Trip Report A Toddler and His Family's Journey Around Disney World

Hi everyone!

We are a family of three from Boston: Chris, Jen, and 2 year old Trevor. We thought we would "settle down" after Trevor was born, but we missed traveling too much. So now we're on a year-long travel adventure, sippy cups and diapers in tow! We began with a trip to Disney World. We are experienced Disney travelers, but this was our first trip with our son. You could say that we were a little nervous about traveling again, starting with the 3.5 hour flight from Boston to Orlando!

We also knew that this Disney adventure would be a big adjustment from our previous 7 trips. In the past, we loved staying out late into the night (to take advantage of the cooler temps and much shorter lines!) and sleeping in in the morning. We also used to travel really light and we loved weaving around strollers and crowds to dash from one ride to the next. If you have or have ever had young kids, you know this trip was a completely different story!

To make things more complicated, we decided to invite both sides of our extended family, including siblings and both sets of grandparents. That put us in charge of planning days, dining and fast-pass reservations for a total of 12!

For our 7 night trip in October, we booked a 1-bedroom villa at the Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village. This way, we could be up and about in our bedroom while Trevor slept (in his pack n' play) in the dark and quiet living room area for his naps and early bedtime. This hotel also offered views of the animals, which we thought Trevor would love.

We hope you'll enjoy joining us for Trevor's very first adventure at Walt Disney World!

 

[JourneyOfAThousandMiles]

DAY 1

We were up early on the morning we left for Disney, and we were nervous. We didn't know what we were in for, flying with a 20-month old (Trevor's second flight of his lifetime). The flight was 3 1/2 hours from Boston (where we live) to Orlando. So here's what we brought to feel prepared:
-Several Sesame Street episodes on our Kindle, plus children's size earphones
-A few new toy trucks and cars (Trevor's favorite) that would be surprises for Trevor when we got on the plane
-His favorite sippy cups, plus we bought milk after we got through security. Milk is the most soothing thing for Trevor, plus we hoped it would help his ears pop during take-off and landing

And it turned out...

Trevor did great on the plane ride! No fussing and no melt-downs. He did squirm a lot and wanted to spend most of the ride on the floor of the plane, driving his trucks around. But mostly he enjoyed watching the Kindle and videos on our cell phones, and he was quiet and content.

Once we landed, we gathered up all of our luggage (including diapers, wipes, stroller, pack n' play, and car seat!) found our rental car and made our way to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for check-in. No issues, aside from it taking a bit longer than usual since we had to install our car seat into the rental!



We were SO grateful to have made the right decision in booking a one-bedroom villa. The room was VERY spacious and absolutely beautiful. There were so many thematic touches throughout, such as a African savannah sunset tile design in the bathroom. Aside from the master bedroom and incredible master bathroom (jetted soaking tub, double sinks, and a walk-in glass shower), the villa also included a modern spacious kitchen with everything you could want including a nice dining table with benches and chairs. The living room was large, with a comfy couch and a large TV, plus a small bathroom with shower. We set up Trevor's pack n' play in the living room and this worked out beautifully for us. During nap time and after his bedtime (about 8pm), we were about to watch TV and be up and about in the master bedroom/bathroom. And Trevor was able to sleep without any disturbance in the living room. The living room also doubled as a play for Trevor to play with his toys - the extra space was a huge help in terms of traveling with a 20-month-old!

This was our first stay at a DVC resort, and we liked it so much, we are now members (more on this to come).

After arriving and checking into our hotel, it was time to head out to dinner. We decided to take it easy since this day of travel was a lot for Trevor. We went to Disney Springs and had dinner at Homecoming which we had very high hopes for. We had seen that the TV show the Chew would be fuming at EPCOT while we were there and it was proven true when we were seated at the table next to chef Carla Hall. This helped raise our expectations even higher. There were some real highlights (fried chicken and hummingbird cake) but overall, it was missing something compared to other meals we've had such as the Boathouse and Artist Point.

What is everyone else's thoughts on Homecoming?

Can you believe how much DS has grown?! We had been to DS before but it was amazing to see how much was new, and we thought the look and layout was stunning overall. (At least for the 5 minutes we got to walk around, before Trevor became too much of a handful!) By the time we were done with dinner, Tru had enough and it was back to the hotel for bed by 9pm. So much for our time honored Disney tradition of past-midnight bed times!

More to come as Day 2 brings us to EPCOT....

 

[LisaBelle]

Enjoying your TR. You have a beautiful family. Looking forward to the rest!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

I'm in! I love AKL! I bet the Villa is beautiful!!

 

[oommggitskait]

Following along!

 

[Billy6]

DAY 1

We were up early on the morning we left for Disney, and we were nervous. We didn't know what we were in for, flying with a 20-month old (Trevor's second flight of his lifetime). The flight was 3 1/2 hours from Boston (where we live) to Orlando. So here's what we brought to feel prepared:
-Several Sesame Street episodes on our Kindle, plus children's size earphones
-A few new toy trucks and cars (Trevor's favorite) that would be surprises for Trevor when we got on the plane
-His favorite sippy cups, plus we bought milk after we got through security. Milk is the most soothing thing for Trevor, plus we hoped it would help his ears pop during take-off and landing

And it turned out...

View attachment 283593

Trevor did great on the plane ride! No fussing and no melt-downs. He did squirm a lot and wanted to spend most of the ride on the floor of the plane, driving his trucks around. But mostly he enjoyed watching the Kindle and videos on our cell phones, and he was quiet and content.

Once we landed, we gathered up all of our luggage (including diapers, wipes, stroller, pack n' play, and car seat!) found our rental car and made our way to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for check-in. No issues, aside from it taking a bit longer than usual since we had to install our car seat into the rental!



We were SO grateful to have made the right decision in booking a one-bedroom villa. The room was VERY spacious and absolutely beautiful. There were so many thematic touches throughout, such as a African savannah sunset tile design in the bathroom. Aside from the master bedroom and incredible master bathroom (jetted soaking tub, double sinks, and a walk-in glass shower), the villa also included a modern spacious kitchen with everything you could want including a nice dining table with benches and chairs. The living room was large, with a comfy couch and a large TV, plus a small bathroom with shower. We set up Trevor's pack n' play in the living room and this worked out beautifully for us. During nap time and after his bedtime (about 8pm), we were about to watch TV and be up and about in the master bedroom/bathroom. And Trevor was able to sleep without any disturbance in the living room. The living room also doubled as a play for Trevor to play with his toys - the extra space was a huge help in terms of traveling with a 20-month-old!

View attachment 283594

This was our first stay at a DVC resort, and we liked it so much, we are now members (more on this to come).

After arriving and checking into our hotel, it was time to head out to dinner. We decided to take it easy since this day of travel was a lot for Trevor. We went to Disney Springs and had dinner at Homecoming which we had very high hopes for. We had seen that the TV show the Chew would be fuming at EPCOT while we were there and it was proven true when we were seated at the table next to chef Carla Hall. This helped raise our expectations even higher. There were some real highlights (fried chicken and hummingbird cake) but overall, it was missing something compared to other meals we've had such as the Boathouse and Artist Point.

What is everyone else's thoughts on Homecoming?

Can you believe how much DS has grown?! We had been to DS before but it was amazing to see how much was new, and we thought the look and layout was stunning overall. (At least for the 5 minutes we got to walk around, before Trevor became too much of a handful!) By the time we were done with dinner, Tru had enough and it was back to the hotel for bed by 9pm. So much for our time honored Disney tradition of past-midnight bed times!

More to come as Day 2 brings us to EPCOT....

Great start!!

Homecomin' is great! Chicken was in my opinion, some of the best I've had... The children's chicken fingers were gigantic! Had to take half back to room!

 

[JourneyOfAThousandMiles]

DAY 2 - MORNING

So. Not only is our long tradition of staying up over now that we have a toddler, but also our tradition of getting to sleep in. The good news: Trevor slept well and peacefully in his pack n' play. But, he was up like clockwork, just like at home, at 7:00am on the dot. The bright side is that gave us plenty of time to start a new routine of arriving at park open. But first, we headed over to the Jambo House to have breakfast at the Mara. We love the Mara because it's a quick service, casual spot with every option you could desire - croissant egg sandwiches, Mickey waffles with berries, plus muffins, bagels and cinnamon rolls. And a "Bounty Platter" that offered the usual scrambled eggs with bacon, plus Pap and Chakalaka (a yummy porridge with a tomato relish) to give the meal a little hint of African flair. Ideally, it would be great to have a food court at Kidani but the walk / drive over to Jambo is quick and it's great to sit and eat a quick breakfast with the animals!

Our first stop was EPCOT, and we arrived at park open.

We were traveling with Chris' parents at the beginning of the trip and decided to split our FPs between Soarin and Test Track. That meant heading straight to Frozen which only had a 20 minute wait. This was Trevor's first ride experience and it got off to a rough start. All he wanted to do was play in the garden outside the building! Once we wrestled him in and onto the boat, he was in awe of all the music, lights and special effects. There's been a lot of debate about this ride, but we all loved it. Was it an improvement over Maelstrom? We loved the nostalgia of Maelstrom so it's hard to say. If they had only built Frozen somewhere else....right?

Nothing else was open yet in the World Showcase so we head over to use our TT and Soarin fastpasses along with a stop at the Seas. Trevor loved the Seas and could have spent all day at that attraction. He loved that it was so wide open so he could dart around and explore, and he was fascinated by the beautiful and gentle manatees.

Since we were there in October, it was time to hit the Food and Wine Festival. We knew what we wanted to try because we had studied the menus online before our trip. We had scallops with roasted corn and crab cakes with avocado cream from Coastal Kitchens, loaded mac and cheese with bacon and peppers from Active Eats, and a sweet avocado crema with strawberries and yellow cake for dessert (our favorite part of the meal!) We picked up some food and carried it to The Land where we could sit down at a table and enjoy the air conditioning! The food was really good, until it wasn't! More to come on that later...

We thought Tru would like the Living with the Land boat ride (spoiler alert: he didn't) but he did love the escalators in the Land Pavilion. He must have traveled up and down those escalators two dozen times!

After convincing him to leave the Land, we started our journey back to the hotel for our mid-day nap and did a quick stop at SSE. Trevor was in total awe of SSE and, even though we'd been on the ride more times than we could count, it was so much fun to see it as though it was the first time, with wonder, through Trevor's eyes.

 

[RyPat]

DAY 1

After arriving and checking into our hotel, it was time to head out to dinner. We decided to take it easy since this day of travel was a lot for Trevor. We went to Disney Springs and had dinner at Homecoming which we had very high hopes for. We had seen that the TV show the Chew would be fuming at EPCOT while we were there and it was proven true when we were seated at the table next to chef Carla Hall. This helped raise our expectations even higher. There were some real highlights (fried chicken and hummingbird cake) but overall, it was missing something compared to other meals we've had such as the Boathouse and Artist Point.

What is everyone else's thoughts on Homecoming?

Great fried chicken, and i love the fact that Art Smith was there (at least the one time we went) talking to customers and even clearing tables. Doesn't hold a candle to Artist Point or even Sanaa....

 

[JourneyOfAThousandMiles]

I'm in! I love AKL! I bet the Villa is beautiful!!

We really did love the AKL. It is true that you're pretty secluded to everything except the AK but it's also nice to have that "peaceful" retreat when compared to the other areas of the World. Kidani was even quieter as we had stayed at Jambo a few years ago. All three of the restaurants are fantastic and there are so many different spots to just sit and watch the animals go by. Highly recommend!

 

[JourneyOfAThousandMiles]

Great fried chicken, and i love the fact that Art Smith was there (at least the one time we went) talking to customers and even clearing tables. Doesn't hold a candle to Artist Point or even Sanaa....

That's a really neat experience to see Chef Art there at his own restaurant. We've been to other celebrity chef restaurants in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and have never seen anyone. I'm sure it's pretty rare since they have so many obligations but that's awesome to see someone working the restaurant.

A Sanaa naan board, an Artist Point mushroom soup and a Homecoming fried chicken would be a great meal covering all three!

 

[RyPat]

That's a really neat experience to see Chef Art there at his own restaurant. We've been to other celebrity chef restaurants in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and have never seen anyone. I'm sure it's pretty rare since they have so many obligations but that's awesome to see someone working the restaurant.

A Sanaa naan board, an Artist Point mushroom soup and a Homecoming fried chicken would be a great meal covering all three!

 

[JourneyOfAThousandMiles]

DAY 2 - AFTERNOON / EVENING

We made it back to our room at AKL in time for a late nap for Trevor. The weather during our Disney trip was rough throughout the entire week - hot with very oppressive humidity. So getting back to the quiet, air conditioned room was a welcome break for all of us.

But then that most dreaded enemy of travelers everywhere hit Jen: food poisoning! Jen suddenly felt more awful than she has felt since the first trimeter of pregnancy. It was probably not the brightest idea to order scallops from a fast food truck at midday in Orlando. They tasted fine at the time, but Jen's advice from personal experience is: avoid the scallops at the Food & Wine Festival!

Luckily, Jen was feeling better by evening so we could all get out and explore again. Because it was Chris' parents 35th anniversary, we booked a table at the Boathouse in DS. We loved the food at the Boathouse (Chris loved the filet Oscar-style with jumbo lump crab, asparagus and béarnaise and Jen loved the lobster mac n' cheese). The atmosphere was comfortable, noisy and lively but still upscale, with lots of big windows offering lake views. There was (of course) a gift shop where Trevor zeroed in on a rubber duck with the Boathouse logo. He is obsessed with "duh" (i.e. "ducks") and wouldn't let go of that toy. So we're now the proud owners of a Boathouse rubber duck! We would rank the Boathouse as one of our top 10 restaurants at WDW.

After celebrating the 35th anniversary, we had another occasion to celebrate: it was also Jen's dad's birthday. We had planned a little surprise for him: we ordered a custom cake at Amorette's Patisserie. Since the Patisserie is located at DS, we were able to pick it up after dinner. The Patisserie was small with glass display cases full of cookies, pastries, tarts and every sweet you can imagine! Our cake was packaged and ready to go, just as planned. The cake was beautiful: a glossy red Mickey cake with black mouse ears and tail, personalized on the back with icing that read, " Happy Birthday Grampy."

The picture below is very dark, but shows the cake. We remembered to get a photo before cutting the cake, but unfortunately not before Trevor got to one of the ears (which turned out to be a crunchy chocolate cookie). The cake was delicious - chocolate with a chocolate mousse frosting and a hint of orange-flavored jelly. The cake looked small, but there was more than enough to feed our party of 12.

Here's the reason the photo above is so dark: we had planned to all meet at the Polynesian to eat our cake and then enjoy the fireworks on the beach afterward. We loved watching the fireworks from the Polynesian. It's such a beautiful resort, we really feel transported to the tropics in that lobby. And it's such a different experience watching the show amidst the white sand and gentle waves (instead of the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds at the MK!)

For some reason we can't explain, one of Trevor's favorite things (aside from ducks) is "va" (i.e. the American flag). He points out every "va" that he sees when we're driving. So when the Electrical Water Pageant started up before the fireworks, you can imagine how excited Trevor was when the line of flags lit up over the water!

Stay tuned: Day 3 brings us to our first time checking out Pandora!

 

[Fankle]

Following along and enjoying your report.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Oh no! Another dreaded case of Food Poisoning on the forum. I'm half afraid to eat there now! LOL