Trip Report Baby's 1st WDW Trip, Limo Ride, Stay at AOA and, Well, Just About Everything Else!

Well, hello there! This trip report is for our trip we took April 21-27. I know, late much? Between this trip and now, we had ANOTHER WDW trip, 2 birthdays, including a 1st birthday extravaganza, and busy days working and wrangling a toddler. I also wanted to have all the days posted on my blog first so I could make sure I had all my details straight and in order before posting here...mommy brain is in full effect over here!

I did post a Pre-trip report a while back, but most of the actual plans got rearranged once we were in WDW, so read at your own risk: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...-member-new-fantasyland-and-aoa-a-ptr.863451/

I'll start out with a repeat of the cast of this trip:

Me (Lynn) and my husband (Brett)
I'm a CPA and the planner of the family. He's a photographer and perpetual winner of Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story Mania. We live about 3.5 hours from WDW and are annual passholders and Tables in Wonderland members.

Trent: Our son was 10 months old when we went on this trip. It was his first WDW trip and trip in general. We are working hard to make him a Disney fanatic...one trip, and ridiculously adorable and cheesy photo at a time.

Day -1: Saturday

The day before our trip is Day minus 1…just a quick note about getting ready…

For the first time in as long as I can remember, we gave ourselves a day to prepare for our trip, instead of going the very next day after working. Well, I gave myself a day to prepare…Brett had a wedding to shoot for most of the day, so it was me and Trent holding down the fort.

And boy was he a needy little fella all day. I thought I never had enough time to prepare for trips before? HA! I had to pack and clean with him in my left arm for half the day…I’m surprised that arm doesn’t look like one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s arms – Mr. Olympia style. Then, he wouldn’t take his naps without me being there, either. I guess it was nice the first time I got to nap with him

I was exhausted by the end of the day.

It’s like they know you have stuff to do, so they turn into this…



After a day of preparing, it was also nice to know we weren’t waking up at 4 in the morning like we usually do, so it meant that we might get at least a few hours of sleep. {Ha! Yeah, right!}



Day 1: Sunday

Like I just mentioned, it was nice to NOT be leaving at 3-4 in the morning to make it for rope-drop on the first day. Normally, we don’t see the point in paying for a hotel for a night if we won’t be there until late at night after work, so we tend to just leave really early on our first day.

This time, since we had planned on Trent’s first ever day at Disney World to be at Magic Kingdom on Monday, we left Sunday for travel, IKEA, checking in and dinner…a relaxing “get settled in” type of day.

I woke up around 7:30 to get ready and finish some of the last packing items that I didn’t get to do the night before. Then, Brett and Trent woke up shortly after. We wanted to leave by 9am, but in typical Svenson-family fashion, we left an hour later at 10. Adding getting Trent ready and feeding him to the mix, I knew we weren’t going to leave on time. When we say we want to leave at a particular time, we should just go ahead and add an hour to it from the get-go.

We hit up the drive-thru at McDonald’s (darn you Chick-Fil-A for being closed on Sundays!) for breakfast on the go. We purchased a season’s worth of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to play on the iPad for Trent. We set up the iPad right in front of him and he watched about 2-3 episodes before falling asleep. Our road-trip was going great so far!

 

[Lynn1030]

He slept about an hour, woke up and played with some toys for a little bit and when he started getting antsy, we stopped at the next exit and ate lunch at Wendy’s. Wendy’s is so disappointing to eat knowing that you’re about to eat a week’s worth of awesome Disney food, but it let us get out of the car and stretch for a bit. At this point, we were about an hour away from IKEA, so after we finished eating, we were on our way!

Right as we were pulling up to IKEA, it started to rain, which makes for a less than enthusiastic entrance. But oh well, just another reason to stay inside IKEA longer. Apparently, Trent made himself at home in almost every room!

He watched some TV.

He played with some toys.

He got comfy on the couch.

He rode a rocking moose.

He redecorated.

He didn’t want to sleep.

He waited for some food…

 

[Lynn1030]

More TV.

Still not sleeping.

“Hey, I have this at home!”

He read a story.

He pretended he lived in a dorm.

He reminisced about his newborn-being-washed-in-the-sink days.

Still not sleeping…

 

[Lynn1030]

It started to get late after being there a couple of hours and since I had to hold Trent by the time we got downstairs, I was ready to go…it could have also been because Brett was in “Throw everything I see into the cart” mode. The man is obsessed with IKEA. It’s best to just keep walking and hope he keeps up.

It was still raining when we left, so packing up the car was super fun.

We had dinner reservations at Cape May Cafe within the next 30 minutes, but we still wanted to check in to our hotel. The problem? Torrential downpouring. We live in Florida, so we’re used to heavy rain, but this was ridiculous. So I checked on my phone to see if there was a later reservation available for dinner and there was an 8:40pm. A little late, but after telling Brett he was about to have all-you-care-to-eat crab legs, there was no taking it away. So I made the new reservation and when I went to cancel the old reservation it wouldn’t let me and told me I had to call the number listed. The number listed did NOT go to a Disney phone..I have no clue where it was making me call and I tried 3 times. So I called the normal Disney Dining line and was forced to speak to someone after giving the automated system ALL of my information.

Did I mention that we were still sitting in the car in the Art of Animation parking lot during all of this? I didn’t even think about going in to the concierge desk. Du-oh!

So I finally get someone to help me on the phone and wouldn’t you know…signal loss. Thank you, Sprint! I can always count on you to drop my calls.

At this point, our reservation time had passed 5 minutes before, so I told Brett just to drop me off and I’ll go into the hotel. Trent was sleeping, so I figured I would just go in and check us in and ask them to cancel my dining reservation.

While the cast member was checking me in and swiping all my Disney gift cards, I called the dining phone number again, since the concierge desk had a long line that I didn’t want to stand in, and had them cancel my dining reservation. He was about to charge me $10 until I told him I rescheduled. Phew, I’m glad I rescheduled.

Speaking of those gift cards, I use my Target Red Card to get 5% off Disney gift cards at Target. I bought enough to pay for the hotel and food and a little leftover for souvenirs. I bet that cast member loooooved me.

When I went back out to the car (still downpouring) I told Brett what room we were in so we could head to the room until our reservation. His response? “How do you know what room we’re in?”

“Ummm, because I checked us in…what do you think I went in there for?”

Boy, his look of disappointment was like a knife going through me. “Oh, I thought you just went in to cancel the reservation. I thought we were going to check in with Trent so we could take a photo of him checking into his first Disney hotel.”

I felt so bad. Trent was still sleeping and I was so agitated by the rain and the reservation system that I didn’t even think about it, but I also wouldn’t have wanted to wake him up either. It was too late to do anything about it, so we headed to the room and just as we pulled up, he woke up…great timing, kid!

We were up on the 4th floor, looking over the pool in the Little Mermaid section, where we were spending the first 4 nights of our trip. Hmm, the 4th floor. It wasn’t fun carrying a baby up to the 4th floor or waiting for the elevator, especially after a long day, but the view was nice, minus the yucky clouds and rain. We could see our former usual hotel, Pop Century, across the water.

New rFID door locks!

Normally, we just live out of our suitcases, but this time, with a third family member, we decided to put Trent’s stuff in the drawers. The top drawer was for diapers, swim diapers, and wipes; the second drawer was for his snacks; and the third drawer was for his clothes. (So I guess that means WE still lived our of our suitcases and Trent got the nice drawers ) We also brought a pop-up mesh basket to put our dirty clothes in to keep them separate. This was a big help, as it was out of the way and ready to go into the washer when we returned home.

The hooks they provide were also very helpful this trip.

Within 2.5 seconds, toys were spread out all over the room. It was like we were back at home. Speaking of home, Trent made himself at home and started exploring immediately. We didn’t bring anything to babyproof, so we had to constantly pull him away from outlets, nightlights and trash cans. We definitely learned for next time.

 

[Lynn1030]

While we were waiting for dinner, we looked at the weather for the next day for the millionth time. 60% chance of rain…all.day.long. We had big plans for Trent’s first day in a Disney Park, including watching Wishes! at the Tomorrowland Terrace Wishes Fireworks Dessert Party, but we didn’t want to risk it at 60% chance of rain. Looking back, I guess we could have risked it, but we just felt like the sky would have looked awful in photos and video and if it did end up raining, we wondered what would get cancelled or if we would just need to sit in the parks and be miserable. So I looked up if there were any Dessert Party reservations left for any other day that week. I thought it was a FAT CHANCE, but lo and behold, there was an opening for 3 people on Thursday. I snagged it up, cancelled our existing reservation and then proceeded to completely change everything we had planned for the week. I kind of wanted to cry…good thing I didn’t plan too much, but I was sad that Magic Kingdom would be the very last WDW park he’d visit for the first time. Thanks Mother Nature. I know Trent won’t remember it and he could care less, so we just reorganized our days and hoped we’d only have one day of rain, and not a week full of rain.

After that, it was time to head to the Beach Club for dinner at Cape May Cafe.

We had to wait a few minutes before being seated, so Trent watched some cartoons in the lobby while Brett went out to the Boardwalk to take some photos.

Ummm, I may have watched cartoons too. But trust me, no children were hurt in my quest to have a chair to myself

We had never been to Cape May Cafe before, I guess mostly because the reviews never stood out to us, but we enjoyed it very much. They offer crab legs, oysters, clams, salmon and stuff for land-lubbers too, like chicken, salad, pizza and steak.

 

[Lynn1030]

This was the first of many meals where Trent took a walk on the wild side and got to taste some of our food. Trent had recently started eating more and more solid food, so we took full advantage of kids-under-3-are-free-at-buffets and let him taste different things.

His favorite thing that night? The strawberry shortcake dessert. I couldn’t spoon the stuff into his mouth fast enough. I had to go back up and get more so we both could have some because he ate all of my first helping. What did I get myself into???

 

[Lynn1030]

We were stuffed, but we
walked
waddled around the hotel and out to the pool area to look around.

Since it was still drizzling, we decided to head back to our hotel and call it a night and get ready for our first full day in a park this trip.

The walk back is borderline torture when you’re stuffed with Disney food! It’s a good thing it’s pretty, but that didn’t stop me from saying “Carry me” to Brett at least a dozen times. Unfortunately, I didn't even think about the fact that Tables in Wonderland members get free valet at the hotels for dining purposes until AFTER the trip.

I loved coming back to our room every night to see our window!

Thanks for reading day 1 of our trip! Stay tuned for more!

 

[Briangwen7]

Omg, I love this so much and your son is so adorable! <3 God Bless him!

 

[FlaggNL]

Wow what way to start you Disneylife!! Even at this age! Love the trip report and the pictures

 

[DWLove]

yay, you are doing a trip report! I saw your video the other day of the trip (and commented on it- ponyhunter is my yt name) so now I can't wait to see all of the pictures!!!!!

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

I cheated!
I kept reading on your blog. Tell no one

 

[Lynn1030]

Trent is so so cute! Oh my. The pics in Ikea look like they could be the new Ikea magazine shots. Excited to read more!

Thanks! I wouldn't mind that at all, perhaps IKEA could fund our next trip!

 

[Lynn1030]

yay, you are doing a trip report! I saw your video the other day of the trip (and commented on it- ponyhunter is my yt name) so now I can't wait to see all of the pictures!!!!!

Yes, thank you for your comment over there! I loved making those videos and look forward to sharing them here!

 

[Lynn1030]

I cheated!
I kept reading on your blog. Tell no one

Haha - ok it'll be our secret.

 

[Lynn1030]

Time for Day 2!

Day 2: Monday

Today was supposed to be our Magic Kingdom day, but as I mentioned on Day 1, we didn’t want to take a chance with the nasty-looking weather, so we decided to head to Epcot instead. The thing that makes me angry is that we woke up and checked the weather channel…and wouldn’t ya know it, the % chance of rain dropped. Figures. But since we had already rearranged everything and it still looked pretty yucky out, we stuck with our plans to go to Epcot.

We had breakfast at Landscape of Flavors at Art of Animation and then we were on our way. Unless we’re at a table-service restaurant, it seems like we never get any breakfast photos. It must be because we are ready to go-go-GO and don’t stop to take any. We arrived at Epcot around 10 am and it definitely wasn’t pretty out, but at least it hadn’t started raining yet.

Before I get into the day, let’s start with a photo of Trent entering his first Disney park EVER!!

Doesn’t he look absolutely thrilled?

Doesn’t this kid know where he is?! Sheesh.

Well, he is definitely NOT a morning person and we did not get one single happy “entering-the-park” photo. The moment we’ve been waiting for and he has the sourpuss look of death. It could be because he thought his Mickey ears were going to eat him alive and struggled like hell to get them off but we wouldn’t let him.

Another thing I wanted to share is the sign Brett made for our stroller.

Not only does it serve as a keepsake for Trent’s first Disney trip, but it helped us easily find our stroller in the sea of strollers in the stroller parking areas. We also like to think that it would prevent anyone was stealing the stroller – whether it be accidentally or on purpose. So many people commented on it and told us how cute it was and what a good idea it was. We printed it out on a sheet of paper, then laminated it, punched two holes up top and tied it to the stroller with zip ties (zip ties are sturdier and harder to break/cut versus string). Because it was laminated, the rain didn’t bother it and it was sturdy enough to last the entire trip. I recommend making a similar type of sign if you bring a stroller, no matter how unique you think your stroller is because there is probably at least 5 exactly like it!

 

[Lynn1030]

Trent’s very first Disney World ride was the Seas with Nemo and Friends! We walked right onto the ride and Trent did great. He wasn’t scared of the dark, he paid attention to everything we passed and he sat on my lap, perfectly content. We were off to a good start as far as rides go!

 

[Lynn1030]

Next, we went to Turtle Talk with Crush. Unfortunately, our seats were all the way in the back, so I had to hold Trent up most of the time. They let little kids sit on the floor in the front, but he was a little too young for that. He watched it, but lost interest a few times until something loud or exciting happened. We’ll probably wait until he can sit in the front to see Turtle Talk again. On the plus side, I got lots of cuddles.

Trent found Nemo!

Next, we decided to exchange our paper annual passes for the new rFID annual passes. {you can read more about that here} We wanted to be able to use the new entrances, which ended up being very hit or miss. A few times, the new turnstiles had lines much longer than the regular ticket lines and/or we'd end up behind someone that didn't know what they were doing or the machine wouldn't let them in. The cast members weren't very good at keeping the line going and several times I wondered if they even saw that my light turned green. Other times, we were able to walk right in with no wait. I hope it gets better as they fully transition to the new entrances.

By now, it was time for Trent to eat, so we headed towards the baby care center. This was a first for me, as well, and while I was interested in seeing what these baby care centers were all about, I wasn’t necessarily interested in nursing in a group setting, which I wasn’t sure if I would have to or not, since each park’s baby care center is different.

The baby care center at Epcot is located in the Odyssey Center, which is that vacant-looking building between Test Track and the Mexico pavilion in World Showcase. When you walk in, to the right there is a small room with a tv; straight back is a room with several baby changing tables; and to the left is an open area stocked with plenty of various baby essentials available for purchase. If you turn left towards that room, the nursing room is on the left. This nursing room is an open, moderately lit room with 4 rocking chairs facing each other. I thought the room and setup were rather weird and old feeling (for lack of a better term). There was only one table between two of the rocking chairs…it would have been nice to have one close enough to each chair to place my bag on or other things I’d want to keep nearby and not on the floor. There was a paper towel dispenser, but it was on the wall in the corner behind one of the chairs, so if you needed some, you’d have to walk around someone else. I ended up slightly turning my chair to face the wall instead. It just felt more comfy that way.

Here is the only photo I took with my phone when it was just us in the room, because I didn’t want to impose on anyone wanting privacy. Is it just me or do you think they need to update the creepy photos on the wall?

Trent fell asleep, so I put him in the stroller, put the canopy down, turned on his little fan and then started walking around World Showcase.

Speaking of the fan, we bought a fan specifically for Trent’s stroller. We have other fans, but we wanted a battery-powered fan that he couldn’t hurt himself on. This fan was amazing! There’s no way for him to hurt his fingers, we barely noticed it was on because it’s so quiet, you can place it anywhere and it kept Trent nice and cool. (You can see more about it here)

 

[Lynn1030]

We stopped at our first Flower & Garden food kiosk, Pineapple Promenade, for a Pineapple Dole Whip with Spiced Rum.

It’s definitely a smaller portion than what you would find at Aloha Isle in Magic Kingdom, but this one has the added adult fun-sauce in it. It was interesting to taste a Dole Whip with alcohol, which was a little strong for my liking, but this was a must-try for us on this trip.

We then stopped to take some photos in Canada. So beautiful.

 

[Lynn1030]

Next up was the Great Britain Flower & Garden Festival food kiosk for Tomato and Mozzarella salad. Brett and I split this, but I ate all the onions, Brett’s least favorite food. To be honest, I'm surprised he even looked at it, let alone taste it, because he won't even eat anything if it's been sitting next to an onion in the fridge and he can smell it. This was a nice snack…not the best caprese-type salad I’ve had, but still tasty.

We walked back to take a look at the newly-renovated Boulangerie Patisserie in France, and everything looked so delicious that we decided to eat lunch there.

Brett had a sandwich with turkey, bacon, cheese and garlic aioli and I had a sandwich with chicken, mozzarella, pesto and onions. Both were very delicious and luckily, we had seats to enjoy them, as the seating area is pretty small and people were saving seats and standing around waiting for others to leave.

 

[Lynn1030]

We continued around World Showcase and stopped at our next F&G kiosk, Japan, for Frushi! Brett and I shared this plate, as well, but I wish we hadn’t because I wanted to eat it ALL! Fruit sushi with whipped cream…more, please. I almost went back for more, but I tried to remember there more kiosks to try from.

Mini town!

GIANT ducks!

Trent wanted to pet the ducks.