Trip Report 5 Adults vs 1 ten month old. Guess who won?!

Hi All!
Back from another stay at WDW and it was different for sure!
We had a new traveler with us and definitely did Disney differently for that reason and a few others.

I would like to give you guys a heads up before you read any further.
If you have read my trip report from last year you may be aware that my husband (Gary) is being treated for cancer and there are some references in here to how he is doing, because that changed a lot of how we toured this year.
If you are uncomfortable following along because not everything is pixie dust in this report, I will not in any way be offended if you click away. (I much prefer a sexy vampire book myself to a story that has moments of sadness)!
Luckily there were some great family/baby/children moments that brought us joy and new memories were made!

So with warning given and to those who are going to hang around, let's begin!

Our group consisted of myself, Cindy, my husband Gary, my son Seth, my daughter Aleisha our son-in-law Julio and our now 10 month old granddaughter Una. (And PS, she is a crazy girl)!!
We stayed at Bay Lake Oct. 21-27th.

Cast and crew (and one of my favorite pics of the whole trip).

To arrive at Disney everyone was coming from different places at different times. Gary and I headed down from Pittsburgh with an afternoon flight. We left around 2:15 pm and got in close to 4:40 pm-ish.
Us headed to the air side on our version of the monorail.

We had time to eat at Friday's (I think it was). Gary had some potato skins that he liked and I had a kids mac and cheese and french fries that I thought tasted pretty good.

In the meantime my little sleepy head was headed to Orlando from Sacramento with her mom. They started out at 6 am-ish, west coast time.

She did seem to perk up to her usual nosy self once they were on board!

One thing you will notice this trip is a disproportionate amount of baby pictures!

Seth headed down from Georgia, deciding to drive.

As crazy as it sounds, our 2 flights landed within 6 minutes of each other and we were able to meet Una and Aleisha as they got off of the monorail thing!
So excited to see this Mickey 50th wrap on one of the cars.

And Grandpap and Una's airport meet up!!

Julio wouldn't be arriving till the wee hours of Saturday am so we don't have any travel day pics of him.
Next up, is grabbing 800lbs of luggage and off to the Magic Bus!

 

[MickeyCB]

@MickeyCB , this pic is almost as adorable as Emy on JC, but, please forgive me, as I may be a bit biased…!!!!!

View attachment 598974

You are totally allowed your bias!!!

 

[donaldtoo]

You are totally allowed your bias!!!

Thanks, but, there is also no doubt that “Crazy Girl” is a cutie…hmmmmm… “Crazy girl”, the latest Marvel Superhero…!!!!!

 

[LeighM]

Following along! The baby pics are adorable. And I'm sorry to hear about your husband's cancer. I've lost most of my loved ones to cancer and I definitely have a hatred of the disease. I have used my share of foul language when discussing it. I'm glad that you all have pictures of the trip because they will be great for the grandkids one day. I only have a few pics of the trip my mom and grandparents took me one when I was 2 and none with my grandparents at all.

 

[MickeyCB]

Following along! The baby pics are adorable. And I'm sorry to hear about your husband's cancer. I've lost most of my loved ones to cancer and I definitely have a hatred of the disease. I have used my share of foul language when discussing it. I'm glad that you all have pictures of the trip because they will be great for the grandkids one day. I only have a few pics of the trip my mom and grandparents took me one when I was 2 and none with my grandparents at all.

Thank you for following.
There are no words for the devastation cancer (or any other life ending illness, heart/lung disease, diabetes, neuro and many others) causes the patients and family members. I'm sorry for your many losses.
It is definitely easier now to take and keep photos than back in the film days. I've worked hard to at least get copies from various family members who have some.
Our first trip was with my mother in maybe 1976 and I think 3 photos have survived. And another big problem in our family is my mother absolutely refuses to be photographed and with that in mind I've made the decision that while I don't always like my appearance I want to be in these photos 50 years from now.

 

[MickeyCB]

AK Day continues...

We left the Safari and headed towards Everest.
On the way I came across this Mickey that I love and have seen in so many peoples trip reports and I had Seth take my photo.

We came upon one of the wonderful spots where you can see the tree of life and did a "I'll take yours if you take mine" photo exchange with a nice group of girls.
Una has now segued from the crazy girl moniker (temporarily), to her Grandpa's- Grumpy pants.
J again is chill.

Then through a break in the foliage, I spy.....

Mickey!!! Yeah!!!

I appear to be the only one who cared. Everyone else just kept walking.
The gang went to ride Everest. I watched the babes and for the first time in forever, J wasn't happy. Apparently she's ok if she doesn't see her mom walk away. If she sees mom go, well the sobs are heart breaking. Luckily they weren't gone too long, because no amount of water bottles, cheerios or toys was cutting it.
Sweet soul!

I know the show is getting the stink eye on reports but we were able to watch a few of the kites fly, and crash, which we thought was great fun!

That look!!!

Una's laughing, look at those cheeks!

We decided it was time to head out of the park as our friends had to head home for a family birthday party, and we had a dining reservation to head to.

They picked these out as a souvenir for the day. But, the ceiling became very interesting for some reason.

 

[MegRuss626]

Little commentary on the philosophy of "taking your kids to Disney when they'll remember it". Every family will and should do what works best for them. Mine were 3 1/2 yrs each and what I thought was a fabulous age for enjoying/ functioning etc. They don't remember that, at all. (I barely do without the photos serving as reminders). But, I've got the pics and we had a blast at the time.
Una won't remember this the day after. But, she certainly responded to the many things she saw, and enjoyed so much. (And we enjoyed her reactions). It was a decision I will never regret.

A good friend of the family told me to do whatever we wanted when she’s “too young to remember”. Her reasoning - how often do we as adults remember every aspect of every trip we take no matter our age. Ryleigh doesn’t remember much from her 14 month trip but we show her pictures. Now her 3 year old trip….she CANNOT stop talking about it and it was a year ago!

 

[TheMouseFan]

And another big problem in our family is my mother absolutely refuses to be photographed and with that in mind I've made the decision that while I don't always like my appearance I want to be in these photos 50 years from now.

I love that you are making the effort to be in more pictures! We lost my MIL to breast cancer a few years ago and it was heart breaking for my husband and his twin that they did not have many pics of her with them when they were young. We had a few more where I had taken them of her with our kids, but still not nearly enough! We both are trying hard to be sure to take pics of each other more often!

 

[MickeyCB]

A good friend of the family told me to do whatever we wanted when she’s “too young to remember”. Her reasoning - how often do we as adults remember every aspect of every trip we take no matter our age. Ryleigh doesn’t remember much from her 14 month trip but we show her pictures. Now her 3 year old trip….she CANNOT stop talking about it and it was a year ago!

I agree totally. I admire people on here that seem to be able to recall so many details of their prior trips. And I honestly can't even remember which year we went on a lot of them, till we started to go with more regularity.
So when is Ryleigh's next trip?!

 

[MickeyCB]

I love that you are making the effort to be in more pictures! We lost my MIL to breast cancer a few years ago and it was heart breaking for my husband and his twin that they did not have many pics of her with them when they were young. We had a few more where I had taken them of her with our kids, but still not nearly enough! We both are trying hard to be sure to take pics of each other more often!

I'm sorry to hear about your MIL. And yes, memories fade but boy those photos help.
I've started to be less shy about asking people to take our pic.
I've learned if I see a family with one person trying to take a pic of the group, I offer to take all of them and they are both pleased and almost always reciprocate.
It's easy and I think it's neat to think about them at home with a group photo they didn't expect to have.
On our last day this trip I was getting ready to walk through the castle to head out and in front of the carousel was (I presume) a father holding a little boy trying to do a selfie. And I stopped and asked if he would like me to take their photo and he was so cute and thanked me probably 3 times for something that took me all of 20 seconds.
Some people aren't comfortable doing this since the pandemic and that is totally understandable.

 

[LeighM]

Thank you for following.
There are no words for the devastation cancer (or any other life ending illness, heart/lung disease, diabetes, neuro and many others) causes the patients and family members. I'm sorry for your many losses.
It is definitely easier now to take and keep photos than back in the film days. I've worked hard to at least get copies from various family members who have some.
Our first trip was with my mother in maybe 1976 and I think 3 photos have survived. And another big problem in our family is my mother absolutely refuses to be photographed and with that in mind I've made the decision that while I don't always like my appearance I want to be in these photos 50 years from now.

I wouldn't wish the illness on my worst enemy. And my Mom and Grandma were the same way with pictures - hated theirs taken. And I avoided cameras for about 15 years and there are no pictures of me with any of my family and now that they're all gone, I regret it and wish I had photos of us together. I'm always telling my friends to make sure they get in the family pictures because their children and grandchildren are never going to care what they look like. One of my favorite pictures is when an uncle or cousin took a picture of Mom and I together without us knowing. I was about 22 and there are no more after that and she died when I was 35. If do overs were possible, I would definitely get more pictures with loved ones! I'm sure your family will appreciate all of the pictures of yall one day!!

 

[RememberWhen]

Loving all the pictures! Can’t wait to see more of your sweet little one and the rest of you too!

 

[cgersic]

I'm here too!!! You are off to such a fun start! Your little one is going to be a handful for sure. A couple of those photos seriously had me laughing I'm so sorry to hear about Gary too but very happy you all are making these memories together

 

[Zipadeelady]

I couldn't miss a report from @MickeyCB if I wanted too. I'm in.

 

[amjt660]

Great start
Following along


Max

 

[MickeyCB]

I wouldn't wish the illness on my worst enemy. And my Mom and Grandma were the same way with pictures - hated theirs taken. And I avoided cameras for about 15 years and there are no pictures of me with any of my family and now that they're all gone, I regret it and wish I had photos of us together. I'm always telling my friends to make sure they get in the family pictures because their children and grandchildren are never going to care what they look like. One of my favorite pictures is when an uncle or cousin took a picture of Mom and I together without us knowing. I was about 22 and there are no more after that and she died when I was 35. If do overs were possible, I would definitely get more pictures with loved ones! I'm sure your family will appreciate all of the pictures of yall one day!!

These are lessons for us all for sure.
And we are fortunate to be living in an era where photos can be taken and even printed inexpensively!
(Though I will admit at this point I probably have too many on my phone)!

 

[MickeyCB]

Loving all the pictures! Can’t wait to see more of your sweet little one and the rest of you too!

Thanks, appreciate you following along. There will be a few more photos!

 

[MickeyCB]

I'm here too!!! You are off to such a fun start! Your little one is going to be a handful for sure. A couple of those photos seriously had me laughing I'm so sorry to hear about Gary too but very happy you all are making these memories together

Thanks for following!
And yes she is not shy!
And memory making was an important part of this trip! (Sounds a lot like a Disney commercial for photopass)!

 

[MickeyCB]

I couldn't miss a report from @MickeyCB if I wanted too. I'm in.

So nice of you to tag along!!

 

[MickeyCB]

Great start
Following along


Max

Thanks!
And very glad you're here!
Later in the trip we have some pics from an idea my son stole from your reports!

 

[MickeyCB]

AK day cont.

We said our goodbyes to our friends and headed off to dinner. We didn't have far to go.
We went to the Rainforest Cafe about 20 feet away.
This was outside on the sidewalk and I almost missed it buzzing around.

I can take or leave the Rainforest but Gary loves it and he thought Una would like it. He was correct she really enjoyed the fish tanks. I don't think she could really see the animals too well from our table.
The food was ok. What has become a recurring problem is Gary not eating and having weight loss. He ate about 10% of his meal. By the end of the trip he lost another 3 lbs.

We took a bus and went back to the room where Una took a little power, let's not be a monster, nap. But as Aleisha was also trying to keep her up a little more at night to hopefully sleep better we decided to walk over to the MK to take Una on It's a Small World.

Silly silly us. We arrived at the gates just as the fireworks were starting, and as it was a Boo Bash night, tons of people were already in the park, with a lot more arriving.
I was worried about how Una would react to the loud noises, but our fearless girl did this.

Another of my favorite trip pics, this is what she was seeing!

So we proceeded to act like salmon and swim north. Holy crowds Batman! It was solid humans from the train station to the castle with an itty bitty space on the right to walk towards the castle. I noticed the 50th store was open and not a single customer, so I grabbed Seth one of Star Bucks mugs they have for each park. He is a huge mug collector. It took me 2 minutes max. Our goal was to try to get to the ride before the park closed for regular hours and it literally felt like some kind of gladiator run!

We found one cross walk just as the crowd started to break up. I grabbed this shot as we were bolting across.

We took a left at Casey's despite the encouragement of the CM's to go the other direction. They formed a human chain with those lights you see with people on the right heading to the castle, and people on the left towards the front of the park.
We finally broke free in front of the castle and swung to the left.

We hung a right at the Hall of Presidents area and then another right up the hill (it was a small mountain in my estimation by now).
We threw the stoller in a parking area and made it to the entrance with about 3 minutes to spare. The CM waved us in and down the ramp we went.
We jumped onto an almost empty boat and I proceeded to have one of the best moments of my life.
As the boat entered the water and made the bend to the first of the doll scenes, little Una took her right hand and turned it palm up, as if "look at this"!!!! And she didn't move for the entire ride except to swivel her head non stop!

And there boys and girls is why you have kids. So you can hopefully get one of these!!!

After that hectic run in, we were corralled to exit the park and we walked back to Bay Lake.
When we got to the parking lot I called Seth to stand in front of our windows because I was curious how high we were up from the outside. He grumbled but did it. Don't know if you can see him way up at the top, 4 floors down roughly center. I circled it on my phone pic but it didn't stay. Aleisha was also giving me the "come on Mom" sign. Whatever.

When we got back Seth played with Una a little. He decided to sleep on the living room rollout because the night before when he slept in the 2nd bedroom Una apparently cried/screamed at 3 am for about 20 minutes and he was all, "nope" for tonight! Bay Lake has some nice thick walls and I didn't hear anything. He enjoys his niece. He only got to meet her in August but they seem to have bonded fairly quickly.

I'm out of my picture allowance, so I will add one more separately.