You want to ride Dumbo again??! – a Sept TR with two young children - *New - 2/6*

MeeskaMomma said:
The dolphin training looks awesome! We completely missed that! Did you have the times ahead of time? I will have to look for that. We also missed crush, but mostly because the aquarium lights really hurt my little guys eyes (he is very sensitive to lights, and the black lights they used all over Disney really seemed to bother his eyes) so we didn't stick around long. Next year I am going to talk to his eye doctor about a lighter pair of prescription sunglasses that we can use for indoor rides with Florissant lights.

I look forward to hearing about your lunch!
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Thanks for your comments! The dolphin training was really interesting and something I wasn't expecting at all. In all of my research, I had never read anything about it. I didn't have the times ahead of time. And I just double-checked and they weren't listed in the Times Guide for that week. We heard them announce the trainings while we were there. The dolphin training was done on the second floor in the area that's supposed to look like a research station on the ocean floor. As you enter that area I think the times for the dolphin trainings were posted on the left-hand column near the exhibit where they did the training. The manatee training was also visible from the second floor above their exhibit. They may have had times posted as well but I didn't notice. When we were there I think they did the manatee training at about 10:30 and the dolphin training at about 11:00.

I hope the doctor is able to find something that will work for your son!
 
RatherBeInAK said:
Thanks for your comments! The dolphin training was really interesting and something I wasn't expecting at all. In all of my research, I had never read anything about it. I didn't have the times ahead of time. And I just double-checked and they weren't listed in the Times Guide for that week. We heard them announce the trainings while we were there. The dolphin training was done on the second floor in the area that's supposed to look like a research station on the ocean floor. As you enter that area I think the times for the dolphin trainings were posted on the left-hand column near the exhibit where they did the training. The manatee training was also visible from the second floor above their exhibit. They may have had times posted as well but I didn't notice. When we were there I think they did the manatee training at about 10:30 and the dolphin training at about 11:00.

I hope the doctor is able to find something that will work for your son!
Click to expand...

Good to know!!! Thank you for the info! Maybe if I post something on Dis near our trip someone will have the times. Hmmmm. What an awesome thing to stumble upon!!!
 
9/16/13 - Very Serious Questions​


We had to leave the dolphin training a little early to make it over to Italy in time for our ADR at Via Napoli. The World Showcase was empty. It had only just opened but there was no one there yet. It was wonderful. It was a beautiful day and it felt like we had the park to ourselves. We stopped briefly at the Germany pavilion to watch the trains.




​

It was so hot that we didn’t stay long. The heat wasn’t bad as long as the breeze blew. In fact, it could be quite pleasant. But the instant the wind stopped and the direct sun bore down it got hot quickly.

As a side note for those of you who will be traveling to wdw with a baby, you may notice Buttercup's blanket in a couple of these pictures. Since she was 5 months old when we went she was technically too young for sunblock. Her doctor said that it was fine to use it on her but that she should really stay out of direct sun as much as possible. I ended up using a physical sunblock on her arms and legs but I also found a UV-blocking blanket. We got two of the blankets in pink and yellow and you'll see them popping up in the pictures periodically. They were wonderful. They were very lightweight and soft so they didn't add a lot of heat but they allowed us to keep her skin out of the sun. That is my tip #2 for traveling to wdw with a baby.

Ok, back to the story...
We stopped for a quick picture. Epcot is so beautiful!

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We made our way over to Via Napoli and waited to be seated.

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The restaurant was attractive and Little Bear liked the pizza ovens. Little Bear colored on the Italy page in his trip journal while we waited for our pizza.

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See the cup? That was the last picture I took in the restaurant. I figured I better stop taking pictures and pay more attention to what was going on!

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We weren’t sure whether 1 pizza (serves 2-3) was going to be enough for our little family of big eaters. It was perfect. We had the pizza with artichokes and truffle oil and it was outstanding. My mouth is watering thinking about it. It was so, so good.

After a series of trips to the bathrooms (and a friendly waiter cooing “Caio bella” to Buttercup) we headed out into the heat again. We caught the end of a mime's performance Italy.







​

I requested that we stop at Karamell Kuche so I could get some caramel corn. I love caramel corn and I had heard such good things about it. The flavor was good but almost seemed stale. I was a little disappointed but that didn’t stop me from finishing the bag! We stopped in at Mexico to ride the Gran Fiesta Tour. I thought Little Bear would like it and I was right. He deemed that his favorite ride in Epcot (not that there are many to choose from). The interior of the pavilion is beautiful. Little Bear was fascinated with the volcano on the wall and the river running through the building. He was so excited that he got to ride in a boat.

We needed to get back to our hotel so Little Bear and Buttercup could take a nap but we stopped at Spaceship Earth on the way out. I loved Spaceship Earth as a child. It was one of my favorites and one of the things that really said “Disney World” to me. I was really looking forward to riding it again after all these years. I loved that we just walked right on to the ride. This is the kind of crowd level I could get used to. I got to ride with Little Bear while Buttercup rode behind us with Travis. As our car started climbing up into the dome I didn’t realize in time that the camera couldn’t “see” Little Bear so he didn’t get his picture taken. He enjoyed the ride (the one with the horses, he called it later). He wanted to know what was happening in the room where the library at Alexandria was burned and has talked repeatedly about the scribe who fell asleep. He was fascinated with the final room with the Earth and stars. When we turned around he repeatedly asked where the “big ball” (the earth) was. But he was soon distracted by the screen that came alive after being dark throughout the ride. I let him answer the questions and he was very serious and purposeful about it. I would ask, “Where would you like to live in the future? The city or the country?” He would say, “Mama, is this the one that says ‘the city?’” I would ask, “Which household chore to you like the least? Cooking or cleaning?” He would say, “Cooking. Is it this one?” It was adorable and such a great way to end our morning at Epcot.

Coming up in the next chapter...Little Bear and Buttercup meet Mickey!
 
Following along !

Great pics .. I love reports with little ones. My twins were 10 months old when I first took them .. and I still cherish those memories ! :lovestruc
 
9/16/13 - Meeting the Mouse​



We left Spaceship Earth and headed back to our hotel for a nap. After the nap we returned to Epcot. Little Bear had awakened from his nap completely refreshed. The cold he’d been dealing with for the last couple days seemed to be gone and he was ready to have fun! His precious, polite, and fun-loving personality was back. He’d been a little bit of a zombie at Animal Kingdom yesterday and at Epcot that morning but now the real Little Bear was back. He’s such a great kid.

We started walking roughly in the direction of Morocco, where I had planned for us to eat dinner. But on the way we saw the Character spot and judging by the CM who was trying to encourage people to stop in; it appeared to be a good time to visit. After checking with Little Bear to see if he wanted to meet Mickey we got in line. We didn’t have to wait long at all before we were ushered into the room with Mickey, Pluto, and Minnie. Little Bear was disappointed that Donald wasn’t there. The cast member recommended that we check at the Mexico Pavilion for Donald. We made a mental note to do that. Unfortunately, we never did see Donald during our trip (we didn’t really make a huge effort to try to find him either though). This was Little Bear’s first character encounter and I honestly didn’t know how he’d react. I wasn’t planning on us meeting many characters because I figured that Little Bear would be pretty disinterested in them if not outright frightened. We had talked about their size when we watched the trip planning DVD so that it wouldn’t be a surprise to him. We did have to wait a few minutes while other children greeted Mickey so it gave him a little time to get used to the idea. But I wasn’t surprised when he wanted me to hold him while he met Mickey. Mickey did a great job of trying to draw out Little Bear. He held out his hand for a high five. Little Bear wouldn’t do it, even after I gave Mickey a high five. Then Mickey started playing peek-a-boo with Little Bear. That broke the ice. Little Bear told Mickey, “I usually play peek-a-boo with Big Penguin.” Mickey looked at me for an interpretation and I explained that Big Penguin was Little Bear’s favorite stuffed animal. I was so proud of Little Bear for actually talking to Mickey. It was far more than I had expected from him. Mickey turned his attention to Buttercup who was completely fascinated. He put his nose within her reach and she immediately grabbed it.

​

Mickey signed Little Bear’s trip journal and we got our picture with him before moving on to Pluto.


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It was a similar situation there. Little Bear was shy and didn’t even want to give a high five but Buttercup was enthralled. Pluto put his big nose down for her to touch and she grabbed hold of his whiskers. Travis had to remove her vice-like grip on Pluto’s whiskers before we could get our picture taken because poor Pluto couldn’t move.

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We didn’t realize it until we saw the pictures later, but while we were all distracted with the photographer she had managed to get a hold of Pluto’s ear.

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And, after appearing to make sure no one was looking, she did what babies do. Yep, she put it in her mouth.

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Minnie was up next and it was the same thing with Little Bear. He really was fascinated with the characters and wanted them to sign his book but he didn’t want to have to talk or interact with them. Buttercup though had a great time. Minnie tickled her and played with her and Buttercup loved the attention. It was precious.

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Stick around because in the next chapter I get to share one of my top three favorite moments from the trip! I can’t wait!





 
9/16/13 - The Ride with the Horses​


After we said our farewells to Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto, our next stop was at the Figment ride.

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(Buttercup ready to ride the Figment ride)​

I wasn’t sure how Little Bear would do on it because I heard that there was a part in it that was loud and surprising. Sure enough, it made all of us jump but Little Bear didn’t seem fazed by it. He wanted to ride it again. And he really enjoyed the interactive games and things after the ride, especially the computers.


(Buttons!!!)​

I have to say, I was really disappointed with the new ride. I used to love the Figment ride and the interactive area at the end. The ride was, well just disappointing. I will say that I was thrilled to see they still had the musical floor. As a child, I thought it was amazing! Little Bear didn’t quite get it but I enjoyed jumping around for old time’s sake. He liked the Simon Says type game better. I'm not sure it was working properly but it didn't matter to him!


(So much fun!)​

After a quick detour to see the jumping fountain (I LOVED that thing as a child) we were on our way to Morocco. I was really looking forward to trying the Tangierine Café after reading such great reviews about it. I placed our order for two chicken and lamb platters, brought it outside, started to eat and realized that they had given us two chicken platters. The receipt even said that we had ordered two chicken platters. I was really disappointed. I wanted to go back and say something but it was getting pretty late and I knew Little Bear would need to get to bed soon. I figured it wasn’t worth getting too disappointed about some missing lamb so I sat there and ate my chicken. I thought the flavor was good but it was way too salty. The baklava, however, was some of the best I’ve had. Baklava can often be dripping in honey and sickeningly sweet. This baklava was perfect and had just the right amount of sweetness. Shortly after we started eating some live music started just around the corner from us. We couldn’t see it but it added a nice touch to our dinner.

On our way back to our car we stopped by the France pavilion for a pastry for Travis and bathrooms for the rest of us. Little Bear requested that we ride “the ride with the horses” again. (Can anyone guess which ride he was talking about? It’s Spaceship Earth). Since it was on our way out we obliged him. We parked our stroller near the sparkling sidewalk (how beautiful is that!) and walked up the ramp. We boarded our car and I got to sit with Little Bear again. This time I was aware of the camera so I lifted Little Bear up slightly so his face was visible. We wound our way up through history waving at the horses as we passed them. We emerged into the room with the starry sky and rotated backwards. Again Little Bear wanted to know where “the ball” (the earth) went. I was more interested in the lights hanging down around us. The effect is so beautiful. Little Bear once again took on the very serious job of answering questions. This time he chose “Leisure” and our little avatars with their awkward heads found themselves traveling under the sea with self-packing suitcases. I was surprised that he wasn’t more impressed with seeing his face on the screen but he took it in stride.

We reached the bottom and climbed out of our car. As we walked into the after-ride interactive room, I got Little Bear’s attention and pointed up at the big screen. He shouted, “Oh my goodness!! It’s MY FACE!!!!” while crouching down and covering his mouth. Then he jumped up and down with his arm in the air pointing at the screen, giggling and shouting “LOOK!” This was, without a doubt, one of my favorite moments of the trip. The look on his face was unbridled joy. Travis and I exchanged a look and a smile. This is exactly why I wanted to do the trip, for moments like that. It’s one I don’t want to ever forget.

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(Can you tell by the blurry, off-centered, improperly exposed picture I was totally unprepared for his excitement?)​

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(Just a small glimpse of the wonder on his face. These pictures were taken after some of the initial excitement had dissipated.)​

Little Bear danced around in happiness for another few seconds before getting distracted by the computers. We told him that we would be back on another day and we’d spend time with the computers then. Well, as it turns out later in the week we ditched our plans of a second day in Epcot for a third day at the Magic Kingdom. We’ll have to go back again so we can make good on that promise.
It was almost 9:00 and it was so tempting to stay for the fireworks but I was concerned that by the time we got back to our hotel it would be extremely late for Little Bear. When I was planning the trip I decided that we would only do one fireworks show and limit ourselves to one late night. We caught a few glimpses of the fireworks from the parking lot. Little Bear was pretty content with seeing those and what we could see of the show occurring concurrently at the Magic Kingdom. Despite a very late night, Little Bear and Buttercup handled it very well and settled into bed easily.

It was a little harder for me to go to sleep since I was so excited. The next day was our first day in the Magic Kingdom!!! I hope you'll keep reading!

And thank you to those of you who are reading along and have left a comment to let me know! It helps to know I'm not just talking to the crickets!
 
I LOOOOOOVE the spaceship earth story!!!! It's moments like that that make the trip worth it. People always asked why you would take a little one to Disney- and that is the very reason thanks for sharing. I laughed reading the story (on my phone with our 4 month old in the pack in play sleeping across the room) my husband then asked what was soo funny and lived the story as well!!!
 
RatherBeInAK said:

And thank you to those of you who are reading along and have left a comment to let me know! It helps to know I'm not just talking to the crickets!
Click to expand...

No crickets here! :goodvibes

What a sweet little family you have! I just found your TR and am really enjoying it! I'm bad about taking a ton of pics too. I know they are nice to have for TRs, but sometimes you just want to soak it all in, ya know? You are making WDW with little ones look easy! I'm so glad that the afternoon naps worked well for you. I don't have kids, but even I've found that an afternoon break can make all of the difference in a good day vs a bad one. Can't wait to read more.
 
:thumbsup2Those special moments are one of the things I love most about Disney. I almost cried reading that. Of course, I'm also very excited about my upcoming trip and that may have had something to do with the watery eyes. I think its mainly crickets on my pre-trip report, but I'm doing it to preserve my memories.

When you go back to make good on your promise, Buttercup will be giving you moments like that.
pixiedust:
 
I'm finally caught up and I have to say your photos with your kids are precious, I loved Buttercup with Pluto - especially tasting his ear. So cute! I love the way that you tell about your trip while sharing the sentiment and the emotion behind some of the stories. You are building some great memories for Little Bear!

I'm glad you enjoy Festival of the Lion King and the safari twice!

What was up with that possessed phone - oh no! I guess even if you took it off the hook it would eventually have that annoying beep beep beep sound.

Little Bear with the horses ride - adorable! I like that scene too. :)

I'm looking forward to reading more.
 
VbChristy said:
I LOOOOOOVE the spaceship earth story!!!! It's moments like that that make the trip worth it. People always asked why you would take a little one to Disney- and that is the very reason thanks for sharing. I laughed reading the story (on my phone with our 4 month old in the pack in play sleeping across the room) my husband then asked what was soo funny and lived the story as well!!!
Click to expand...

Thank you!! I'm so glad you (and your husband) enjoyed it!


magic kingdom park said:
Joining in on your trip report. Loving it so far.
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Thank you! Welcome! :wave2: I'm glad you've joined us!

geckodani said:
No crickets here! :goodvibes

What a sweet little family you have! I just found your TR and am really enjoying it! I'm bad about taking a ton of pics too. I know they are nice to have for TRs, but sometimes you just want to soak it all in, ya know? You are making WDW with little ones look easy! I'm so glad that the afternoon naps worked well for you. I don't have kids, but even I've found that an afternoon break can make all of the difference in a good day vs a bad one. Can't wait to read more.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I have a mental list going of the things I want to make sure I/we do next time. At the top of the list is to take more pictures! But I know exactly what you mean. Pictures are great but if you spend the whole time peering through the viewfinder you can forget to live in the moment. As far as your comment about making it look easy, ha! Thanks, I have my really easy, good kids to thank for that. Perhaps I need to mention, for reality's sake, the trips to the food court at 10:00 at night to disinfect bottles, or the times on our first and second days when Little Bear wasn't feeling well that he asked when we'd get to go home. I'm still trying to block out the horror of that memory! :crazy2: Fortunately it was just the cold talking and once he felt better he didn't want to leave! Whew. But even with the added difficulty of two littles in tow it was still SO, SO worth it!!

vleeth said:
:thumbsup2Those special moments are one of the things I love most about Disney. I almost cried reading that. Of course, I'm also very excited about my upcoming trip and that may have had something to do with the watery eyes. I think its mainly crickets on my pre-trip report, but I'm doing it to preserve my memories.

When you go back to make good on your promise, Buttercup will be giving you moments like that.
pixiedust:
Click to expand...

Aww, thank you! I haven't made it over to the PTR board yet. I hope you'll post a TR on it. I promise I'll read it and comment. :)
I can't wait to take Buttercup back when she's a little older. It will be SO FUN!!


emmysmommy said:
I'm finally caught up and I have to say your photos with your kids are precious, I loved Buttercup with Pluto - especially tasting his ear. So cute! I love the way that you tell about your trip while sharing the sentiment and the emotion behind some of the stories. You are building some great memories for Little Bear!

I'm glad you enjoy Festival of the Lion King and the safari twice!

What was up with that possessed phone - oh no! I guess even if you took it off the hook it would eventually have that annoying beep beep beep sound.

Little Bear with the horses ride - adorable! I like that scene too. :)

I'm looking forward to reading more.
Click to expand...

Thank you!! I'm glad you're enjoying it. It's been fun to relive the memories. *sigh* That crazy phone. :sad2: And yes, that was exactly what we were afraid of if we took it off the hook. By the way, the saga of the possessed phone will continue on day 4.
 
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