Disney PhD family trip (with Friends) 2005

Saturday Feb 26th

As it is with big groups we didn’t get to MK until 9:30 or so. :brick: Rode Dumbo as 1st ride (as always) and the baby loved it. The kids were having a blast playing. We made our way around FL and Toon Town and headed over to Crystal Place for 11:40 PS. It was crazy over there. I guess they are seating people in shifts now and every one checks in at once. It was a good meal and the baby loved Piglet. DD and friends son were having a blast, playing together. However Little PhD was starting to be rather contrary and finicky. (I don’t want to ride this ride, I want to do something else 1st.) Almost 4 years old is not a cooperative age for little girls.

After a few more rides we went back to the pool for swimming. The kids loved SAB, it was a little cool, and breezy, but fun. The slide and all the pools were open. The baby loved it and the kids had a blast. We took some great pictures.

Back to MK for the evening, it was open late and we wanted to see the fireworks and parade. We also had plans to meet some more friends with a DD same age as little PhD there. We went to Colombia Harbor House for dinner. DN got clam chowder for dinner (same as last year). Right after eating she started feeling bad and ran to the bathroom. I went in a few min later and she was standing in line, looking like she was going to loose her dinner. I had to announce she was sick and push her to the front of the line, I was given some dirty looks, but what could I do, let her throw up on the floor? She came out looking very bad and said her throat was swelling up and she was having a hard time breathing. She is allergic to shrimp, but not clams. I stopped a CM near the counter and asked if there was shrimp or any other kind of shell fish in the chowder and explained the situation. She came back shortly and said there wasn’t. A manger came out and talked with us. She ran to the store next door to see if she could get some Benadryl. No, but we could get some at first aid. Well, by this time it was 8:00, the parade was starting and we were all the way across the park, we couldn’t get there. She assured me there were ways of getting there and escorted us down the parade pathway (it started on MS). I was hoping she was going to take us threw the tunnels. I left hubby and the kids with friends and they watched the parade. Little PhD was asleep in the stroller and never woke the whole evening. In fact we got back to the room and she never even knew she was at MK. Once we got to 1st aid they were great and gave her Benadryl (no charge) and offered her a place to rest. The CM and RN was very nice and it was good place to rest. We waited and then headed back to the room. My niece was so tired she was about to fall asleep on her feet, but she still helped us with the kids (who were also sleeping.) Our friends stayed for the fire works and had a good time. We never did meet up with our other friends. We will have to do that later in the trip.


More to follow.................

Day 3, Sunday. Feb 27th

Rain, Rain and more Rain.

Radar showed green with yellow all across the state. We left our ponchos at home, so we bought new Mickey ones and headed out to the MK. We did have a rain cover for the double stroller. It was rainy, but it wasn’t that cold. MK was empty and we did a lot in FL and many shows. Woody, Jessie, Meeko, Chip and Dale were in Diamond Horseshoe and it was empty. We got a ton of great pictures, but Little PhD was being contrary and wouldn’t have anything to do with them. Her loss. We had a great lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. Good food, warm and cozy in there and not crowded at all. It was a great place to escape the rain. We got a lot done and MK was empty. I had baby in the Bjorn with a poncho on, I had to wrap it around her and then clip it in front with a clip I had on the stroller to keep a blanket over the baby. It worked well. It started to clear up, and we did the tree house. Little PhD walked up and down it. She also rode Pirates, but was a little scared. We headed back to the resort around 4:00.

That evening it wasn’t too bad, rain had stopped, but still cloudy. We had dinner at Beaches and Cream. Baby was in her big sister old outfit and it was too tight around her cubby little legs, she was crying and fussy. So unlike her. I was changing the baby’s clothes in the rest room at Beach Club near SAB when I over heard a women talking with her friend about trip reports. I asked and she said she was Disney Mom from Disboards. So HI Disney MOM, it was good meeting you.

After dinner we spilt up. My friend took the kids and I went headed over to Epcot to watch the fireworks while the guys and her sister did evening magic hours at MGM. They got to ride TT and RR twice each. It was empty and they walked right in.

The news said we got 2 inches of rain that day.

Monday, Feb 28th

According to the weather channel this will be the best swim weather of our trip. Our friends are off to Blizzard Beach. Since we had AP it wasn’t included in our tickets we decided to meet our other friends at AK and then head back to for SAB.

By the magic of Cellular phones we were able to meet up with our other friends from Detroit. (Little PhD was soooo lucky, she got to play with 2 friends at WDW!) We went to get fast passes for the safari ride, but was stopped by a CM who must have thought our daughters were really cute. She gave a little presentation for them, complete with cards with there names on it and informed us that our whole group was needed on the safari right now and escorted us in the fast pass line. The girls loved it. What a nice cast member.

We went to the Lion King show next, my friend got ice cream for the kids, but then we had to throw it out to go in and see the show. Poor kids, thank goodness for the Lion King fruit snacks I had in my bag that calmed them down (especially the 2 year old little sister.) My friend couldn’t believe I had matching fruit snacks. I told her we wanted princess, but the store was out so DD went for Lion King!

We headed over to Dino land and the guys rode Dinosaur while we stood in line for Triceratops spin. The baby got fussy and I ended up having to nurse her standing in line for the ride! Sometimes I am amazed at the skills of a mother. She fell asleep and I bailed, having little PhD ride with her friends. They did the dino dig while my friend and I rode Primevil Whirl. The line was much longer then it said (10) and we were ready to go after that.

My friend got some McDonalds French fries at the cart and we ate them on the way back to the bus. We were so hungry and they tasted good. Back to the pool for swimming. When I got to the room my friend had left a message, they were back from BB and down at the pool. We met there and had a great time. The baby’s slept and DN watched them while we played with the young ones. We took the kids over to the “big toilet” as my friend’s husband called it. (the area near the slide where the water goes round and round.) It was a blast. The air was cool when you were wet so we were trying to get across SAB with out getting out of the pool. The jets in the hot tub near the kids pool no longer work (due to the sand).

Dinner tonight at 1900 Park Fare at Grand Floridian. We even dressed up! I wasn’t sure what to wear since I didn’t have skirt and have a nursing baby. I ended up with a dress that opened in the front and a sweater over it. Wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but we set out. Made it to GF in about a hour (on the bus then monorail). I once again I was amazed at myself for nursing a baby on a bus in a dress (with a sweater over it, so it worked rather well!)

1900 PF was nuts. Once again everyone’s PS seemed to start at once and there was a great big group. The restrooms were a mess! Paper towel everywhere and it just looked awful. Very disappointing for such a nice place as GF. Our seat again was right near the door (those groups of 10.) The food was good, everyone loved the strawberry soup. My friend’s son was fast asleep and we have all these pictures of him asleep with Cindy and Prince C. it was too funny. We even have one of him with Cindy kissing him. He did wake up and eat, good thing because I didn’t want to pay over $10 for a sleeping 3 year old! It had gotten cold and MK was closed so we headed back (we missed the fireworks). My friends husband and sister wanted to take the monorail to Epcot and see the fireworks there, so they took the double stroller (Graco duoglide with car seat) she put the baby in the bjorn and the rest of us headed back to the buses. We just missed a bus and were front of the line for the next one. Well then one pulled up at BW and S&D and the driver told us to get on there. Except we were then the very back of the line so there was no seats. I was holding the baby and someone popped up to offer me a seat, but my friend who also had a baby and a 3 year old never got a seat. Hubby had to stand and hold DD (who was asleep) and the stroller. My DN did help my friend out. I hate the bus back from MK at night.


Here comes Tuesday.................................

(thanks for reading. :lookaroun

Tuesday March 1st!

Back to AK, but this time with my friends. Today AK is open late and it was much more busy then yesterday. We are finding just like morning EMH, don’t go to the park with evening EMH during that day. Just hop over there later if you can. I think many people are not getting the park hopping option since it cost more. Nice weather sunny and cool. (we were dressed well, so no problems.) We saw the Pocahontas and the Lion King show and my friend and I spent some time with the babies in the baby care center. The one at AK is one of the best and we enjoyed the peace and quite. Even Little PhD had fun playing in there and taking a break. We were all hungry after so it was lunch at Tusker House (at only 11:30.) The place was nuts, there were many tables big enough for our group, but they were all taken. We ended up outside at a few tables. Hubby bought the food for everyone since they take DDE, but didn’t do the AK meal packages that are such a good deal. I couldn’t understand why, and gave him a hard time about it. It was then he realized he didn’t get little PhD a meal so he went back for that, and found out that they don’t take the DDE with the meal deals, so it was just as well. :hammer:

It was past our time for Fast Pass for the Safari ride, but we didn’t have any problems using them. The baby fell asleep right as we were about to get on the safari ride, so I sat out with her and people watched. After we headed over to Asia since our friends never saw the trails over there. We got a good look at the Expedition Everest construction, walked right by it. There were men working on it and as we got closer you could see them waving at us. After time in Dino land the park was rather crowded and we were ready to head back.


The plan had been for my niece and my friends sister to watch the kids and the parents go out this evening, but that didn’t end up happening as our trip was coming to a close and there was more that people hadn’t seen. Looking back I wish we had, I just really needed a break from the kids, Little PhD was testing limits and being difficult with me, but wonderful for anyone else. Back to the room and made Little PhD rest while DN and I went shopping and explored the resort. That evening it was over to Epcot to make sure we got the Living Seas in. The baby would have nothing to do with sitting in the stroller so I put her in the baby Bjorn, she was loving it. She was so happy and bouncing all around. I walked all the way from BC to The living seas with her in it and I think every single person I saw smiled at me. Oh the joys of a happy baby! The new Nemo exhibits at the living seas are great. Turtle talk with Crush is wonderful! How do they do that? Epcot was just perfect, not crowded at all, but just enough people to seem alive and fun. After we let the kids play in the light up sidewalk and my sisters friend went to wander around Epcot while we headed over to WS for dinner. We didn’t have any PS so it was whatever we could find. Fish and Chips sounded good to me and my friends so we stood in line for that and the rest of the group went off the Morocco to eat there. :slurp: As we were leaving the Beatles group was starting to play in England and we wanted to watch it, but had to meat the rest of the group. As we crossed the bridge there was my friends sister with a coffee making a bee line to the show at England, “Can’t talk now, want to see this.” We wondered WS that evening, it was nice weather and everyone was in a good mood. My friend was determined that Japan would sell this soap she read about on line that is Japans number one selling soap with clay form the dead sea in it. Well she was right and it was much cheaper then on the internet. I even found a nice soap bowl and some fun chop sticks that I was able to get home safely. (BTW, the soap is great!) Fire works were about to start and I looked up, the pavilion above Japan is a great place to watch it, lets go there. My friends hubby and sister when to get a big beer and will meet us back there, but hubby had her baby in the Bjorn. How to get there with 2 double strollers? Wait there is an elevator, but it gets off in the restaurant and there was steps down to get outside. We weren’t really thinking and just went out front to see the show (there was lots of room left.) We could of ditched the strollers or had my husband help move them. Well we never found my friends husband, and she was rather annoyed because the had the baby with him (walking around with a tall glass of beer no less.) Turns out they were upstairs in Japan waiting for us. Oh well. All the kids loved the show. We loved being able to walk back to BC with no folding up the stroller.

Great report! Thanks!

Great report! I love hearing how other mothers with young children do in WDW. I was nursing my four month old too. I really liked the baby care station with the nursing room. There were about four of us in there chatting away like we'd known each other for years. :lol:

Nice report. Sounds like you had fun.

DisneyPhD said:

Got to love smokers in non smoking rooms!

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Did you call and report them?? I always do and usually have decent results.

I can't stand making sure to get NS and then find out that a previous guest smoked in the room, or someone next door is smoking, or the oblivions that stand right outside the door and smoke. Hey, thanks for making me walk through your smoke to get to my NS room. :fork:

wannab@dis said:

Nice report. Sounds like you had fun.



Did you call and report them?? I always do and usually have decent results.

I can't stand making sure to get NS and then find out that a previous guest smoked in the room, or someone next door is smoking, or the oblivions that stand right outside the door and smoke. Hey, thanks for making me walk through your smoke to get to my NS room. :fork:

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I didn't, but I should of. I just had a feeling nothing would happen, like the damage is done to the room they will have to clean it out when they left The neighors were at least quiet. However they left the bag of trash with 2 dozen beer cans outside in the hall for 4 days too. I was a bothered by that (it did help us reconize our room. :lookaroun ). I mean we had tons of trash with 5 people and one a baby, but we didn't leave ours in the hall. If we had too I would of found a trash container or ask the MK what to do with it.

One note about mouse keeping I forgot. My friends were at BC and never had any towel animals the whole trip, I wasn't about to risk it so the morning before they left I stopped some MS staff in the hall and asked to be sure they got some. They were very nice about it. They did get 2 towel bunnies, not that big of a display, but the kids liked it.

JMishy said:

Great report! I love hearing how other mothers with young children do in WDW. I was nursing my four month old too. I really liked the baby care station with the nursing room. There were about four of us in there chatting away like we'd known each other for years. :lol:

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me too. We even had 2 sets of young ones (but plently of grown ups or helpers.) and it went really well. Infact the biggest problem we had was with Little PhD. This was her 5th trip to WDW (6th on a airplane to FLA, we went to Vero Beach last year too.) She was much eaiser when she was younger. There was just too much finiky and grumpyness this trip. (I want to I don't want to :goodnevil ) I think part of it was having so many friends there. She does better when it is just mom and dad (she doesn't mind sharing with the baby, but no one else.)

I love the baby care centers too. Too bad there is only one in each park and you always seem to be way across it when the need arises.

Baby PhD has taken to bitting me when she doesn't want to nurse. If it is my idea to feed her we need to be in a completly quiet boring place. If it is here idea she can nurse anywhere (in line standing up, on a monorial etc...) So we did better with on demand feeding this trip. She also did great with baby food. She really wanted to eat when the rest of the people did. The biggest problem is when she grabbed a whole jar of peas out of my hands and onto the floor at Crystal Palace.

Wednesday March 2nd, our friends last full day.

Today is MGM day, there really needs to be more for the under 8 crowd there, but there is a few not to be missed things so off we go. Love taking the boat, don’t even need to fold the stroller. We get there and plan to do Playhouse Disney or Little Mermaid 1st and then go right into the other one. Well Little Mermaid is about to start so we opt for that 1st. Good show, everyone likes it, then right out to Play house, it is 10:05 and the show is suppose to start at 10:00. The doors are closed and the next one doesn’t start until 10:40 so we head over to staring Rolls for coffee and chocolate croissants . YUM! We also grab a fast pass so DN and I can ride Rocking Roller coaster. (she isn’t so sure, she has a history of being afraid of roller coasters, but she has been doing so good here, why not?) Back to Play house Disney, except right as we get in line our friends son decided he really doesn’t want to do the show and they opt out. The line is long and slow. The show doesn’t really end up staring until 11:00, what was the deal with the other one closing the doors at 10:05. Oh well, it does appear we don’t have the best timing on this trip. When we get out we head DN and I head back to RR and hubby and kids to the play set. DN isn’t so sure, but when the 3rd grader in line behind us insists it is fun she starts to feel better. Long story short she loved it and it official, we have converted the kid to a full fledged coaster junky. We meet up with friend and hubby at the play set. They went to Muppets and loved it (Little PhD has developed a Muppet fear and won’t go anymore!)


After lunch at Pizza Planet my friend decided they need to hit DTD before they leave (they have a buy one get one free coupon they want to use at Ghirardelli Ice Cream Shop). You can get one too here if you sign up and say you live with in 50 miles of a ice cream place.
http://ghirardelli.com/ :slurp:

Don’t do it until the month you leave, or it will expire. DN and I head into Muppets while hubby head off to the Beauty and the Beast show. Little PhD has never seen it since it seems to be only running in the afternoon and we always leave MGM then. After Muppets we book across the park, but the show had started so they wouldn’t let us in. Little PhD loved it and wanted to see it again so we did before we left. Back to the resort, we have PS at CRT tonight and I want to force Little PhD into another nap. Live is much better for everyone after she naps.

It was so beautiful out, sunny and around 68, just lovely. I packed up the baby and headed over to Boardwalk. It takes me so long to get anywhere with her because we get stopped so much for people to admire here. Talked with a CM over at Boardwalk who was from Hong Kong, there was tons of them all around WDW.

Back to MK for dinner at the castle. Tonight is Extra Magic hours at MK. The park closes at 7:00, but EMH is until 10:00. We got there around 6:20 and our PS was for 6:45. The biometrics were not working well and there was a huge back up getting into the parks. I got through and then the CM asked to allow some other couple though the turn style we were waiting at, leaving hubby and the kids behind. The women who’s ticket was not working started throwing a fit about it and causing a fuss. I tried being sympathic, and asking her to please let the rest of my family in so we could go but she kept going on and on. Finally we all got in and headed to the castle. We couldn’t get anywhere near it and finally explained to a CM that we had 6:45 PS and he sent us back around to the front where the CM let us through the ropes. It was empty under the castle and we got some great pictures of the murals. We got our seat for 10 (2 tables right near each other facing the windows, but at the back of the restaurant. The CM said there was no way of getting us near the windows to see Wishes, that the people sitting there has been there for 3 hours or so and are not moving. Mary Poppins was in the lobby, but Little PhD was being shy so she wouldn’t see her, (even though she LOVES Mary Poppins.) When we got upstairs Cindy was going down to the lobby, but once again Little PhD wouldn’t see her. :goodnevil

Wishes started, but we couldn’t see much, it is so high in the sky now. They did let the little kids run to the windows for the finally, but Little PhD was in the bathroom at that time. Our meal was good. We got some pretzel bread that was wonderful. They no longer have the pats of butter in the shape of the carriage or the Mickey’s, but tangy mustard butter in a dish. I got the prime rib and it was good. Our waiter even spilt the bill for the 2 tables and used the DDE on both. We did have to explain to him again what program he had, not the MYW meal plan but DDE. This happened a few times this trip. No dessert even though I wanted it, we had a park to explore and the kids wanted to move. FL was busy when we got out so we just headed over to TL. There wasn’t a long wait for Buzz so we did that and took some pictures with Buzz and a few other characters. Our friends then left to go back to the resort and pack, (the father went to DQ we later found out.) We rode the tomorrow land speedway (I sat out with the baby) and then went back to FL that had cleared out. We did a few things there and decided that DN needed to ride Thunder Mountain. It was 9:55 by this time so we ran across the park and got in just in time. DN loved it. We hung out on MS and waited for the kiss goodnight. We bought a few T-Shirts and such. Not much of a line for the bus and I got a seat, holding both sleeping children in my arms, trying not to let their head knock.

TMW is our last full day, and our friends head home. The weather is not predicted to be good. Oh well, still better then the 5 inches of snow at home and high of 30 degrees.

More as I write it..........................

On two of my previous visits to MK I have eaten the clam chowder from the Harbour house and became very ill. I first time, I thought I must be getting a stomach virus. The next year, I knew it couldn't happen twice. I love clam chowder, but will avoid it on future WDW trips. Oh, and I don't have any known food allergies.

Great trip report, thanks for posting.

Gucci65 said:

On two of my previous visits to MK I have eaten the clam chowder from the Harbour house and became very ill. I first time, I thought I must be getting a stomach virus. The next year, I knew it couldn't happen twice. I love clam chowder, but will avoid it on future WDW trips. Oh, and I don't have any known food allergies.

Great trip report, thanks for posting.

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We love CHH, but I wish we hadn't ate there that time. DN said it tasted good, but she sure was sick. The funny thing is I told her she couldn't get the cowder, I thought she was allergic to it, but she reminded me that they got her tested and it said she wasn't to clams. So I let her. She should of listened to me. :brick: I had the fish and it was good. No more clam cowder for any of us at CHH any more. Better safe then sorry. The CMs were very good about helping us. I was even suprized that 1st aid just gave us the pills and some extra just in case. They make you pay for everything at WDW! :sohappy:

Great trip report, thanks!!

Thursday, rain again and cold this time. The rain should start at 3:00 pm

Breakfast at Cap May Café with the group before they leave. The food is good (great) and the characters are great with the kids. Dale holds baby PhD some and she was really cute. The kids had a great time playing together. Little PhD is going to miss her friend, she always has such a good time with him. Head back to their room and take a bunch of water and food they didn’t use. We got the cutest pictures of the babies together on the bed. We had such a good time with our friends; they are great to travel with, even if they do think we are rather nuts in our love for WDW. (They like it, just don’t live for it like us!)

We say goodbye to our friends and head over to MK. :kiss: Low crowds again, this time Little PhD gets to call the shots, so I am hoping for more pleasant moods. We see prince John from Robin Hood on MS. Little PhD still wouldn’t see him, but I don’t blame her for that! Over to TL and little PhD is still being difficult about ride choices. We head over the bathroom and it starts to rain, so we put the cover on the stroller and go on TTA, twice. After that over DN and I ride SM with fast pass while hubby takes DD to FL. We rode the Steam boat and then DH and DN did SM in the rain. It wasn’t letting up (the rain started around 11:00 not the 3:00 they said) so we took the train around to the front and said goodbye to MK. We did a lot of MK in the rain this trip. It meant low lines, but not as much fun for pictures. Oh well, it is trade off. Back to the room we were all resting this trip. In fact both Little PhD and baby feel asleep so I decided we were going out to dinner. DN was happy to stay in the room with them. We headed out to the lobby thinking we eat at the resort and then back to the room to check on them. I stopped at the consiers desk and asked if we could get in Yachtsman steakhouse for dinner. The CM said no it was full. I explained my situation (have a sitter, kids asleep need a quiet good meal) and he made a phone call and got us in. When we got there I realized I made a mistake. I was thinking of the Yacht club Galley. The other restaurant closer to the Yacht club lobby. It is never busy and the food is around $18 a meal, not 30 a person. Oh well, thanks goodness for DDE. I had a very good steak, hubby had scallops. The meal was good. We skipped dessert and got a Sundae at Beaches and Cream and took it back to the room for the kids. They were awake and playing and very happy to see the Sundae. Well after everyone was so awake and ready to go I decieded lets head out to Epcot and see the fireworks. I should of just stayed in the room. I hadn’t realized how hard it was raining and it had gotten cold. We walked to Japan in the rain and then ditched the stroller in a covered place and went up above to see Illuminations. We should of done that the other day. Epcot was open late tonight, but I had enough of the rain. The baby was bundled up well (in her car seat cozy in the stroller, under the rain cover.) We were all pretty wet so we went back and packed and rested. This was one of 2 nights that Little PhD wasn’t asleep when we got back to the room. :snore:

That night baby woke up with a cough. We kept her in bed with us. I was getting concerned and feeling guilty. I shouldn’t of taken her out in the cold last night. Bad mom award! (My friend and I had a running joke award about that this trip!) :lookaroun

Friday, March 4th, out last day.

We leave today, but not until almost 8:00, so we are going to enjoy it. Lucky for us the rain was gone and it was sunny and getting close to warm. We had way too much junk with us because we forget to check a few things with our luggage, but we were just going to Epcot so we just kept it under the stroller. Our sprits were all as bright as the sunshine. We took a ton of pictures in Epcot at England with no one around. (DN loves England, a bit of a Harry Potter fan I must admit, she was trilled to see they carried some of the books there.) We did Journey Into Imagination and DD liked figment. We enjoyed the playground and jumping water after. After a quick trip into Ice Cool Station for some smart watermelon we headed over and got Fast passed for Test Track. DH and DN rode Mission Space, and then DN and I rode once again. (she loved it) Then the DH and DN rode TT (I didn’t need to this trip.) I got DD a Mickey Ice cream instead and people watched. It was getting so sunny and warm we headed over to Mexico for lunch outside and then a quick walk around WS. Since it ws so nice and we didn’t have as much time in SAB this trip as we might of liked we headed back to the BC for a one last swim. We had over an hour in the pool before we changed and went for one last meal at Beaches and Cream. It wasn’t busy but the cast member said it would be 10 to 15 min for a table. We told her we had an hour before we had to leave for the airport and she wasn’t very helpful saying, you can get it take out. I went in for take up, and it was a long line and I saw a number of open tables and the entire bar open. I went back and asked the same CM if I could sit at the bar, and she said “I guess so.” She wasn’t exactly oozing with pixie dust, but I got our seat and the same waitress we have had at Beaches and Cream for the past 6 years or so waited on us, Darlene. :slurp: She was of course great and we got our food and bill right away.

Quicksilver was there at 5:30 when we got to the lobby and our luggage was ready. However the our car seat was missing so I had to go back and find it. (they had the one for Little PhD we requested.) The ride back to MCO was fast and they driver dropped us right at the Spirit check in. The sky cab guy helped us grab our luggage, he didn’t even mind when we were grabbing things like clothes we didn’t need anymore and stuffing where we could in the luggage. He then took our ID and checked us in (skipping the long line) At the front I saw a women who I knew from back in Detroit. In fact I was her daughter pre-school teacher 10 years ago! I knew she worked there because I ran into her 2 years ago at the airport! Talk about small world! I loved the Sky Cab man, I wanted to kiss him. :kiss: It was so much easier then the mongo line back at Detroit Metro Airport and having to get a stranger to push the stroller we had so much luggage! Why have we never used them before? I am always using them again. Sooooooooo worth the tip! Then at the inspections a lady waved us over to a shorter line and checked everything. I felt like I had VIP on my for head, everyone was so nice to us! While waiting for the airplane my hubby saw a student of his with her family. We may have not been able to ride Small World, but we had an small world experience that is for sure. :lol:

I was worried about the babies ears on the plane, but she was fine. There was a baby in front of us that yelled for the 1st hour of the flight, and that kept her up, but she was very good and feel asleep (Little PhD fell asleep before we took off and didn’t wake until we landed!) :snore:

Back in Detroit things weren’t so great, but sometimes it is hard to go home. We ended up at the after hours children clinic at the hospital on Sunday, Baby has a double ear infection. Her 1st one ever. Then back to the Dr. on Monday, a touch of the RSV virus on top of everything. She is doing much better now.

Here is the catcher, since we got a good post card rate, good airfare (with a voucher discount) and can stay at Vero Beach for only 10 points a night we are heading back in 8 weeks. Just the family this time. Now that we are home little PhD is going on and on about how we are going to WDW soon and gets to ride small world. The funny thing was she wasn’t this excited about the trip we just took. Mostly she had fun playing with her friend. Something she does all the time anyway. I hope when we are able to focus on the family more Little PhD will be more enjoyable to be around like she was in past trips. (And normally is.) :lookaroun

I think we may be nuts, but I am looking forward to it. I know my family thinks we are crazy. Maybe they are a little jealous, but with AP, great airfare and rates (even a good one on the rental car) who could pass this up? We will only have 4 days in the parks (5 if we go for a short while the day we leave) and the rest at VB, but we are all excited about it. It is funny how excited about it Little PhD is. She is more excited about it then she was about this whole trip we just took. I must admit it was easier to leave knowing we were coming back so soon. Also I did not go overboard with souvenirs since I knew we were coming back.

My friend forgot to use her Disney Visa points on the trip, 400 of them. I told her I would write her a check for them and use them on our room next trip. We were able to buy our AP with our points (mine and DH, had to pay for Little PhD’s). A word about her pass. We got her an AP also. We were never asked for it. In fact a number of times we forgot about it and then a few we went with out just to see what would happen (not like we were getting her in for free since we already paid for it.) We were never stopped or even got a second glance for her. It seems that if they are in stroller they don’t really expect a pass. So I think we paid 250 or so for a child’s AP we didn’t really need, but it was the right thing to do.

Thanks so much for reading. It was a good trip, just so much work being a large group and all. I never really felt relaxed. I think I should of got a message, that might of helped! Oh well next time. :sohappy:

I just remembered something. The store at BC was closed while we were there. They moved it next door into the very small spot the kids club used to be. It held just the bear essentials and BC souvenirs. It was rather disappointing; I never realized how much shopping I did at the resort gift shop, so much easier then when at the parks or DTD.

I asked when the new store was supposed to open, she said in 2 weeks, so if you are going mid March you will be in better luck then us.

They are adding more food to the store, a place where you can refill your mugs and get pop along with fresh sandwiches and breakfast food and snacks. I did use the store at BW and YC some, but both really are a long walk.

Great trip report. I hear you about the BC store being closed. It made it a little inconvenient when we were there in January. But we'll be back at the BCV in Dec. We are looking forward to the new store......

Nice trip report. I loved seeing WDW through my boy's eyes but now that they are 13 and 10; this last trip was even more enjoyable.

One word about babies and double strollers.

We had 2 babies on this trip. Mine that was 7 months old and my friends that was 6 months old.

People often ask how young would you take a child. 7 months seemed perfect for us. She was able to sit up in a high chair and other places (on the floor of the room on blanket etc…) unassisted and she had was still nursing (made feeding her much easier) but was also taking in some baby food. It was easy I just took a jar of baby food, a bib and a spoon with me in the cooler or bag. She did great. I also had some bitter biscuits that kept her busy while we ate. I made sure we didn’t try anything new on the trip so we had a bunch of food she could eat before we left. I didn’t worry about cereal, just used the jars. I had some rice to mix, but never did.

The baby had such a good time. She was very portable and easy to take on things. She was not moody at all. She loved everyone and everything (no stranger anxiety yet.) She loved the shows, the rides and all the attention she got from everyone. She almost never cried (except the middle of the night to eat, or maybe she was bored.)

My friend commented that her baby was unhappy the 1st few days home. Everyone else was tired and content to just be home and rest. Not the baby, he wanted to go out and see things, he was bored at home. I was worried for a minute that we spoiled them, however both seem to have adjusted to life at home well.

Now for the double stroller update. We had a Peg Prego Aria Twin got with this trip in mind. It is a side by side and it push and rolls very well and folds up nicely. It is as wide as a wheelchair so as long as that will fit it fits everywhere. We had no problems with it being too wide or getting it in doors. Once it did not fit on the monorail with out folding it up (it was not the HC car.) It held our stuff and kids well. We used some paper clips (the big binder kinds) to keep a blanket on the baby’s side. This kept her covered when she napped. The sun canopies aren’t any good on this stroller so that helped. Both sides recline so both girls were able to nap in it and were very comfortable. We liked the 3 point harness for the baby, but didn’t use it at all for the 3 year old. It folded nicely for the bus (with some stuff still in the basket and things hanging all off it. We brought a soft cooler bag and I got a new WDW bag to hang of the back. We got a rain cover for it and that really helped too.


Now for my friends. They had a new Graco Dueglider the front back with the car seat in it. Her baby was not sitting up well on his own and would only sleep in the car seat so they brought it with them, even on the bus. I thought it was going to be a major pain, but they did just fine. (they did have 3 adults and 2 kids so they had extra help). They were able to store enough under it and the kids were comfortable. The only problem was their older son could not nap in it and almost feel out of the front one night when he feel asleep! They considered putting him in the back and carrying the baby and the car set, but never did. The funny thing is they had given up the car seat at home, the baby was too big for it, but they used it everywhere on vacation. They were about to take it into restaurants and use it in there too.

So long and short of it, both strollers worked well for our needs. I was happy with mine, they were with theirs. Ours was much smaller and lighter, but her hubby didn’t complain much and it did stand well when folded.

We both used Baby Bjorn’s and that was great. The babies loved being able to see everything.

Great Report! As a soon to be first-time-mommy, I loved all the stroller/Baby Bjorn tips! Great Info! Thanks!