headed back up to the rooms to see if our luggage was there because we wanted to get the stroller before we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. While we were waiting on luggage Paul called Bell services to have them bring up our Garden Grocer order.

When I called they let us know that our DME bags were in as well so they'd bring everything together. A bellman arrived soon, with a very distressed look on his face.

He proceeded to ask if we wanted our water in the elevator.

Then he appologized and explained that a bag had fallen in the elevator, breaking two of the bottles of wine that John had ordered. He promised to get it replaced, and seemed surprised when we tipped him anyway for his hard work.

Poor guy was traumatized. Of course we tipped him, he still unloaded a metric TON of luggage and stacked our 6 cases of water neatly in our elevator...erm closet.

Then we headed out to the boats to visit Guest Services at MK to make sure our MagicBands were linked to the correct tickets (since we had leftover 2 day tickets from a prior stay when we used APs but booked a package to get Free Dining)


What would a first night be without a trip to Guest Services at the Magic Kingdom, it's practically a tradition at this point


We also were able to watch Wishes from outside the gate. It was a nice show, and a good start to the trip. We then hopped on the boat and headed back while John and Brandy checked out the park because they had purchased extra days of tickets and planned on upgrading to APs.


We were able to watch the Electrical Water Pageant from the boat dock as we waited to return to WL.



It was by far the least stressful arrival day I can recall, between the shuttle, pre boarding on the plane, and the walk on Magical Express bus I don't think anything could have gone smoother.

 

[Wood Nymph]

This is because he has the whole floorplan memorized, it's gonna rock his world when all of the construction is done and room numbers change in the south wing.

I'm guilty of that, too.

Even though the resort is undergoing some major construction you don't really notice much when you're walking around, this construction wasn't nearly as obtrusive as the last round when they redid the main pool area.

That's true, The main pool construction two years ago was much more noticeable. They done a good job of hiding the villas construction area.

What would a first night be without a trip to Guest Services at the Magic Kingdom, it's practically a tradition at this point

It looks like it was a lovely night to go over there.

It was by far the least stressful arrival day I can recall, between the shuttle, pre boarding on the plane, and the walk on Magical Express bus I don't think anything could have gone smoother.

It sounds like a great first day, except for the 2am wakeup.

 

[Grandpa Jim]

I'm following along and look forward to reliving the trip. I had a wonderful time, made even more special by my seven traveling companions. What a great group!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I'm guilty of that, too.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one... Now how are we going to collect the info on the new South wing?

It sounds like a great first day, except for the 2am wakeup.

It got us on East coast time right away, and we were all excited. Allie didn't even take a nap on the plane. We were ready to sleep that night.

I'm following along and look forward to reliving the trip. I had a wonderful time, made even more special by my seven traveling companions. What a great group!

Hi Dad! We're glad to have you here. Re-living the trip is a neat way to extend the fun.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I've been peering in the windows of the south wing the best I could to try and see if they are going to use the basic villa configuration but I can't tell. They aren't moving too fast with construction.

Our grandchildren never sleep on planes, either, even when we wake them at 3:30am. I think I'm the only one who dozes off.

 

[ArielSRL]

I'm here! I came over from the WL thread (we hope to stay there in June 2017 in a DVC studio as we are renting points). This past trip (in June) my boys were 4 & 2 but a previous trip my oldest was 9.5 months. It was an interesting dynamic. I'll be interested to see how yours went.

Love the smooth arrival day and the WL photos! Looks like a fun family and friends trip! Looking forward to more!

ETA: Going back to check out the PTR....

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I've been peering in the windows of the south wing the best I could to try and see if they are going to use the basic villa configuration but I can't tell. They aren't moving too fast with construction.

Our grandchildren never sleep on planes, either, even when we wake them at 3:30am. I think I'm the only one who dozes off.

There was a lot of work going on when we were there, with large construction crews on many floors of the South Wing. It will be interesting to see if any of the resulting work is more evident when you're visiting next week. We did notice some room numbers on the sliding glass doors, which might provide clues on which former rooms are grouped together.

I'm here! I came over from the WL thread (we hope to stay there in June 2017 in a DVC studio as we are renting points). This past trip (in June) my boys were 4 & 2 but a previous trip my oldest was 9.5 months. It was an interesting dynamic. I'll be interested to see how yours went.

Love the smooth arrival day and the WL photos! Looks like a fun family and friends trip! Looking forward to more!

ETA: Going back to check out the PTR....

Welcome, we're glad that you found us. This and the PTR should give you a pretty good idea how our reports go. We like sharing a lot of pictures, and wind up doing lots of different things. We weren't sure how having the baby and an older child would work out, but it was fine, and he just went with the flow. His sister has an ever-growing opinion though...

 

[GrandCalifornian]

I got up at 6:00 and was too excited to sleep, so I took the camera out and went and took resort pics until after 7:00.




Then I went down and picked up breakfast from Roaring Fork to eat in the room.

Marshall got me up around 7 I think, that kid is better than an alarm clock.

We got ready slowly as Allie was still sleeping. We shared a plate of Strawberry Waffles, and it took a lot of willpower for us not to eat Allie's waffle while she was snoozing.


We finally got up and texted everyone and headed out of the room just before 10:00.


As you all recall Allie is not a morning person so we tried really hard not to push her out the door even though we were super excited to get our first Disney day started! Also I may have drooled on her waffle...

Soon we all met in the lobby.


Brandy told us how he upgraded to APs, but couldn't get them to take enough money for it. This worried us, and upon further investigation we found that they had combined his current park tickets with his Disneyland AP and upgraded it to a Premier that would still expire in October. This effectively meant they would have paid $700 for a few weeks of AP that they wouldn't be using. Instead they had wanted to apply the WDW ticket cost to the cost of new Premier passes that would expire in one year, not less than a month.

Soo off we were back to guest services to see if we could get it all straightened out.

We got on a MK bus at 10:02, and arrived at the park at 10:07. This quick bus is one of the unsung perks of WL. It isn't as fun as the boat, but you can't beat the short transit time.


And the AC, which we had none of at Guest Services... But the line wasn't terrible and we got a great CM.


I helped explain what happened and what went wrong and she was able to make the changes so their passes expired a year from the first day of our trip instead of a couple of weeks away.

For our time and trouble the CM gave us some super Fastpasses,which were good for seven people to ride two attractions via the Fastpass line at any time. We held on to these, but they came in handy later in the trip.


while we were dealing with guest services we were visted by a teeny tiny lizard. John was able to catch him so he didn't get smooshed and he and Allie let him go in the bushes.




Then we headed in to the park, and since a mini-parade was going down Main street we decided to hop on the train. I snapped some pictures from the station, and the flag was at half staff because it was September 11th.




The train was a great way to get to Fantasyland without a ton of walking where the first ride of the trip was none other than Melissa's favorite of all time!


LOL, I'm actually surprised that she rode it, because Melissa is not fond of heights and flying Dumbos, but Allie must have convinced her.


The line was super short, and we didn't even have to wait in the inside area at all, although it was nice and cool. As we got near the front of the line, the CM said "You gonna need Four Elephants." which emphasized the size of our party.

That's a lot of elephants! Marshall and I rode together, I stayed strong for him.


This was in fact his first Disney ride out of utero and it's pretty fitting that it was Dumbo given how the idea to have him came about.

Aww. We all seemed to enjoy it, and afterward since we were in New Fantasyland and the Ariel ride was open we hopped on it. We could have just walked through the queue, since that is what's different from CA Adventure, but it was a nice cool spot to hang out for a bit, and Marshall was getting into the idea of rides. The ride stopped just as we got off, but John and Brandy had to wait since Ursula brought things to a halt again (while they loaded a wheelchair).


It's the best when that ride stops when you're laying backwards and we got to briefly this time. It was nice seeing our old pals again. Next up it was snack time! we all meandered over to Gaston's Tavern for Cinnamon rolls and cold drinks.


It seems in our first morning as Disney tour guides we had forgotten to tell everyone to eat breakfast, so they were getting hungry.

The cinnamon roll was tasty but not at all like the one I remember from our previous trip. I was slightly disappointed but it was still yummy and there wasn't anything leftover.

After our snack we began migrating because Melissa and I had a lunch destination in mind, and we knew it would take a little while to get there.

And that will be continued in the next update...