"No Disneyworld, Stay home"..."Love Mickey Mouse, go to Disney World!" Staying Dec. 5-14 at the Beach Club About This Page:

[dizzparkmom]

Hi everyone – this will be my first trip report! I’ve enjoyed reading so many others and look forward to keeping up with one of my own. The title of our trip report comes from our DS who is 3 years old. Like most 3 year olds, he can be quite contrary at times. Even though we know he wants to go to Disney World and will have a great time, it’s still heartbreaking one day to hear him say, “No Disneyworld, stay home!” It’s also heartwarming the next day to hear him say, “Love Mickey Mouse. Go to Disneyworld!”

This trip went from 6 adults and 3 children in December of 2008 to 2 adults and 1 child in December of 2007. I won’t bore you with a long story about the difficulties of traveling with family as many of you have been there and done that! Needless to say, our trip has gone through many twists and turns before it got to its current incarnation – I wish I would have kept better track of each of those twists and turns, but I didn’t. Mostly, I’ll be telling you what our final plan looks like and how it goes. Here’s a little background on our traveling party.

Who:
Myself. (33) Stay At Home Mom (former Elementary School Teacher) to DS3. Growing up, we averaged a trip to Disneyland every 2-3 years. As an adult, however, I’ve managed a few more trips and try to get my Disney park fix at least once a year. My two favorite trips to Disneyland were in October 1998 (first trip with DH) and February 2005 (first trip with DS). Growing up, I always wanted to take a trip across the country to WDW. My dream finally came true when DH and I honeymooned at the Boardwalk Inn in Nov. 1999. On that same trip, DH fell in love with Universal Orlando. Since we spent so much time at Disneyland, I compromised and agreed that on future trips to Orlando we could focus our attention on Universal with only little tastes of WDW. Our next two trips to Orlando happened in March 2002 and October 2003. We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel and spent only a couple of days on WDW property.

DH: (36) Prior to our trips together, his only trip to Disneyland took place as a young boy….and he didn’t have fond memories of that trip. This was back in the days of ticket books and all he remembers is that his parents couldn’t afford many tickets and he was left disappointed by all the rides he couldn’t go on. Luckily, he was willing to give Disney another shot and we’ve had a great time enjoying Disney Parks together ever since. DH is a good guy and a great dad! I really am fortunate and count my blessings everyday. That being said, DH doesn't always think before he acts, so I'm vowing to be more patient and understanding on this trip!!!

DS (3): Technically, this isn’t DS’s first trip to Disney World. It was on our last trip to Orlando in October 2003, that we learned we were expecting. We have been eagerly anticipating our return to WDW with DS. In the meantime, he has had two trips to Disneyland and two trips to San Diego. Overall, he’s a typical 3 y.o. with a mixture of good days and bad days that all center around how hard it is to be 3 y.o.. He does have some sensory integration issues that occasionally leave him feeling overwhelmed and over stimulated, so that might present some challenges along the way. We are willing to stay flexible; we’ll focus on DS’s needs and do what we can to give him the experience of a lifetime.

When:
December 5th – December 14th 2007

Where:
Here’s the short list of resorts we considered and had at one point planned on staying at: All Star Movies, Pop Century, Boardwalk Inn, and Contemporary Concierge (one of my favorite plans). In the end, we decided on the Beach Club Resort. With the cost of airfare being so high, our trips to Orlando are spaced out far enough that we can afford a Deluxe resort. Also, we plan to take 2-3 hour long breaks every afternoon and believe we’ll be more comfortable at BC. I’ve specifically requested a full balcony so that DH and I will have someplace to ‘hang’ while DS naps – we know nothing is for sure, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed (for the balcony and DS’s naps! ).

What: 9 nights/10 days w/10 day PH and the DDP.

Now, to say that I am an over-planner…is usually an under-statement. I spend more time making lists of what I need to do than actually doing anything on my lists. Having read quite a few trip reports, I feel quite at home amongst the Passporter community. On the other hand, DH and I have no interest in putting DS through a commando vacation. So, I’ve made a deal with myself that, despite how much planning has gone into this trip, in the end it’s all about having a great time with DH and DS and that I won’t be disappointed if all the plans get thrown right out the window. For me, the planning has been fun - in and of itself. So, if we end up being more flexible and spontaneous in order to have a great time – so be it!


Original Plans: Coming soon!

[wayneava81]

Looking forward to your trip report. Yes I've heard those words out of my son (that he doesn't want to go). He went at 6 and 7 years old. Right now he is 8 and does not want to go. Thats the reason DDalmost3 are going alone in January!

[Colexis Mom]

Great start More please

[snoozin]

Wonderful start! Can't wait to read more!

[dizzparkmom]

Original Plans:

Day 1: Wednesday
12/5/07
Getting to the airport: We had considered driving to the airport and parking in the economy lot. However, with the length of out trip, this was an expenditure we preferred not to have to make. We also looked into using a car or shuttle service, but this was also looking to be more expensive than we anticipated. Luckily, DF has offered to drive us to the airport. Since we’ll need DS’s car seat and room for the luggage, he’ll come to our house and drive us in our car. Hopefully, we’ll have all the bags packed and lined up ready to go the night before. If all goes well, we’ll be out the door by 7:30am or roughly 3 hours before our flight.

Our flight: The flight to MCO is 4 hours long. When this vacation was booked back in June, DS had never flown. Well, in the process of taking advantage of some Southwest Dings, we had some excess travel funds. We decided that we’d take a weekend trip to San Diego so that DS could experience a short 50 minute flight and thus know what to expect on our flight to Orlando. This didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped, but upon reflection, it wasn’t as terrible as it seemed at the time. We came up with some ideas on how to make the Orlando flight go more smoothly. We are hoping for and expecting the best, but completely prepared for the worst! We should arrive at MCO by 4:25pm. We plan to take DME to BC. This is our first experience using DME, but on previous trips used the Mears shuttles. So, if anything, we are hoping for a better experience.

Arrival: I’m hoping that we get to BC by 6pm and don’t have long to wait to check-in. Plans for our first night include: dropping our carry-on bags off in the room, walking to the boardwalk, and dinner at Spoodle’s at 7:20pm. If it looks like we’ll be delayed and won’t make our ADR on time, we plan on calling to cancel and then we’ll just get some CS at Epcot for dinner. Depending on how long dinner takes, we’ll spend some time exploring the Boardwalk and getting to know BC. We’ll return to the room around 9pm -- if we’re lucky our bags will be waiting for us. A quick bath for DS and it’s off to bed for all of us.

Day 2: Thursday
12/6/07
The Plan: 7:00am depart room and catch the bus to MK for EMH 8am opening. I won’t have any problems getting up and around (being at a Disney park has that effect on me). I hope to wake up early enough to take a walk around the resort. DH and DS will have no problems sleeping in a little later, but they are both quick to get ready so it’s okay. Breakfast plans: DS and I are rarely hungry until we’ve been awake for awhile, but DH starts to get grumpy if not fed on schedule, so we’ll be packing some snacks/cereal bars that we can eat while waiting for the bus to arrive.

AM: We’ll be enjoying Fantasyland this morning. DS has been on Peter Pan, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, the Tea Cups, the Carousel, and Small World at DLR – so we are pretty sure he’ll enjoy all of these at MK. Mickey’s Philharmagic will be new to all of us, but we think DS will enjoy it – especially since he loves Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. Once Toon Town opens, we’ll be heading over to check our Mickey’s 'East Coast Crib'. DS really got a kick out of Mickey’s House the last time we went to DLR, so we’re hoping he enjoys this version as well. After our Mickey photo-op, we’ll be checking out Goofy’s Barnstormer. DS has ridden twice on a similar sized coaster at Legoland. The first time, he went with Mommy and had a great time. The second time, Daddy underestimated the amount of sliding around DS would encounter and had a less firm grip on him. Thus, DS expressed more anxiety after that second ride. We’ve been showing him pictures and clips of Goofy’s Barnstormer and sometimes he says he wants to ride it, other times – not so much. If not, we’ll spend a little extra time playing on Donald’s Boat! (Another favorite of DS’s from DLR)

Lunch: Crystal Palace. Originally, we had lunch reservations at San Angel Inn at Epcot. Well actually, originally, we had planned on getting CS at MK and having Dinner at Rose & Crown at Epcot. Those are some of the twist & turns I alluded to earlier. Long story short – I didn’t like the dinner menu changes at Rose & Crown, so I changed to lunch at Rose & Crown. Then, I decided the only reason I was excited about Rose & Crown was to try to sit on the patio for Illuminations – since that wasn’t happening, I switched to San Angel Inn. I knew it hadn’t gotten the best reviews, but we like Mexican food and the atmosphere reminded us of Blue Bayou at DLR and were willing to give it a try. Eventually, I realized that it probably wasn’t going to be an experience DS would really enjoy, so that’s how we ended up with a lunch ADR at Crystal Palace.

After lunch, we plan to take the monorail to the TTC and switch to the monorail to Epcot. Then, we’ll walk through Epcot to the IG and head back to BC for our afternoon break. Yes, I am aware that this will be a lot longer trip than just taking the bus. We won’t be in a hurry though and think DS will really enjoy riding the monorail all the way to Epcot. Hopefully, DS will sleep for at least a couple of hours. We’ve blocked off about 2 ½-3 hours a day for him to nap.

PM: We’ll be heading back to Epcot this night. DH and I both love shopping in the China and Japan Pavilions and have some specific items to pick up, so we’ll most likely be heading to these countries first. I’ve tried to explain to DS about Miyuki the candy maker – and since he’s 3 and it involves candy – he’s agreeable to this activity.

Dinner: Our plan for this night is to go to Tangerine Café. DH ate here on a previous trip and loved it. I had the couscous at one of the Food & Wine festival booths a while back and enjoyed it as well. It’s a great value on the DDP – so if not this night, we’ll definitely be back at some point on this trip.

After dinner, we plan on exploring Morocco & France. I’d love to get some dessert in France before finding a spot to wait for Illuminations. After Illuminations, it’s a nice quick walk back to BC and DS’s bedtime. As for how well DS3 will tolerate all this ‘Worldly travel’….we’ve ordered him an Epcot Passport book and a Penny Press Collector book. DS LOVES these machines and so we plan on bringing enough pennies and quarters to let him “press” and stamp his way around the world. If not – we’ll be flexible and try to find something DS will enjoy. We have several nights planned at Epcot. Not only is Epcot beautiful at night, it’s also really close to the BC and an easy trip with a tired/cranky 3 year old!

Upcoming: Plans for Days 3 & 4

[Colexis Mom]

Great plans Good luck with the plane ride

[DyanKJ130]

Great start! Your plans look wonderful so far! Can't wait to hear more

[bsblady01]

more please. I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world

[Lemap760]

Your plans look good. Have fun.

[tkd lisa]

Great plans so far. Your DS might enjoy the kidcot stations in EPCOT. I've met some very nice CMs at several of them. You might also try out the holiday story tellers in the World Showcase. Christmas offers a lot of extra things to do at EPCOT.

I hope you like the Beach Club. It's seemed really nice every time I've walked through there.

[dizzparkmom]

Day 3: Friday
12/7/07

The Plan: 7:50am depart room and catch the bus to MK for 9am opening. I’m hoping we’ll get to MK for the ‘opening’ celebration on the train platform. Since we’ll have more time this morning, I’ll plan on picking up some pastries at BC Marketplace on the way back from my morning walk.

AM: Tomorrowland is our focus this morning. As they are two of DS’s favorites at DLR, Buzz and Indy Speedway will top on our list of attractions. The rest of our short list includes: Astro Orbitor (not sure if DS will be into it because of it’s height off the ground), the Monster’s Inc. attraction, and the TTA.

Lunch: Around lunchtime, we’ll be making our way from Tomorrowland to Frontierland. So, we plan on stopping at Casey’s Corner on our way. However, lately I've been reading a lot of good things about Cosmic Rays.....what will we do???

If DS is interested and the timing is right, we’ll catch one of the Castle shows. Next, it’s off to Frontierland. Since it’s definitely something we can’t do at DLR anymore, we’d definitely like to see the Country Bears show. However, I’ve recently shown DS a clip of the show on-line and he seemed pretty bored by it. I’m hoping its entertainment value just didn’t transfer well onto video. Any recommendations for or against Country Bears for a 3 y.o. boy who thinks he's a music critic? (When DS hears people singing his favorite songs - he shouts "No Music!")

DS is a huge Toy Story fan. His favorite stuffed animal is “Bullseye”. So, we are really looking forward to experiencing Woody’s Cowboy Camp Parade. After this, it’s back to the BC for our afternoon nap.

PM: We’ll be back at Epcot this night. Aside from our dinner ADR, we have no specific plans. If time allows, we’ll be exploring Italy and Germany.

Dinner: Tutto Italia
I know this is a controversial choice for some for a few different reasons. When DH and I honeymooned at WDW in ’99, Alfredo’s was the only ADR we had the entire trip and we made the ADR the day of our reservation. So, I’ve kind of always wanted to go back again someday. We’ll obviously, we can’t go back to Alfredo’s, but we can try Tutto Italia. DH and I love eating Italian food. We are by no means experts in Italian cuisine and are quite easy to impress. If it tastes good, we like it. I’m a simple and somewhat picky eater. I don’t eat steak, pork, duck, or lamb. I hate onions, peppers, and mushrooms. DH is more adventuresome, but his favorites are usually pretty simple as well. I was pretty certain we would try to get and ADR at Tutto Italia no matter what, but when the menu came out, I was ecstatic. Because of my picky nature, I’m generally lucky to find one entrée that I’m interested in. There are at least 4 entrees on the Tutto Italia menu that I’m having trouble deciding between and there are also several that DH is interested in. They also have a great kid’s menu that DS will definitely enjoy. So, Tutto Italia may be unreasonably expensive, but it’s worth it for our family – especially with it being 1 credit on the DDP (for now). Because I'm so picky, I'll probably never go to some of the fancier signature dining restaurants - so for me, this is exciting.

Day 4: Saturday
12/8/07

The Plan: Up bright and early for EMH at Disney Hollywood Studios at 8am. Hopefully we’ll be on the boat by 7:15am or so. This is the park that has the least amount of stuff for DS and probably the most amount of stuff that DH and I will be wanting to fit in at some point. DH actually doesn’t like TOT – gives him a weird sinus/inner ear feeling, so I’m thinking about heading to TOT first thing while DH gets DS some fruit for breakfast. If the lines are still short enough, DH and I will trade off riding RnR using the single rider line. Next, our plan is to get FP’s for the earliest LMA stunt show. Not sure if we need them, but better safe than sorry. Next it’s off to Playhouse Disney. DS is a big Bear in the Big Blue House fan – but he’s never liked Playhouse Disney at DLR. So, we’ll see how this one goes. I’d also like to go to Voyage of the Little Mermaid, but DS hasn’t responded so favorable to clips of it he’s seen on-line and isn’t a big fan of the movie. If we’ve got time before the LMA show, we’ll check out the animation building.
We also plan on fitting in some M&G’s sometime during the day – top of our list will be any Pixar characters (Toy Story, Cars)….and Playhouse Disney characters (Little Einsteins, JoJo, Handy Manny)

Lunch: ADR at Sci-Fi Dine In. This is/was DH’s only dining “must do” choice of the trip. We tried to get in before on past trips, but were put off with the 45 minute wait times (HA HA) and always chose to just go get CS. Boy, times sure have changed!

Parade: Since DS is into a lot of the Pixar Characters, I think this will be his favorite parade of the trip. He has the die-cast parade float vehicles at home and we line them up and have pretend parades with them. I’m looking forward to seeing the Holliday version of the Parade. HOPEFULLY DS won’t be so tired by the time of the 3pm parade that it isn’t enjoyable. (Fingers crossed tightly!) As soon as the parade is over, we’ll be heading back to the BC for DS’s overdue afternoon nap.

PM: It’s back to Epcot again this night. (See a pattern?) Our plans are flexible again – we’ll be trying to explore around Mexico and Norway.

Dinner: Cantina de San Angel (Not a popular choice for some, but every time DH and I have been to Epcot, this has been our favorite meal. It’s always been tasty enough and large enough portions to make us happy. It’s never been too busy for us either, but I’ve heard lots of complaints recently. So, we’re really hoping that we won’t be disappointed. DS has acquired a churro addiction from our trips to DLR – so I already know what he’ll be having for dessert! After dinner – it’s back to the BC for bath and bedtime.

Upcoming: Days 5 & 6

[x2qwk2cx]

Great plans so far! Hope everything works out as planned... Can't wait to hear about the rest of your days!

[disneydani]

You are off to a fabulous start...sounds like you have some wonderful plans!

danielle

[Colexis Mom]

More great plans

[dizzparkmom]

Thanks everyone. I'm taking a break today from typing up our plans...not much of a break since i've been cleaning house and getting ready for Thanksgiving.

Monday night we took DS to the toy store (every 5 days he's successful at potty training - he gets to go to the toy store - it's working, but expensive.) Anyway - while we were there, we walked passed a rack of candy. DH was confused as I did a double take and backed up to grab some candy. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of those M&M tubes for putting change in for the penny press machine. I kept looking for these a the grocery store, but hadn't found one. Now I have it!!! I also have 2 dozen chocolate chip m&m cookies - somehow m&m's seem tastier in a cookie!

In other news - I met a vacation goal of mine today. Back when we started planning the trip in June, I decided I wanted to get into better shape before the trip. I started using the elliptical machine every day for 30-60 minutes (every day until we went on vacation in Oct. that is) and as of this morning, I've lost my goal of 10 lbs. I'm so ready to have a great time puttin' each of those pounds back on at WDW. (Okay, maybe just half of them!)

I'll get more pre-trip plans up this weekend. Thanks again for all the positive feedback!