Trip Report Can we do it again?!- My nephew's first trip

I'm happy to say, I'm back! I just got back from a trip with my 9 year old nephew, his first trip!

Where?- All-Star Sports
When- July 14-17
Who- Me (Katie) and my nephew T

This trip came about pretty quickly when the Disney+ discount dropped for the summer. I already had a solo trip booked and paid for, so could I swing ANOTHER trip less than 2 months later? I went back and forth (for about an hour ) time was of the essence! My friend had just booked a trip with her son who just turned 10 and it made me think of my nephews. I really wanted them to experience Disney as a kid, and now I had limited time because the oldest was already 9! So, I paid the deposit and then talked to my sister. After some thought, they gave it the green light and the countdown was on! This trip would be with the oldest nephew, T, and next summer I would take his younger brother. 2 DISNEY COUNTDOWNS JUST MONTHS APART?! I could hardly contain my excitement! My nephew was excited but not as excited as me!

Here is T!

 

[KappleB2]

Day 1- We're going to Disney World!

T spent the night and we got the car all packed up so we were ready to leave at zero dark thirty the next day. I had a decent sleep and was up dark and early ready to go. We pulled out at about 4:15am and breezed right on through Atlanta. T slept most of the drive. We stopped at Buccee's for gas and snacks. It was his first Buccee's trip!

We made GREAT time and for a first long car ride, T did FANTASTIC! He was so excited to be in Florida!

So close, but still so far.

We made it to Disney property shortly after 2. Here he is going under the sign!! Oh, yeah, forgot to mention I become the paparazzi on this trip.

Our room wasn't ready yet, so we changed our shoes, applied the sunscreen, and got ready to go. Just as we closed up the car and started to walk, I got the room ready text!! So we took our things to the room first.

We were in the center court section on the ground floor. I hadn't stayed in an All Star resort since these pull down beds had been put in, but it was pretty cool! And he got a whole big bed to himself! So exciting!

Dropped our things and headed to the bus stop!

Stopped by to get his First Visit button first!

 

[KappleB2]

Arrival day cont.-

Knowing we had limited time, I went back and forth on where to. I knew we would go to Magic Kingdom and then it became clear it had to be Hollywood Studios due to the Star Wars stuff. As we got closer I caved and bought another day ticket! He needed to see EPCOT! Whatever we could get in. So, off we go!

His first bus trip was all to ourselves!

As we walked up, he was in awe.

The wind was starting to kick up, so we decided waiting in line for Guardians was a good first stop. We didn't make it before to downpour came. It happened so fast there wasn't even time to get out the ponchos. But he took it like a champ!

5 minutes in and soaked!

I was hesitant to make a really long line his very first line. He had some trouble waiting but I'm sure he was overwhelmed with the day. Luckily, he LOVED the ride. Like, he asked to go again before we even got off!! This became a trend. He loved everything, and I had to give a little push to go on something new instead of doing that one again! This happened over and over.

We did not wait in that line again. Instead, we walked over to The Land pavilion because we had dinner reservations!

Stopped by to see Walt.

We had time to walk on to Living with the Land before dinner. This was one of the reasons I wanted to come to EPCOT. I knew he would enjoy things like this. He really liked reading the signs of vegetables he had never heard of! It was a great ride!

Next up: We meet Mickey Mouse!

 

[KappleB2]

Arrival Evening-

I knew we had a time shortage this day, but I also knew I wanted to do a character meal, and Garden Grill seemed to have the best food/character combo. When he saw Chip and Dale were there, this became a must do! I checked in on the app and waited about 10min past our reservation time.

This restaurant in so cool! It rotates faster than I thought it would. I liked the Mickey head made by the plates.
Here, T is talking to his parents, telling them about Guardians.

We were joined by characters pretty quickly! T insisted on bringing his tablet to take pictures and I told him that was ok, as long as he carried it. That didn't last long. But he did take some cute selfies. His arms are too short and the characters heads are too big to really get both of them in there!! He was also very polite and asked all of them if it was ok to take their pic.

The food came out and T tried all of it. Especially after the long day, I was impressed. We particularly liked the mac and cheese with Mickey goldfish on top!

And me, cheesin because I can't believe I am really here with T and Mickey Mouse! Showing him my happy place!

Then Pluto came by!

T LOVED the cupcake he got. I looked like a plant in a pot!

I enjoyed the strawberry shortcake.

Had to get in one more hug. (I'm not crying, you are!)

We were stuffed! It was a great meal, one I will probably do again.
Since we were in the building, we went on to Soarin'. He was a tad nervous as I explained it, but once were up and flying he did great!
"Can we do it again?!"

We had more to see!

 

[luvinthemajik]

Arrival Evening-

I knew we had a time shortage this day, but I also knew I wanted to do a character meal, and Garden Grill seemed to have the best food/character combo. When he saw Chip and Dale were there, this became a must do! I checked in on the app and waited about 10min past our reservation time.

This restaurant in so cool! It rotates faster than I thought it would. I liked the Mickey head made by the plates.
Here, T is talking to his parents, telling them about Guardians.
View attachment 872010

We were joined by characters pretty quickly! T insisted on bringing his tablet to take pictures and I told him that was ok, as long as he carried it. That didn't last long. But he did take some cute selfies. His arms are too short and the characters heads are too big to really get both of them in there!! He was also very polite and asked all of them if it was ok to take their pic.

View attachment 872011View attachment 872012

The food came out and T tried all of it. Especially after the long day, I was impressed. We particularly liked the mac and cheese with Mickey goldfish on top!


View attachment 872013

And me, cheesin because I can't believe I am really here with T and Mickey Mouse! Showing him my happy place!

View attachment 872014

Then Pluto came by!
View attachment 872015

T LOVED the cupcake he got. I looked like a plant in a pot!View attachment 872016

I enjoyed the strawberry shortcake. View attachment 872017

Had to get in one more hug. (I'm not crying, you are!)

View attachment 872018

We were stuffed! It was a great meal, one I will probably do again.
Since we were in the building, we went on to Soarin'. He was a tad nervous as I explained it, but once were up and flying he did great!
"Can we do it again?!"

We had more to see!

Aaawww, I hope you both have an amazing time together making wonderful memories and sharing this special place.

 

[cgersic]

Oh my goodness, what a wonderful auntie you are! It's my dream to be able to do this with my nieces and nephews The smile on both of your faces is just priceless!

 

[Wicked Sisters]

His smile says it all. Have a fabulous trip and I am sure it’s one he will never forget.

 

[Dave B]

I can't wait to hear the rest, you are a great Auntie!!!!!

 

[KappleB2]

Oh my goodness, what a wonderful auntie you are! It's my dream to be able to do this with my nieces and nephews The smile on both of your faces is just priceless!

A dream come true for me too!

 

[KappleB2]

Arrival evening-

Short on time, we made our way back to Remy hoping the line didn't look as long as posted. We were hoping it wasn't too long to miss all of the fireworks but it was. T decided he would like to ride and not worry about the fireworks, so we got in line!

Loving the cool glasses!

He thought it was so fun and noticed all the littles details. We slowly walked out as deluxe guests had extra hours, so we weren't rushed.

Got me in motion!

Picked up a hat and walked out to the bus. I didn't realize how late it was! The All Star Resorts had combined on one bus and we were happy to be back. At this point I had been awake since 3:45am. Set our alarm with the Hey Disney machine thing and fell asleep very quickly. Magic Kingdom tomorrow!!

 

[MinnieM123]

He thought it was so fun and noticed all the littles details. We slowly walked out as deluxe guests had extra hours, so we weren't rushed.

I wish I had an aunt like you, when I was his age! What a nice gesture to invite him to join you at WDW -- he looks so happy in all the photos. Makes me smile!

 

[cassidy]

I love your report and your nephew is such a cutie. How fun for you to see the parks through his eyes and all the excitement.

 

[mpaulam]

What a great first day!

 

[KappleB2]

Magic Kingdom Day!

I was most excited about our Magic Kingdom day. T didn't have any idea what he was getting into! We got up early and made it to MK before it opened. It wasn't long before we tapped in and were on our way!

My best friend designed his shirt, since all the ones I could find looked too young. He wanted to wear it everyday!

It was misty and foggy all day, which kept the temperature down but didn't give us any blue sky for pictures.
I kept my eyes on him as we went around the corner and the castle came into sight. His eyes got wide and he said "It's huge!"
.

I got a little teary, which isn't wholly unusual, but this time it was different.
The fog did make for a cool picture.

We tapped in went straight to 7 Dwarves Mine Train. I explained that the line looked REALLY long because the line hadn't opened yet, it was the line for the line. That didn't make sense until the line was open and we started walking. He got the hang of it.

Mine Train was a hit! "Can we do it again?!" I told him there was so much more to do!

Oh, yeah, this was today's forcast.

So we tried to do as much as we could outside when it wasn't storming. Next up, Barnstormer, which we rode all by ourselves and then Dumbo!

We had just a little drizzle, but we could handle that. He really loved being able to control going up and down.

From there we went on to Tomorrowland. It was still very foggy but very minimal crowds. First, it was Buzz. Again, the interactive aspect was a hit! And he loves Toy Story!

I schooled him on this one .

He had been talking about Space Mountain and it was up next! It made him a little nervous that we wouldn't sit next to each other. I told him I could sit behind him with my hands on his shoulders and that eased him a bit.

I am always surprised by things on this ride. A dip will surprise me, I scream, and then laugh at myself. I'm happy to say he did the same! It was so fun to hear that joy!

I've used up all my picture space! To be continued

 

[littleroo]

Loving this!! Your nephew is so adorable I always love seeing Disney through a first timers eyes especially children!

 

[KappleB2]

T was ready to drive, so we waited (longer than I would have alone) for Tomorrowland Speedway.
His foot just barely reached the gas pedal so there was a lot of stop and go on our ride! And then he would forget to steer! We laughed so hard.

We had already done all this, and it wasn't even 11 o'clock!

We decided to make our way over to Adventurland and Pirates!
I'll take a moment here to say, we hit the ground running this morning and he was going faster than me! The snacks in his bad didn't hurt. I did not always do a good job of doing all the rides in an area. I'm realizing now we criss crossed quite a bit.

On our way across the hub, we ran into the rainy day parade! A little thing that adds so much to a Disney day. We enjoyed seeing all those characters!

The line was a little long but we were there so we waited about 35 minutes. I didn't warn him about the drop, so that was fun. He likes the Pirates movies and Jack Sparrow.

He had money burning a hole in his pocket so we came out of there with a pirate sword.

Time for lunch at Columbia Harbor House. We got a seat upstairs so we could watch the LONG Haunted Mansion line. I assured him we would do it when the line wasn't as long.

We wanted to get in one more ride before heading out for a rest and decided on the Peoplemover! T especially enjoyed gong through the pitch black Space Mountain. He also got a better view of Tron and decided we would need to do that later.

The DJ in Tomorrowland was all alone so I danced around T while he rolled his eyes .

We didn't stop at many photopass photographers, but stopped to see a couple here. Both took better pictures on my phone.

Saw the Dapper Dans and stopped in the Main Street Confectionary on the way out. I LOVE those rice krispy treats with chocolate and M&Ms and T spent some more of his money on freeze dried Skittles.

The bus back was uneventful. We stopped to get some ice cream and then spent some time at the pool. The sun was out while at the pool and we didn't have any "tropical rainstorms" this morning! Maybe the weather would hold out!

My pictures reminded me about the GIANT bug we saw just outside our room! Maybe it's a grasshopper? This picture does not do it justice. it was a huge! We looked for it every time we were out there!

 

[cgersic]

Oh my gosh this is soooo much fun! I teared up at your storytelling when he saw the castle The bug is indeed a grasshopper and they are so nasty! They can destroy a garden in a matter of hours. They are so big I can't even kill them, and that's apparently what you are supposed to do.

 

[rshell68]

Lve his T-shirt!! (and yours!) This has been such a great journey so far. You are both having soooo much fun!