Trip Report Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Brrrrrrrrrr

It's time to report on our first mother-daughter trip to WDW!

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you take a 4 year old to Disney in early February in record-breaking cold… buckle up.

From 2/2–2/6, we somehow travel with both sunscreen and mittens. We flew out of Boston optimistically thinking things like, “It won’t feel that cold in Florida, right?” Reader: it did. There were puffy coats in the Most Magical Place on Earth. There were goosebumps in line for rides. There were moments when I questioned every life choice that led to me saying, “Let’s go in February!”

And yet.

There were also shrieks of joy. So. Many. Rides. The kind of fearless, hands-in-the-air, “Again! Again!” energy only a four-year-old can sustain on pure adrenaline and Mickey-shaped snacks. Nora conquered attractions like a tiny theme park warrior, equal parts princess and chaos gremlin.

Of course, no toddler-centric Disney trip is complete without the full emotional range of the human experience. We had magic. We had meltdowns. We had tears (some hers, some… undisclosed). We had triumphant parade dancing and dramatic collapses over the wrong color straw.

Here we go!!

 

[MickeyPretzelEnthusiast]

I was pretty nervous about ToT after Haunted Mansion was a firm no from Nora, but she insisted and IS an adrenaline junkie after all.

Let's do this!

Nora was super nervous leading up to our entry into our elevator.

Hard to tell below, but she loved it!!

She told me she didn't like the video or the scary parts beforehand, but LOVED the "jumpies" lol

Our row mates were excited to see how Nora liked it and were so proud of her. Same here!

It was really warming up, so we decided to head out to get in our pool time.

Note: with all the fun I've been sharing, do NOT forget that I was still traveling with a sassy 4 year old

We made our way back to the room to change quickly and head to the pool.

Nora loves this wall, she is SO my child lol

We took a quick dip but almost immediately Nora remembered the splash pad so we headed over that direction.

She had SO much fun. She played while I soaked up the sun for over an hour and made yet another vacation friend.

It was pretty hard to pull her away but food and reminders of our Slinky LL helped move us along!

 

[MickeyPretzelEnthusiast]

She thought she was something else wearing mama's hat.

I mobile ordered us a kid's tender meal to share and we sat by Goofy to enjoy it (knowing this warmth and sunshine wouldn't last!)

We showered up and changed before heading back out to return to HS.

And it was FINALLYYYYY time for SDD. Nora was losing it with how excited she was.

Thank goodness there is a lap bar because she was bouncing out of the seat ready to go!

Oh man. Her giggles and screams of excitement will live with me forever. Truly so so magical.

Naturally, as a child who doesn't understand lines, she yelled AGAIN AGAIN. I told her more fun was to be had so we had to move on!

We grabbed a couple of pictures along the way

 

[MickeyPretzelEnthusiast]

Up next: LL for MMRR!

Nora couldn't believe how big Goofy's handprint was.

We sped through the LL line and were on and off in no time. We are both big fans of this ride and were pumped we were able to do it twice in one day.

Next, Nora requested Beauty and the Beast. yes please!!

Unfortunately, about two minutes into the opening number the music cut off and the cast gracefully left the stage. I believe someone in the audience was having a medical emergency and the show was cancelled. Nora was pretty devastated. It is hard to explain something like that to her, but I did my best.

We decided to make our way to the Villains show and I told her it would be fun as well!

We had about 5 minutes before the show started so the timing did work out well!

Malificient was our winner. Nora was a little meh about the show. I think it spooked her a bit.

We saw that Aliens had a short wait and decided we needed to ride it again! Off to Toy Story Land!

We had a little bit of time after this before our dinner reservation, so I gave Nora the limited options of what we could do.

Which led me to riding something I hadn't been on in years.

Yes, Star Tours.

She LOVED it. She would've gone again and again if not for that dinner reservation calling our name!

 

[MickeyPretzelEnthusiast]

We were headed to Sci Fi! I really just chose it as a guaranteed way that Nora would be entertained and I could actually just eat a meal in relative peace lol

We only waited maybe 10 minutes after checking in before we were seated.

We were in the back row of the vehicle which made it easy to take a selfie without any immediately appearing photo bombers.

I got the Oreo milkshake as my drink and it was sooooo good.

I wasn't in a burger mood so I got the steak and it was also quite tasty!

No photo of Nora's meal because she didn't eat any of it. Like... truly maybe a bite of a french fry. I had to convince myself not to die on this hill of motherhood because it wasn't worth it and just let it go. I had snacks back in the room if she really got hungry. Why is the issue of toddlers and eating so triggering?! I want to give her autonomy but also not starve but also not cause body/eating issue and also EVERYTHING.

Anyways.... LOL

After dinner we headed out of the park. I was a little bummed to be missing Fantasmic, but it just was too late with how early we planned to get up the next day.

I did get two cupcakes to go from dinner and we enjoyed those before hitting the hay.

This was SUCH a great day, made even better by sunshine. We wouldn't be as lucky the next day so stay tuned...

 

[k8einwdw]

Why is the issue of toddlers and eating so triggering?! I want to give her autonomy but also not starve but also not cause body/eating issue and also EVERYTHING.

Solidarity, sister

 

[erstwo]

Love this day! Thanks so much for sharing your trip - Such joy!
Did someone find your Boston hat? Or was this a back up??
I raised my children exactly the same. One eats 3 solid meals a day. One exists on air. . Not exactly, but she WAS and is (to an extent) a super picky eater - somehow she survived to adulthood and she is thriving. I’ll never know how…….but just to encourage you - it’s not just your child!

 

[MickeyPretzelEnthusiast]

Solidarity, sister

Love this day! Thanks so much for sharing your trip - Such joy!
Did someone find your Boston hat? Or was this a back up??
I raised my children exactly the same. One eats 3 solid meals a day. One exists on air. . Not exactly, but she WAS and is (to an extent) a super picky eater - somehow she survived to adulthood and she is thriving. I’ll never know how…….but just to encourage you - it’s not just your child!

not the missing hat
I should be clear... I brought THREE (!) Red Sox hats, but the black was my favorite!

I did immediately buy a new one to replace it when I got home

 

[MickeyPretzelEnthusiast]

Epcot day!

This quick trip really was flying by

We woke up to pouring rain, and while I had expected it I was still bummed.

We started the day with the usual dad and Ella FT call.

And then bundled up for a wet adventure.

I had a rain stroller cover that helped out quite a bit.

We made it over to wait for the Skyliner and the rain lightened up just a bit.

The wait wasn't too bad on this morning (probably due to the weather), and before long we were arriving at our destination.

Our plan: RD Remy's! Nora was SO bummed that Frozen was under refurbishment for the animatronic updates, but I kept her plenty busy without it.

We queued up and waited about 15 minutes for early entry to officially begin.

Which is promptly when Nora insisted that she had to go potty.

I told her that we certainly could, but that likely meant we wouldn't be riding Remy today. She decided she could hold it lol

Once the line started moving it took no time at all. This was our first time riding in 2D.

We were both fans of going sans glasses!

We dashed to the bathrooms directly after exiting.... where my child screamed and cried at me insisting she didn't have to go and threw herself fully onto the disgusting bathroom floor

I truly couldn't even get her to use the bathroom. I ended up carrying her screaming crying out of there and forcing her into her stroller so I could start walking and collect myself (and breathe out my embarrassment). I was texting Ian while I was walking because I was so frustrated with her and again very embarrassed and also feeling like a horrible mum for getting my buttons pushed so badly. He reminded me that I am traveling solo at the most overstimulating place on earth with a 4 year old. It was never going to be perfect and without meltdowns.

After walking in silence for about 5 minutes, I pulled the stroller aside and knelt down next to Nora to have a chat. Turns out, she is deathly afraid of the Disney toilets. The automatic flush was giving her majority anxiety and upsetting her. Completely understandable, and hard to communicate in the moment when you are so little.

We made up (she told me I was her best friend again lol) and headed to Figment per her request.

As expected, we walked right on.

 

[MickeyPretzelEnthusiast]

Hi Figment!

I think we were the only park goers in the entire building, which worked out well for us to get some great pictures after!

Nora's next request was Soarin'

It would be her first time being tall enough for it!

We waited maybe 20 minutes or so before we took flight.

No pictures because I was just truly taking in her reaction and she LOVED it so much.

It did dull her excitement for riding LwtL after though

My little adrenaline junkie was a good sport though!

After we exited our boat it was time to head to Nora's most anticipated part of the day, her princess breakfast at Akershus, a first for both of us!

Quick lamp pic on our way through.

 

[MickeyPretzelEnthusiast]

Nora had just watched Coco, so loved to see this!

I knew we really were best friends again because she was excited to take some pictures with me.

Nora immediately remembered that "Donald's boat" was inside here, so made me promise she could ride after breakfast. Deal!

We parked our stroller and checked in and almost immediately received our text that our table was ready.

We had a pretty small two top but it was plenty of room for all of our food and beverage options.

As we were on the meal plan, I opted for an adult breakfast beverage. I was still recovering from the Great Bathroom Meltdown of 2026.

We received our fruit and pastry/cheese/etc. platters pretty quickly and Nora LOVED everything on them.

Then came out our breakfast platter.

I have to say, I thought everything here was fantastic! We have been to many character meals (family style and buffet alike) and this food either just really hit the spot on this day or was truly that good! Nora is a PICKY eater and ate the most at this meal of the whole trip.

 

[MickeyPretzelEnthusiast]

Okay y'all, this post is mostly just princess fun so - enjoy a mostly photo post!

We actually mostly finished eating before the princesses made their rounds which worked out well.

Nora truly was losing her mind with ants in her pants waiting for each one to come by!

First up was Belle.

Nora told her that she thought her dress was soooooo beautiful.

Followed quickly by Ariel, who Nora couldn't believe had her legs instead of her fin lol

A CM offered to take our photo all together which was very kind.

Cinderella made her way to our table after that.

Nora was so excited about Tiana and told her how sad she was that she couldn't go on her ride at MK.

Snow White was a bit derailed by some.... interesting groups of people lol

So, our server brought Nora a cupcake as a distraction!

Finally, post cupcake, our final princess made her way and Nora Bea was one happy little girl!

I am SO glad we were able to do this and will be a special memory for both of us always. I will absolutely be coming back with both girls and Ian some day!!

 

[riverside]

Turns out, she is deathly afraid of the Disney toilets. The automatic flush was giving her majority anxiety and upsetting her.

One of my nieces had the same issue when she was about Nora’s age. She was absolutely terrified of the toilets.
And it sounds like you handled the situation as best as you could. Don’t be so hard on yourself!!

 

[RememberWhen]

Those toilets are aggressive! We bring post it notes to cover the sensor, even for my 8year old. Helps a LOT.

 

[cgersic]

Good heavens, the princess photos are just priceless!!! Her smile is so big her little face can hardly contain it!

 

[mpaulam]

I taught 1st grade and we had a student who was deathly afraid of the self-flushing toilets in our new school. Post it notes did the trick!

 

[Tiggertoo56]

Coming from the UK those self flushing toilets (and the noise) are a shock to the system. After numerous visits over the past 20 years it still takes me time to acclimatise!

 

[Minnie1986]

After a rough evening of night terrors, I was a bit slow going on this day, but I was excited about HS and the warmer weather in the forecast!

We got ready and Facetimed Ella and Ian before we headed out.

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We made our way to the Skyliner and I was glad I dressed Nora in sweats because that promised warmer weather hadn't hit just yet.

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We didn't end up too far back to wait and before long we were boarding our gondola.

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Happy gals in flight!

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Nora talked non stop on the ride about how excited she was to ride Slinky Dog Dash. Luckily I had secured a LL for it, but it wasn't until 4 PM. I had to do lots of expectation setting on this trip

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We decided to RD MMRR so headed right there upon Early Entry.

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That picture of Ella is adorable

 

[Minnie1986]

One of my nieces had the same issue when she was about Nora’s age. She was absolutely terrified of the toilets.
And it sounds like you handled the situation as best as you could. Don’t be so hard on yourself!!

Same with my youngest niece! Those automatic toilets scared the daylights out of her when she was around 4, and she FREAKED out after encountering one on an auntie/nieces day out. @MickeyPretzelEnthusiast , you handled that like a champ, and I hope the subsequent drink was as good as it looked!

 

[MickeyPretzelEnthusiast]

One of my nieces had the same issue when she was about Nora’s age. She was absolutely terrified of the toilets.
And it sounds like you handled the situation as best as you could. Don’t be so hard on yourself!!

Thank you!!

Those toilets are aggressive! We bring post it notes to cover the sensor, even for my 8year old. Helps a LOT.

I like the Post It idea a lot actually!!

Good heavens, the princess photos are just priceless!!! Her smile is so big her little face can hardly contain it!

That was my thought, her smile was like it was bursting off her face!!

I taught 1st grade and we had a student who was deathly afraid of the self-flushing toilets in our new school. Post it notes did the trick!

Oh boy.. this is making me wonder if our elementary school has self flushing toilets too, because her preschool does not!

Coming from the UK those self flushing toilets (and the noise) are a shock to the system. After numerous visits over the past 20 years it still takes me time to acclimatise!

same!!

Same with my youngest niece! Those automatic toilets scared the daylights out of her when she was around 4, and she FREAKED out after encountering one on an auntie/nieces day out. @MickeyPretzelEnthusiast , you handled that like a champ, and I hope the subsequent drink was as good as it looked!

It was much needed AND delicious!!

 

[MickeyPretzelEnthusiast]

After Nora's "best breakfast ever", I had to make good on my promise to visit with Donald so we headed to Mexico.

I was extra happy about this choice because it was COLD outside.

We waited just 5-10 minutes (lots of folks escaping the cold at this point) before we boarded our boat.

Big smiles from my girl after this one as usual.

I grabbed a LL for Nemo next as I really really do not like waiting in this line, so we headed that way!

We finished the ride and Nora said "that's it?"

Sorry little adrenaline junkie, yes that is it

Let's hop in the mouth of a shark instead!

Despite the cold temps, we decided to walk through Journey of Water next. Nora loved it!

and got appropriately soaked, naturally.

She did NOT want to leave, but I had something lined up that she would be psyched about.