Spice Up Those Post Holiday Blues with a BWV Trip (Now Trip Report)

[DisneyRegulars]

Here we go! We've made it to Friday. We have one full day in the parks remaining, so we of course headed to our favorite park, the Magic Kingdom. Knowing us we made it for rope drop, but I'm really not quite sure. The start of this day was Magical. We moseyed around at Tigger's pace and did what Tigger wanted to do. Tigger was not in the mood for any scary rides today, so even the Barnstormer was off the table. Here we met Stitch. When he hugged me I got 'licked' which gave us all a good laugh. I have a more formal picture, but I like this candid one better:

Stitch

After coming off of Buzz Lightyear we were reminded that it really is the little things that can make a Disney trip. We encountered a CM blowing bubbles with a bubble gun. We've seen them before, but have never really taken notice, in fact we probably tried to steer clear in order to avoid requests for a bubble gun. Well Tigger was walking on his own 2 feet, and he absolutely noticed the bubbles. He was in four year old bubble heaven. We let Tigger play in the bubbles for as long as he wanted because he was having a blast. We were probably there 20 minutes. We watched many many other children come play in the bubbles for about 5 seconds before Mom or Dad would come grab them and say something along the lines of "We have bubbles at home". It made me a little sad. I understand why that happens, but I was really grateful for my DVC at this point because it has allowed us to slow down and really enjoy and live in the moment, with whatever that moment happens to be, without the worries of 'I need to get my money's worth or I need to see everything' in the back of our minds. So here are some bubble pics, they are some of my favorite of the trip because of the pure joy in Tigger's eyes. I should add that after about 20 minutes, the only reason why we left was because the CM 'had to put the bubble gun away', I'm pretty sure she thought she was being kind by letting us escape, but truth be told I could have stayed there all day watching Tigger pop bubbles.

Eventually we made it over to Storybook Circus and took some time to meet the characters. Does anyone else think the costumes of Daisy and Donald are kind of creepy? I really don't appreciate the whole gypsy look. But anyways, here we are with creepy Daisy:

Although he's all boy and totally into cars now, Tigger was still excited to meet Minnie

We spent time riding the carousel, teacups, and Dumbo, and before we knew it, it was time to leave the park. Tigger had one last request, some ice cream. So just as we got him this really cute cone, what does he need to do, but go to the bathroom, of course. GRRRRRRRRRRR. It was hot out this day, so I stood in the shade holding a melting ice cream cone while Grizzly took Tigger to the bathroom. 30 minutes later they come back to allow Tigger to enjoy his ice cream soup.

The cute ice cream cone before it melted:

So all morning long we did exactly what Tigger wanted to do. Sure we wanted to ride Thunder Mountain, but since Tigger wasn't up to it, we didn't push it. It was a pure Tigger morning, and we had fun. On the way out, to commemorate such a fun day I wanted to get a family picture in front of the castle. All I wanted Tigger to do was look at the camera. He didn't even need to smile! HOW HARD IS THAT?!!!! See this picture, is he looking at the camera? Nope!

What about this one? Is he looking? Of course not!

We gave up, and well I kind of totally lost my cool. I was so ticked that Tigger did not do the one thing I wanted him to do. Soooooo ANGRY! I don't usually get angry. It must of been the stress of the 1000 bathroom visit trip. So I plunked Tigger down into his stroller. (I did not set him down gently, nor did I throw him, it was definitely a solid plunk). Well the plunk caused Tigger's arms to flail a bit and he bumped his funny bone on the stroller. And cue screaming wailing child. I took a second to bend down and tell him he was not going to die, and then proceeded to push a screaming child right down Main Street and out of the park. I was totally "THAT" mom with the awful child. Sigh.... So embarrassing now (my behavior, not Tigger's). On the way into the park we had promised to let Tigger choose the transportation back to the car, he requested monorail, but seeing as I was angry I said something like "How does it feel to want? Mummy wanted you to look at the camera and you didn't, so now I don't really care that you want to ride the monorail" So we took the boat. Same sort of conversation occurred over the parking tram, and we walked back to the car just to spite our 4 year old. I know, totally pathetic. But that's what we did. Our magical perfect morning was definitely a bit dampened by this ending. Good thing I had pictures of the fun times before it!

Up next, some Kidani shenanigans. How hard is it to get a bread service??????? Still to come, lessons in how not to discipline your kid, or as I like to call it, the worst parenting decision ever.

 

[CarolynK]

Thanks for sticking with me!

Happy to read

...Only to have them give feedback that 'they loved the house, but the sump pump was running the entire time we were there'. IT WAS RAINING!!!!!! What did they expect the sump pump to be doing?!!!! Aaarrrgggghh.

So, they're complaining that it was actually working?!? Ours runs constantly in the spring...that's why it's there!

...We cancelled our rental car. (Grizzly can now enjoy adult beverages and not worry about the car)

Smart! We are taking advantage of ME more and more. Then, DH doesn't have to stress about having a drink on the plane on the way down, or worry about having a couple of beers at Big River Grill on departure day (this has become a tradition).

It's so nice that you and your husband are taking a trip just the two of you.

 

[CarolynK]

...pretty sure she thought she was being kind by letting us escape, but truth be told I could have stayed there all day watching Tigger pop bubbles.

Wow, what a great moment. Sometimes it's hard to slow down and let that stuff just happen, good job!

We gave up, and well I kind of totally lost my cool. I was so ticked that Tigger did not do the one thing I wanted him to do. Soooooo ANGRY! I don't usually get angry. It must of been the stress of the 1000 bathroom visit trip. So I plunked Tigger down into his stroller. (I did not set him down gently, nor did I throw him, it was definitely a solid plunk). Well the plunk caused Tigger's arms to flail a bit and he bumped his funny bone on the stroller. And cue screaming wailing child. I took a second to bend down and tell him he was not going to die, and then proceeded to push a screaming child right down Main Street and out of the park. I was totally "THAT" mom with the awful child. Sigh.... So embarrassing now (my behavior, not Tigger's). On the way into the park we had promised to let Tigger choose the transportation back to the car, he requested monorail, but seeing as I was angry I said something like "How does it feel to want? Mummy wanted you to look at the camera and you didn't, so now I don't really care that you want to ride the monorail" So we took the boat. Same sort of conversation occurred over the parking tram, and we walked back to the car just to spite our 4 year old. I know, totally pathetic. But that's what we did. Our magical perfect morning was definitely a bit dampened by this ending. Good thing I had pictures of the fun times before it!

If my kids kept track of how many times I've lost it over the years, I'd be in trouble! There's actually home video of me being a meanie at WDW - DD was like 5, and I still cringe when I watch that. BUT, it reminds me not to take the stupid little stuff too seriously. And, she doesn't remember it - and neither will your DS!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Smart! We are taking advantage of ME more and more. Then, DH doesn't have to stress about having a drink on the plane on the way down, or worry about having a couple of beers at Big River Grill on departure day (this has become a tradition).

Yes! The beers on the plane! I'm a Southwest AList member and have the Southwest credit card. I get inundated with drink coupons from them. I currently have 12 free drink coupons that I need to use before the end of the year. I don't drink when traveling with Tigger, so we are very excited about our plane ride down!

I'm very glad to hear we don't have the only sump pump that runs all year round.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

So I'm going to go on a bit of a rant here. Just a small one and it involves Sanaa, the restaurant over in Kidani. You see, Sanaa has this most wonderful item on the menu, I believe it is called the 'Indian Bread Service' or some other sort of bread service. It is magnificent. It's listed as an appetizer/starter but can easily be a meal. Especially if paired with a nice Safari Amber. Since discovering this bread service we have not been able to go even a day staying at Animal Kingdom without it. It's physically impossible for us. We turn into bread service craving goblins. So the rant comes in, with us us trying to acquire the previously mentioned bread service. The first afternoon Grizzly walked down to the bar at Sanaa and asked for 2 bread services to go. He was chastised by the barman, told that they were 'too busy' to do take out orders, and was told to go up to the room and order room service. I'm not clear on how ordering room service at all lessons their workload, but whatever. Grizzly has to practically beg the barman to let him order the bread service because our son was sleeping and we didn't want him woken up by room service coming into the room. All is fine and dandy, the barman agrees to let him order the bread service. AND THEN...two young ladies walk up and order an appetizer to go and the barman just takes their order and is fine with it. Grizzly was so ticked at the double and inconsistent standard. Why weren't the ladies hastled about it being too busy?

So the next day he goes back down after Tigger is in bed for the night to try and get takeout again. Again given the same speech about how it is too busy and they cannot do takeout orders. Sigh. He comes sadly back upstairs, and is very angry that the only way to acquire the bread service is to have room service deliver it. Grizzly is fuming over having to pay the 20% room service upcharge plus tip when he would be happy to go collect it himself from downstairs. He's livid. He's never ordering room service. He's not going to get ripped off....Blah blah blah. Except the bread service is required to survive, so after he's fumed for a bit we finally get our bread service from room service. And you know what? It ended up being better because the containers of dipping sauce they give you for room service are about twice the size of the take out containers. We had ordered 2 extra of our favorite sauce, and it turns out we didn't need them because the room service containers were so big. Here are some pics incase you have never had the pleasure of eating this yummy yumminess:

Bread service!!!!!

Sauces!!!!

Moral of the story:
1. Room service bread service is worth the extra 20%
2. Be prepared to be turned away if you try to get takeout from Sanaa.
3. The green sauce and the garlic one seen in the middle are the best!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Ah, I have finally made it. The last day! We planned to have a nice relaxing morning / early afternoon before heading to the airport for a 4pm flight. Seeing as Tigger never sleeps past 7am, our relaxing morning started with a never ending game of war, played with a SkipBo deck. This is pretty much whay Tigger wanted to do all week long, so in the missing parts of the trip report you can just fill in the time with a scene somewhat like this:

Eventually, we headed over to Animal Kingdom with two things in mind: play in the Boneyard, and be a Wilderness Explorer. Sadly we only accomplished one of these tasks before the day was completely ruined. Before things turned sour though, lets do a quick recap of our time in the BoneYard. Be sure to notice all the smiles.

Tigger will now go down all the yellow slides in the Boneyard, but is still scared of the dark ones. Here is helping Dad go down one of the scarier slides by waiting to catch him at the bottom. How incredibly precious is that?!!!

We took some time to pose with the dinosaurs because the first Wilderness Explorer task was the find and count all the different dinosaurs in the Boneyard. Look at that smile, that is the smile of a kid who is about to fall completely apart.

Took some time to play on the jeep. Again, the kid is happy.

And then we went to the sand part. Oh we should have never gone to the sand part. I have no idea what happened over in this sand pit of evil children demons, but whatever it was it caused Tigger to chuck his shovel across the sand pit narrowly missing other kids. (I cannot believe my child threw a shovel! This is the kid that can't even throw things properly). So Tigger got a stern talking to, and was told that he definitely cannot be throwing shovels in a crowded sandbox. Naturally, his reaction was to throw his bucket. I just about died. Such a defiant little brat. Defiant little brats definitely don't get to stay in Disney, so I told him the first thing I thought of, "Alright, we're going to the airport right now." It was like 9:30am! What on earth was I thinking? A thousand better scenarios came to me later, like perhaps sitting him in a timeout while we took turns riding Everest. But nope, I skipped right to the nuclear option. I'm not one to make threats and back down, so I HAD to stick to my decision, so off we trotted angrily to the airport. For the second time in two days we wheeled a screaming child out of a park.

The scene of the crime:

So we get to the airport, wait in line to get rid of all of our stuff at Southwest, and are told that we are too early to check bags. We officially arrived at the airport too early to check our bags. Sigh. It began to sink in, Oh Geez, what have I done? Fortunately, it was time for an early lunch, so we had some Panda Express (yum!). Then we needed to find a camp because we had hours to go before our flight. Hours. Who the heck gets to the airport hours and hours and hours early? Dumb parents, that's who.

So we camped out in a hall because every chair in the airport was taken. Here we are playing war:

All was going as good as a 6 hour wait in an airport can go until we got these sweet texts from Southwest. First, one delaying our flight until 7:10pm. Ugh. Being an eternal optimistic, there is a good side to this flight delay, we will be able to have some Chick-Fil-A for dinner. But then we received a second text delaying our flight until 10:45pm!!!!!!!! Oh gosh. No amount of Chik-Fil-A can make up for the agony of playing war for 12 hours in an airport.

Grim Reeper Texts from SW:

One can only handle so much war before we made Tigger watch Paw Patrol on the ipad.

By this time we're comfortably cruising though our 12 hour MCO extravaganza when we get a much happier text from SW. Our flight is now at 6:50pm! Wow, chopping off 4 hours of wait time sure can make you feel happy. It was almost as though we hadn't already been waiting 6 hours. We immediately rushed to our gate for a change of location, and eventually made our way back to Buffalo. So that's my story of how not to discipline your kids in the world. Time outs people! Remember the time outs! Or you too could spend 8-9 non-magical hours in the Orlando Airport.

Somewhere in all this there were many many trips to the bathroom. Ugh. If I never see another bathroom after this trip I will be happy. We were very very concerned about the flight home, but Tigger ended up making it back without incident. We were resolute that we were never giving Tigger any Miralax ever again until on Monday morning Grizzly came down with the same bug, and was out of work for 3 days. Oh geez...It wasn't the miralax after all. It made the trip from hell a little easier to swallow because it's a lot easier to have sympathy for a sick little boy than it is to have sympathy for a stubborn little boy. I think we both felt a little bad. Tigger's pleas to stay in the hotel and play war all week were most likely due to not feeling well. Instead we dragged him around parks. He definitely had some fun. He's smiling in lots of pictures. But I still feel a little bad, and I can forgive him for throwing the shovel and bucket because it's a lot harder to control your emotions when you're 4 and sick than when you're just 4.

Thanks for joining me on this trip report, even though it wasn't the happiest of adventures. Sorry it took so long to finish. I've got another trip coming up in 5 days, so hopefully I will be better at writing that report. I'd love to have you all join me on that trip too.

Come follow me on our couples trip to GFV in 5 days!!!!! Non Fancy Fanatics Head to the Grand Floridian

 

[CarolynK]

Wow, you really stick to your guns! I would have caved. Tigger looks pretty happy in the airport, though!

At least you didn't have any bathroom issues on the plane.

 

[JessseJ]

I am not sure how I found this but I'm glad I did. We were at Disney in January too, and we also froze our butts off! We are in the process of buying resale at SSR and I can't wait for it to go through so we can start planning our next trip.

I dont' know how you did it, I would have never left Disney any earlier than I had to. I totally get it though, you had to follow through! One of the BEST parenting tips I got when my DD was little was to never give a consequence when angry, it prevents handing out punishments that don't fit the crime--and it scares them to death waiting to find out what it will be!

I hope you are enjoying your parents only trip!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

One of the BEST parenting tips I got when my DD was little was to never give a consequence when angry, it prevents handing out punishments that don't fit the crime--and it scares them to death waiting to find out what it will be!

I hope you are enjoying your parents only trip!

That is excellent advice!!! Would have been incredibly valuable 4 months ago! I'm definitely going to use that strategy in the future.

We bought SSR resale as well and we love it, good luck with your purchase, the wait can be hard. Thanks for reading!