Trip Report Sage's First Magical Trip!

Hi everyone! I am so excited to finally be writing my trip report! The Christmas hustle & bustle has just been crazy since we got back and I'm still struggling to catch up!! We just had the most wonderous, glorious, magical, Disney trip! This trip was myself, my husband, and our daughter Sage. Sage was just a few weeks shy of her 4th birthday for this trip. We were there from Saturday 11/29 through Sunday 12/7. My husband Nick and I have been twice together prior to having Sage, once in 2008 and once in 2009, but this was her first trip!!
A little bit of back story- I work as a dance teacher and as a nanny so I am with little kids (especially girls) all day long. I see the change in girls around when they go to Kindergarten, they start to lose that 'everything is magical' , princess loving attitude and are much more influenced by older kids/shows/products. After Sage was born, I told my husband it was super, super important to me that we make it to Disney before her 5th birthday. I just really wanted to experience a magical trip through her eyes. We went through a bit of a financial struggle right after she was born (we have terrible health insurance and the bills we got from my pregnancy, labor and delivery were unbelievable) but we worked really hard to save for this trip. This trip was literally, five years in the making.
Finally, last March, we officially booked our trip. I had always wanted to go around Christmas time to see the decorations and special offerings so picking our dates was easy. The hubs only request, that we stay on budget as much as possible! I really wanted to stay at Art of Animation in a Little Mermaid room but, hubs said no, so, in an effort to save some money, we went with Pop Century.
Another way we tried to save money was by packing our own food from home. I packed bread (in a shoe box so it wouldn't get crushed), PB & J, Nutella, granola bars, dried fruit & nuts, small cereal boxes, juice, drink mix ins and tons of snacks. I also bought us all Hydro Flask water bottles so we could pack our own icy cold drinks every day. And, once again with our budget in mind, we left SUPER early on our arrival day, because that flight was the cheapest. Which brings me to.....

Saturday 11/29: Day 1
Our flight was leaving Providence at 6:05am (!) We let Sage travel in her PJs so we literally rolled her out of bed and into the car. We thought we gave ourselves plenty of time but the airport was surprisingly busy. We waited for quite a while both checking our bags and going through security. We had a mid B boarding pass for Southwest, but when we got to the gate, they had already loaded A's and B's and were almost on the C's. We basically ran (well fast walked) from security straight onto the plane. Thankfully, we found 3 seats together.
This was Sage's 1st flight and she handled it like a pro. I had bought lots of small toys, crafts, books etc at the dollar store and walmart before we left, both for the plane and for waiting in line. My mom also bought her a Kindle Fire for her birthday and gave it to her before we left. So she had books and games on there too. She never once complained or whined and just happily played. So that was a relief!
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We actually landed a few minutes early, which is always awesome! Everyone has this picture, right? :)
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Even though we were taking the Magical Express, we decided to get our bags ourselves. I just knew that if I had a certain outfit for Sage in our carry on, once we got to the hotel, she would suddenly change her mind and insist on something else. I'm sure anyone with a 3 year old understands :) Now, getting our bags, and getting to the Magical Express was ridonkulous. Longest walk ever. Tram rides, down escalators, up elevators. All while pushing Sage in a stroller, carrying 3 carry ons and eventually, pulling 3 big suitcases. Holy cow. We were exhausted.

So, we finally get to Pop Century a little before 11am (not bad at all!!) Stepping off the bus onto Disney property is just the best feeling ever. The Pop Century cast members were blowing bubbles and waving their giant Mickey hands. Everyone was so friendly and happy. I got in the check in line, Nick wandered a little with Sage. I was super excited to get the exact location I requested, 50's building, lake side. Look at our gorgeous view-
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Sage was so excited to check out our comfy beds!
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I will talk more about my overall Pop thoughts later, but I have to say, we LOVED it!!! It's so beautiful. The grounds, the attention to detail, the larger than life statues. So welcoming and kid friendly. The pools are gorgeous. I miss Pop Century....
So, we got Sage dressed (finally) and first off, we needed food!!! We had left our house around 4:30am, thinking we would have plenty of time to grab some Dunks at the airport but with all the rushing, we had no extra time at all. So here it was 11am, and the only thing we had eaten was the pretzels on the plane! So we made our way to the food court.
Stopped to see Lady
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So our room was actually in the building behind Tramp and sadly, I never got a picture of him! So weird too, cause I take pictures of everything :) Every morning walking to the elevator we would say good morning to Tramp's butt. And then good night to Tramp's butt on our way back. So sad I never got a picture!

Sage with the Pop Christmas Tree
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So we got our lunch, and our refillable mugs and then went back up to the room. I unpacked our stuff and then the plan was to rest, but crazy enough, our FP times were fast approaching so we pretty much had to get ready to go. We were planning on heading to MK that day. We knew it would be busy, being the Saturday after Thanksgiving, but Sage of course really wanted to go there first. Our 3 FPs were for Splash, Thunder (Sage's picks, she wanted to ride them first!) and Haunted Mansion (my pick since it would be closed the rest of our trip). My goal was the accomplish those 3 things, see the parade, meet Tiana, and maybe do one other thing in the Frontierland/Liberty Square area.
So before we left, we had to do a few things with our tickets. It's kind of confusing but basically, we bought a 6 day base ticket for each of us. We have a family member who works for ESPN and he was able to get each of us a one day park hopper. My husband works for CBS and he was able to get two 1-day media passes. So, myself and Nick had a total of 8 days but Sage only had 7. So we had to add an extra day to her ticket, and we also had to assign the hopper pass to the last day of our trip. We were told we could do that either at guest relations in any park or at the hotel concierge. The line for the concierge was so, so long and of course, they had no clue how to do what we needed.
So, we went out to the bus stop as luck would have it, the MK bus took FOREVER. I forget what time it was, but I remember I was really nervous we wouldn't have time to do our ticket business and make our first FP time. I wanted to do the ticket stuff first because I didn't want our band to use the hopper ticket on our first day when I knew we would not be hopping.
So, I got on my phone to try and change our FP times. A note that I discovered at this time, the Disney wifi would only work in our room at Pop Century. I tried many times throughout the week to use it at the bus stop, and in the parks and it NEVER worked. So frustrating. Also frustrating, I wish there was an option to bump all 3 FPs back by one hour. I couldn't move our Splash FP without first moving the other 2. I was able to bump back HM, but there were no times left for BTMR before like 9pm. So, I had to keep all 3 of our original times.
So, we finally get to MK (yay!!) and the guest services line is like a mile long. There's no way we would make our 1st FP if we waited. So we had to risk it, and enter the park.

Gorgeous!!
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I had a plan to surprise Sage the first time she saw Cinderella's castle. So Nick went in a little ahead of us, I carried Sage, covering her eyes. Once we were on Main St, I uncovered eyes to reveal the castle. Nick took a video so here is a screen grab from it
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Awesome right? We were jumping up and down screaming, we're here, we're here! We finally made it!!!! It was all so surreal. The entire trip was actually. I had literally been planning this trip, financially, in my mind, on paper, for five years. It was so strange that it was actually HERE. If that makes sense :)
I'll add more in a little bit!
 
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So we then slowly walked towards Splash, taking in the gorgeous sites along the way
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So Sage's first ever Disney ride was......
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So 2 summers ago, when Sage was 2 1/2 we went to a local amusement park. They had a log flume ride and Sage LOVED it. This past summer, that ride was sadly closed the day we were there but overall, Sage was much more hesitant at the amusement park at 3 1/2 than she was at 2 1/2. She did all the rides we asked her to but would later tell us she didn't like them or that they made her belly hurt. She was still super excited though to ride Splash Mountain first. Once we got there, and she saw how big the drop was, I could tell she was a little nervous. She was a trooper though!
So we get on Splash Mountain, and as we are going through that initial outdoor opening part, two boats in front of us stop, our boat stops, and a few behind up stop. We all bump into each other, pretty aggressively, and it actually hurt a little. We waited for a few minutes, feeling bummed that Sage's first ride ever was having some sort of problem. Finally, a CM comes out and tells the woman in the boat behind us to put her selfie pole away. Apparently she was sticking it so far out of the boat that it became a danger. SO SO ANNOYING.
So the boats got going, slowly, one at a time. We also had the stop again briefly before going up the last big hill, I'm guessing to evenly space the boats.
Overall though, Nick and I enjoyed the ride, Sage not as much. To this day, she tells people that she loved the indoor part but hated the big drop. Throughout the whole ride she kept asking when the big drop was coming. And she also kept asking if we were going to go under water. So I think she was just a little spooked overall!
After Splash, our FP window for Big Thunder Mountain had already started so we went right over there.
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This ride went better for Sage and she said she liked it better than Splash. Still, it was the only time we rode these 2 rides our entire trip. Sage had no desire to ride either one again which was disappointing for Nick and I.
As we were exiting Thunder Mountain, we passed the Jessie & Woody greet and meet. I was so excited and really wanted to meet them. Sage told us though that she really wanted her first character meeting to be with Merida. She likes Merida, but hadn't mentioned this at all prior to the trip. But suddenly she was super adamant that we absolutely had to meet Merida first.
It was almost 3 pm so I begged her to stop and watch the parade but nope, Merida. Only Merida. So off we went. I wasn't even sure where she was, so I asked a CM for directions (just follow the lovely path through the smoking section) We get to Merida's cute little set up, and what do they tell us? Merida is leaving to go be in the parade! Darn it! We would have to come back later.
We then needed a bathroom break so we walked down the smokey path to the new Rapunzel area. So so pretty! Even if it is just bathrooms :)
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Sage danced around to the music a little, hung out by the castle a little, it was actually the first time we really stopped to just breathe.
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It was then time for our HM FP, so off we went!! One thing that confused us many times throughout the week- finding the stroller parking for each ride!

Love it!
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Sage was nervous, mostly because it had the word Haunted in the title but she ended up loving it! We described it as a house decorated for Halloween and pointed out silly things along the way. She said it was her favorite of our 3 rides that day.
I have to end here for a bit, heading to work for the night. See you all soon!
 

DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So after HM, we walked all the way back over to Merida. As we get part way down the path, we are greeted with a gigantic line of people. We're thinking, please don't be for Merida..... but yup. All for her. It was seriously the slowest moving line ever. It took us 40 MINUTES to finally get to the front! It actually ended up being the longest wait we had all week.
Thankfully Sage waited pretty patiently. She was so excited to finally meet her. She was running around her in circles, touching her dress, hugging her. It was so sweet.
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After Sage met Merida, they had a little table set up with coloring pages and there was also a man who was helping the kids learn how to shoot a bow and arrow. It would have made so much more sense to let the kids do these things while they were waiting. After being in there 45 minutes, we were ready to get the heck out. It was cute though
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One thing we noticed as the week went on was that Disney is all about the character meet and greets now. So many of them have their own little areas, set up with backgrounds and props. I actually really liked it. It made for some great pictures.

Earlier, while walking through Liberty Square, Sage saw this little cart selling umbrellas. They came in different sizes and colors and the CM would hand paint any character/design you wanted. My mom had given Sage some spending money before we left and Sage fell in love with these umbrellas and just had to had one! It took a few hours to be painted, and to dry, so after Merida, it was just about time to swing back through Liberty Square to pick it up.
Sage had chosen a small, white umbrella, with Doc McStuffins on it. I thought it was pretty adorable!
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So it was about 5pm after that, and we were amazed that Sage was still in such good spirits. When we are at home she still naps daily so we couldn't believe she had been up since 4:15am, had not had a nap, and she was still in such a good mood. She had seen the train on the way in and really wanted to ride it. So we thought we would walk through Frontierland, get on the train at Splash Mountain, take it to Main St, and then get off there and call it a day. But, as we were walking through Frontierland, on that path down by the water, one of those white birds that are every where in Disney, pooped directly on Sage. Like, all in her hair and all over her stroller. It was so so gross. We cleaned her up as best as we could with wipes but we decided we needed to go back and throw her in the tub. Thankfully, she agreed. She actually didn't even know it was bird poop. She asked what happened and we said someone spilled milk on her. Poor thing, she would have freaked out!

That is pretty much the end of day one. We made sandwiches in the room that night and did our best to get Sage (and ourselves) to bed at a decent time. It had been a loooong day!
 
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday 11/30: Day 2

I thought the Thanksgiving crowds may still be lingering this day, so I chose Animal Kingdom as our first full day. They opened at 9 so the plan was to be down at the bus stop by 8. I was trying not to rush everyone, thinking, its ok, let's take our time so Sage isn't grumpy... so we actually got down to the bus stop around 8:10. I was thinking that would still be ok, as long as the bus got there soon. Guess what? Another 20 minute wait!!! And, we definitely had some sort of trainee driver. A young guy was driving while another man stood behind him. He was so slow loading the scooter people, and waited forever before leaving. We didn't end up pulling into AK until 8:55!! I was in full panic mode, while trying to remain calm.
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On our previous 2 trips, my husband and I always dashed to Everest first. This time, our first stop would be the Safari. It was so weird to enter the park and go the opposite way.

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One of Sage's favorite animals- flamingos!!

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We had a great Safari ride! Sage is a big animal lover, we all are actually, so she was super into seeing all the animals up so close. I also really enjoyed the new narration without the poacher storyline.

So once our safari ended, our driver pulled over just prior to where we would exit. He said we had to wait before he could pull up. I don't know what was going on, but we sat there, without moving for 10 minutes. It was so frustrating. My original plan was do the safari, then the Pangani Forest Trail, then see the 10am show of Lion King. After getting to the park a little late, and now with this delay, I knew that wouldn't be possible. I decided to go online and change our 10am Lion King FP to the 11am. I did it without a problem, except of course the WiFi didn't work.

On to the Pangani Trail-

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We had some time to kill before the 11am show so we poked in the shops a little and took some pictures on the bridge. We tried to get a family picture but Sage was being a stinker and wouldn't cooperate.

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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
OK, so next up was the Lion King show. Before coming to Disney, I was under the impression that having a FP for a show guaranteed you a seat in a good location. This is most definitely not true. Every show we had a FP for simply let the FP line in 1st. This makes no sense to me. The whole reason I chose FPs for shows was so we didn't have to line up super early. I thought, we can get a FP, show up 5 or 10 minutes before showtime and get a great seat. Wrong! So so dumb. How hard is it to reserve a spot just for FP?
So anyways, we didn't even end up needing our FP for this show as the theater was not completely full. Sage had brought a Simba stuffed animal with her from home and she was so excited to bring it into the show with her!
Here are a few pictures before we went in. I love this new theater and location! Fits so perfectly!
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Sage really loved this show! It had been several years since Nick and I had seen it so we enjoyed it as well. Sage and I loved the tumbling monkeys! She also loved the part with the two dancers dressed as birds. She loved seeing her fly through the air! A few pictures from the show:

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So after the show Sage was super adamant that she had to meet Simba to show him her stuffed animal. We brought her up to that huge Simba that is on the float and she was convinced it was the real Simba. She was holding up her stuffed animal and talking to him for the longest time.
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After the show, we went over to Dinoland. Our first stop was Triceratop Spin. People always want to hate on simple spinner rides but as we discovered on this trip, they ended up being a huge hit with Sage. Kids just can't get enough of them. We rode each spinner multiple times. Thankfully they always had short waits :)
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Next was lunch at Restaurantosaurus. Nick got a bacon cheeseburger, I got the mac & cheese hot dog (so good!) and Sage insisted on getting a PB & J even though I told her we would be having that for dinner back in the room later. I love that the kids meals here come in a little pail with a shovel! Kids meals are one of the few things that I think are actually a good deal at Disney.
Our next FP was supposed to be to meet Mickey and Minnie but Sage didn't want to go meet them. She was so weird with characters all week. She would get it in her mind that she wanted to meet characters X, Y & Z on a certain day and even if we happened to cross paths with a different character, she would insist we skip them because it wasn't part of her plan. So apparently, Mickey and Minnie weren't part of today's plan. So instead I changed our FP to a later Nemo show (again hoping for a good seat).
After lunch we walked over to the boneyard so Sage could play and Nick and I could take turns riding Everest using single rider.
I went to ride first while Nick and Sage played in the slide section.
A few Everest pics
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I got lucky and the single rider line was pretty short. I went back to the boneyard and Nick was exhausted from chasing Sage around. When the kids climb up to the top of the slides, you can't see them from the ground. So Nick had to follow Sage up to the top and then slide down with her. I think there were like 5 different slides and of course, she had to try them all. Multiple times.
Nick then left for his turn on Everest and I was able to convince Sage to go over to the dig site section. It looks like a giant sandbox but its actually all super small pebbles. I was able to sit and watch her play so I got the better deal! haha. The only tricky part was that the kids have to keep their shoes on and Sage was wearing crocs so they kept getting filled with the little pebbles. She was freaking out, emptying them out every 5 seconds.
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Nick's wait was a little longer than mine but we still had some time to kill before Nemo. Sage didn't want to leave the dig site so Nick stayed with her and I went back to ride Everest one more time.
After I rode, Nick and Sage met me at the entrance to Nemo. Once again, no special FP section, they just let us in and we could sit anywhere. We got a great seat about halfway back on the aisle so Sage didn't have any heads in her way.
Just like the Lion King show, Sage loved this too! I was a little nervous before we came that the shows wouldn't hold her attention. She has a very short attention span :) She loved it though. She talked a lot through it, asking me lots of questions but was super super into it. I don't think she's ever seen the whole Nemo movie so certain parts worried her a little (the beginning with Coral, the sharks) but overall, she enjoyed it. And of course we did too!
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Sage then really wanted to go meet Rafiki so she could show him her Simba stuffed animal. So off we went!
I took some tree pictures from the back since the front entrance near the tree was covered with walls
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Every time we were near the tree, Sage loved finding all the different animals!
We tried to take a family picture again, Sage was a stinker again. She loves to annoy her mom!
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Sage loved meeting Rafiki! He made a big deal out her Simba stuffed animal and Sage kept running all around him, trying to see his blue butt! haha
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DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We then went out to meet Chip and Dale but they were going on a break. For the rest of the week this became a running joke with us. Literally, 90% of the time we went up to meet a character, they were leaving to go on a break. We would see a character, get all excited, run over and nope. They were leaving. Like, almost every time. It was so frustrating.
So to kill time, we went over to the petting zoo. Or as we liked to call it, the pooping zoo. Man those goats like to poop.
There's this one corral, off to the left, that had one cow in it, all by its lonesome. It kind of made me sad. As we were watching this one, sad little cow, its caretaker came over and told us it was time for the daily "running of the cow". Apparently, they always brought the cow back in for dinner every night at the same time and the cow would get so excited, that it would sprint from the corral to the back pen. It was kind of cool to watch :)

After the pooping zoo, we went back over and got in line for Chip and Dale. And a few minutes later, out they came!
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And, one of my favorite family pictures from our trip-
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I got a little distracted for a second, putting my camera away and going to pick up my bag, so I'm not sure what happened, but I look up and Sage is walking away holding Chip by the hand. We ask her what she's doing and she says, taking Chip home with me! He played along, walking with her and waving good bye. They actually made it pretty far. It was so funny.

I really wanted to meet Pocahontas and Dug before we left for the night so we set off to find them. I love the little area where Pocahontas is! It was so pretty, especially since it was dark by then. Although I hear she has since moved. Its hard to see in the pictures but the path leading up to her, and the area around her was covered in lights. With all the greenery it was so pretty!
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See Sage's lovely pose? Get ready for a lot of that. That's her Elsa freezing pose. She taught almost every character how to do the Elsa freezing pose.

Last stop of the night, Dug and Russel! We told Sage to yell squirrel and point. Apparently, they get that a lot cause Dug was ready and immediately showed Sage his fake squirrel.
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So it was about 6pm now and time to call it a day. We couldn't believe Sage made it the whole day again without a nap and stayed relatively crank free. Just a few grumpy moments here and there. She actually wanted to stay longer but we knew we were operating on borrowed time. And seriously, I was completely exhausted. Disney with kids is hard work. It takes double the time and triple the energy to do half the stuff. And its so strange to be completely focused on someone else for the entire day. There are rides I don't even remember because I was so focused on her enjoyment and her reactions, and pointing things out for her. Even though we were in AK all day, from 9-6, and accomplished quite a bit, I feel like I didn't see and savor anything, if that makes sense. There's no chance to take in the small details or smell the roses. Its all about getting your kid from point A to point B while pushing a stroller and digging for a snack :) Don't get me wrong, its all still awesome. Just different. And exhausting!
 

acrab3t

Active Member
I got lucky and the single rider line was pretty short. I went back to the boneyard and Nick was exhausted from chasing Sage around. When the kids climb up to the top of the slides, you can't see them from the ground. So Nick had to follow Sage up to the top and then slide down with her. I think there were like 5 different slides and of course, she had to try them all. Multiple times.
Nick then left for his turn on Everest and I was able to convince Sage to go over to the dig site section. It looks like a giant sandbox but its actually all super small pebbles. I was able to sit and watch her play so I got the better deal! haha. The only tricky part was that the kids have to keep their shoes on and Sage was wearing crocs so they kept getting filled with the little pebbles. She was freaking out, emptying them out every 5 seconds.
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My son's first trip to Animal Kingdom was spent mostly in the bone yard. I remember being exhausted trying to keep up with him and my friends daughter. Once they found the digging part, we were content to just sit and watch them dig. We must have spent at least 2 hours there.
 

DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monday 12/1: Day 3
This was our first Hollywood Studios day! After having 2 super long days in a row, we decided not to risk things on Day 3. We had an early ADR so the plan was to head back by 3pm at the latest and rest at the hotel for the remainder of the day. We had another half day planned for DHS later in the week to see the dancing lights so I knew if we missed anything, we would have time to do it on our 2nd day.
Even though this was a budget friendly trip (as much as possible anyway) we did have 3 scheduled ADRs, however, there was a good reason for all of them. The first was breakfast at Hollywood and Vine. Sage LOVES both Sofia and Doc McStuffins. While I knew Sofia had a meet and greet outside of the breakfast, Hollywood and Vine is the only place she would be able to meet Doc. So for us, it was a must do :) Sage also really likes Handy Manny so this was like a dream breakfast for her!
Our ADR was at 8am and everyone did a great job getting ready efficiently! We made it to DHS by 7:30.
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We were about the 4th family in line. At about 7:45 they starting letting everyone in. We stopped at the end of the street to take a few pictures
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We ended up getting a great seat in the restaurant. We were on the right side at one of the first tables. Whenever the characters had to walk in and around the restaurant, they had to walk right by our table. Every time they would tap Sage on the shoulder, wave to her, give her a hug. She was in heaven. We waited til we met everyone, then went up to get our food.
Sofia was first and my one complaint is that since our table was first, we were still taking our sweatshirts off when she came over. I was standing, and actually our server was taking our drink order. I didn't have my camera out yet, we weren't at all prepared and suddenly there was Sofia. I wish we could have gotten settled first. The rest of the experience was awesome though.
So first Sofia, then Manny
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I think Jake was next but Sage doesn't watch that show and she refused to meet him so she hid under the table when he came over.
Then finally, DOC!!!
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We then went up to get our breakfast. The selection was great, both for adults and kids, and we found plenty we liked. I like that it is buffet style. It makes you feel a little better about the price :) They had a few little dance parties with the kids throughout the breakfast. Sage happily watched but never got up to dance. It was right in the aisle next to our table too.
Our server was awesome, so attentive, always refilling our coffees, super friendly with Sage, even offered us juices to go before we left. We made sure to tell a manager how great he was. As we were getting ready to leave, Sage wanted to say goodbye to Doc so he even went and got her for us.
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Out of our 3 ADRs, this was by far the best. Worth the price and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Great food, great character interactions, fun atmosphere with the little dance/sing a longs, awesome server. We loved it. Highly recommended!
 

DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We next had a FP for the 9:25 Frozen sing a long. We purposely took our time at breakfast and got to the theater at about 9:15/9:20. Again I had assumed our FP meant a section was reserved for FP people. Apparently though, it means just like all the others, that they just let you in first. When we got there, we were told our FPs were no longer valid but that we could still enter since the theater wasn't full. Its a good thing it wasn't full or they would have been in trouble! Seriously.
We were about three quarters of the way back and Sage couldn't see at all so she sat on my lap for the whole show. The show was not at all what I was expecting. I thought it would be Anna and Elsa, singing their songs with words up on a big screen for the audience to follow along. I had no clue the movie would be playing and Anna and Elsa would barely even be on the stage. It was so weird. It seemed last minute and thrown together. Come one Disney. Get it together! Sage liked it though.
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So before we came to Disney, Sage liked Frozen well enough. I think she's only seen the movie once or twice. We have the music in the car though and she likes to listen to that more than watch the movie. Something happened in Disney though and she suddenly became obsessed with Elsa (hence the freezing pose in every picture) She's been calling herself Elsa, me Anna and Nick Olaf ever since. It's pretty annoying actually :)
After the show we started walking towards Toy Story for our next FP. We passed a meet and greet for Donald and Sage decided he was next on her character plan. We get in line, and a CM announces Donald is leaving. Of course :) So off we go to Toy Story
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Sage chose to ride with me so most of my time was spent showing her how to use the shooter and explaining what to do. She loved it though and was so excited to win an armadillo at the end. She kept asking if she really got a prize :) We then went over to the Great Movie Ride
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Sage loved the Wizard of Oz stuff!! And the Mary Poppins and Tarzan the scenes. The rest not so much. Especially the live action gangster stuff. She was a little afraid during that part.
We then went back over to Donald. The line was fairly long, and as soon as we get in, the CM says Donald is leaving in 10 minutes (of course, right?) Thankfully, we just made it!
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Then Donald left and a few different characters came out so Sage was excited to see them all just walking around.
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I love their Hollywood outfits!!

We then went over to Oaken's Trading Post and Snow Ground. When we got to the entrance, we asked a CM if we had to walk through the store to get to the snowground. He said no, just walk to the back door and go right in. So we enter through the back door, see the big snow box with all the kids in it, pick Sage up, plop her in and she excitedly starts playing. After a minute or so, a CM announces that the kids have 10 more minutes before they need to exit. I think, that's not fair, we just got here. Then, as I'm looking around the room, I notice that wayyyy on the other side, near the entrance to the store, there's a line of kids waiting to get in. So apparently, if you enter through the store you have to get in line to use the snowbox. I'm assuming we were supposed to get in line too but the CM never told us there was a line and we honestly did not see it. So Sage got 10 minutes of play time and then all the kids were asked to exit. It's a cute set up but it was very, very crowded.
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(She's not really eating the snow, just pretending)
Other than the snowground, there was a photo pass photographer who took pictures in front of a bridge and then later added in Anna and Elsa, a little snack cart, and then the store with millions of Frozen items. Cute but again, it felt thrown together.
 

DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It was then time for our 3rd FP- Tower of Terror. Sage kept going back and forth between saying she wanted to ride with us, and then saying she didn't want to. I'll admit, we talked her into it, maybe more so than other parents would have :) Nick and I love ToT so much and since she was tall enough for so many of the 'good' rides, we really wanted to go on them all together.
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So yeah, Sage hated this ride. Actually cried a little. Said the dropping made her belly hurt. Bad parents.

Nick and I wanted to use single ride to go on Rock and Roller Coaster. I rode first and Nick and Sage went off to look in some stores (Sage became obsessed with pressed pennies while we were there)

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I love this ride so much!!!
When I came out, it was POURING. I ran over to the store Nick was in, and he went over to ride. Sage and I pressed some pennies and poked a round a little. It poured the whole time. I had 3 ponchos but they were in the room. I had checked the weather that morning and it said like 30% chance of showers mid day. So I thought we'd be ok. Guess not! When Nick was done, it had finally stopped raining so we found a table (I think outside of Starring Rolls Cafe) and ate our packed lunch of PB & Js. We decided we had time for one more thing, so Sage chose the Disney Jr show. I'll try to finish this day up in a bit!
 

mrdrift

Well-Known Member
Loving the report. Sage is the perfect age to be at Disney World, They have a much different view of the parks that us adults forget about. She is just so adorable and willing to try many of the rides, which makes her very brave in my book. The pictures are really cute with the frozen motion that she likes to do. Following along.
 

DisneyDreamer08

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks everyone! Sage loves Doc!! She got that coat/shirt last Christmas along with a doctors bag. She is constantly doing check ups on her stuffed animals!
So the last thing we did on this day was the Disney Jr show. We lined up a few minutes before show time and as we were waiting, it started pouring again. Thankfully, about 5 minutes later, they let us in. We were pretty soaked though :)
I'm not crazy about the set up, everyone has to sit on the floor, but I understand why they do it. It was crowded, the kids couldn't really stand since they would be blocking other kids who were sitting. The stage was obviously up higher than our point of view so we couldn't see the bottom half of the puppets. The story was cute though, songs were good. The puppets were nicely done. Overall it was entertaining. Sage really enjoyed it.
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So we then went back to the hotel. Sage wanted to swim but it was overcast with showers the rest of the afternoon. We wanted her to rest anyway. So we all just relaxed! We went down to the Pop Century food court for dinner that night. The food court definitely has its pros and cons. The pros are that they have a lot to choose from, for both for kids and adults. One thing I wasn't super crazy about (maybe its a pro for some) is that they cook a lot of stuff to order. So there were times I would do all the ordering while Nick and Sage sat at a table. My order would take 10 minutes, I'd go line up for Nick's, that would take 10 minutes. Then I'd wait in the long line to pay. So it could be a pretty long process just to get our dinner. Maybe some people like the cook to order thing but I like my fast food fast :)
As predicted, Sage was exhausted by the end of the day and had the most gigantic meltdown ever in the middle of the food court. The woman at the check out was very sweet and calmly asked if there was anything she could do to help. Sure, can you take her up to the room so Nick and I can eat in peace? Nick brought her outside for 10 minutes or so to calm her down and then they joined me back inside. Good thing we could get her to bed early that night! She needed it :)
I'll try to do a little more later on today!
 

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