Trip Report Goin' Down the Bayou: Takin' You All The Way **COMPLETE**

I sit here at my kitchen table. Paw Patrol is on the TV, toys strewn around the living room. Breakfast made, eaten and cleaned up, coffee re-heated for the third time, and Malcolm down for his first nap. It feels the same, it’s our routine. Did we really just return from 8 days in Disney or was it just a dream? I see little Minnie and Mickey crocs on my counter…Snow White and Tigger stuffed toys in Kinley’s bed… It wasn’t a dream! It was 8 caffeine-fuelled, whirlwind days through Orlando, and somehow we survived to share the story with you all! Did my WDWMagic dreams come true? Did I accomplish all the things I was inspired to do by reading all the trip reports of the past? You’ll have to read along to find out!

Some quick reminders:

Who we are:
Me! (Teresa) and DH Lukas
Our kiddos Kinley (2.5yrs) and Malcolm (5 months)
My sister Emily (@AKemily)
My parents Marj and Kevin (Or “Baba” and “Oy” as Kinley calls them)

When and Where: Feb 1-8, 2018 at POR

We had a great time but MAN are we ever tired. It is a LOT of work bringing 2 kids to Disney World (never mind your parents ). But we had a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to re-living it all as I share with you because it is all still a blur in my mind. But we kept good notes, @AKemily will chime in here and there with her thoughts and feelings, and if you ever needed to see a thousand pictures of a 2 year old meeting Disney characters, we’ve got you covered!

Coming Up: Travel Day 1 - We forget something VERY important on the plane (Not a kid, don’t worry)

 

[krause]

I grabbed a venti Americano (sans extra espresso as it was getting late already ), and then we started ticking things off of Emily’s wish list

First up: new Mission Space.

I waited outside while Emily took a spin around the Earth (by herself!)

Next up: Emily wanted to Soar around the world.

She did grab me a child swap pass to go later but I never ended up using it.

I sat and enjoyed being outside with a sleeping baby, a giant espresso, and a beautiful view of SSE with the occasional monorail drive by.

I did some people watching.

“I’m really hungry”, said friend #1
“I just want to sit and drink”, said friend #2
These people were walking out of The Land and towards The Seas. I hoped they had Coral Reef ADRs or they were going to be really disappointed when they hit that dead end.

Emily came out of Soarin’ and we headed to something that Emily doesn’t believe she has ever been on, and I have very vague memories so possibly on our first trip back in 1999. We weren’t sure if we needed to do it, but I had promised @Tuvalu a picture so on we went!

It was a walk on and wow. It was… something. Sort of like Winnie the Pooh… a bit trippy if you didn’t grow up riding it . Very colourful and loud. Malcolm was a bit in shock. I will give it another ride the next time I’m there and see if it will grow on me.

Okay @Tuvalu, because we had NO idea where or what exactly we were looking for this is the best I could get. I'm sure you can get a better one next time.

Up Next: F.Arts!

 

[krause]

We studied and studied the Festival of the Arts menus before our trip. Sadly, we were not that hungry now, but we were determined to try something. So we headed to the Odyssey for the one dish we were most excited to try.

The croissant doughnut trio!

The boursin one was yum (it’s whipped cheese on a cronut! How can you go wrong?). The chicken salad one was YUM. And Emily tried a bite of the tuna one but it was a bit too riské for our over-stuffed on Disney food stomachs, so we left most of it.

We headed to another must-do for Emily!

We hunted for a non-shirt souvenir with the 3 Caballeros on it (specifically Panchito for Emily’s friend), but came up empty-handed.

We checked off one more must-do from our list:

School bread! Um, yum. This is as good as they say it is.

We walked through the Promenade store for a quick look and then it was time to start preparing ourselves for IllumiNations.

First stop - feed the baby. Baby Care Center FTW.

We found a spot near the entrance to World Showcase. I rocked Malcolm to sleep in the baby carrier while Emily went to find us some margaritas. I also wanted popcorn but she didn’t deliver on that. We stood next to a nice family from Wisconsin whose kids sat on the ground in front of us which gave us a great view! They agreed with us that we needed to plant our feet and make a wall and we did have to fight off one latecomer who tried really hard to shove in front of us. Um no, I stood here with a 20lb 5 month old strapped to me for the last hour, ain’t no way you are getting in front of me now . Emily returned with our drinks - a strawberry for her and a cucumber for me. They were yum

We watched the show and it was great! Emily loves it, I don’t need to see it every trip but I do enjoy it.

We were getting a bit goofy from the margaritas, so what do you do when you’re goofy in Disney? Spend money on things you don’t need of course! We headed to MouseGears where I picked up the black spirit jersey (Emily already had the rose gold), towels for the kids, a tshirt for Malcolm, and a Mickey bus for Kinley (since that was the highlight of her trip). I also grabbed her a Snow White plush because I was feeling sad that I hadn’t taken her to the M&G.

A quick blurry pic with SSE because we hadn't taken one all day:

We headed to the bus and the line was crazy long again. We got on the 3rd bus and were back to the hotel by 10:30

Up next: Our final park day

 

[AKemily]

First up: new Mission Space.

I waited outside while Emily took a spin around the Earth (by herself!)

The new mission is... fine. It’s like “now you’re over Japan, now you’re over India, now you’re over Europe. Uh oh, fire. Now you’re home.” Uh okay. I much prefer the mission to Mars but wanted to try the new one. The most nerve wracking part was being in that tiny box they call a ride vehicle by myself. The irrational thought filled my head of what if they just never opened it again Back to Orange Team next trip!

Next up: Emily wanted to Soar around the world.

I have the unpopular opinion of liking the new Soarin’ better. I never understood why it was in California when I was in Florida and so it feels like a more satisfying end when you finish in Epcot. While flying over the Eiffel Tower is cool I wish they had cut that because the warp totally throws off the illusion. Ah, well. I was also one who never noticed the scents on the old Soarin’. They seem so much more obvious now to me!

 

[AKemily]

Okay, I did warn anyone who read my pre-trip report that we’re not EPCOT lovers.

Sorry, @bee . EPCOT still has grown on me over the years.

t was a walk on and wow. It was… something. Sort of like Winnie the Pooh… a bit trippy if you didn’t grow up riding it . Very colourful and loud. Malcolm was a bit in shock. I will give it another ride the next time I’m there and see if it will grow on me.

Sorry @Figment Forever and other Figment lovers out there. It was seriously weird. I can still smell the skunk scent.
Sorry, sorry, sorry (what can I say? I’m Canadian).

 

[krisri18]

We studied and studied the Festival of the Arts menus before our trip. Sadly, we were not that hungry now, but we were determined to try something. So we headed to the Odyssey for the one dish we were most excited to try.

The croissant doughnut trio!
View attachment 265371

The boursin one was yum (it’s whipped cheese on a cronut! How can you go wrong?). The chicken salad one was YUM. And Emily tried a bite of the tuna one but it was a bit too riské for our over-stuffed on Disney food stomachs, so we left most of it.

We headed to another must-do for Emily!
View attachment 265372View attachment 265373View attachment 265374

We hunted for a non-shirt souvenir with the 3 Caballeros on it (specifically Panchito for Emily’s friend), but came up empty-handed.

We checked off one more must-do from our list:
View attachment 265375

School bread! Um, yum. This is as good as they say it is.

We walked through the Promenade store for a quick look and then it was time to start preparing ourselves for IllumiNations.

First stop - feed the baby. Baby Care Center FTW.
View attachment 265376

We found a spot near the entrance to World Showcase. I rocked Malcolm to sleep in the baby carrier while Emily went to find us some margaritas. I also wanted popcorn but she didn’t deliver on that. We stood next to a nice family from Wisconsin whose kids sat on the ground in front of us which gave us a great view! They agreed with us that we needed to plant our feet and make a wall and we did have to fight off one latecomer who tried really hard to shove in front of us. Um no, I stood here with a 20lb 5 month old strapped to me for the last hour, ain’t no way you are getting in front of me now . Emily returned with our drinks - a strawberry for her and a cucumber for me. They were yum

We watched the show and it was great! Emily loves it, I don’t need to see it every trip but I do enjoy it.
View attachment 265377

We were getting a bit goofy from the margaritas, so what do you do when you’re goofy in Disney? Spend money on things you don’t need of course! We headed to MouseGears where I picked up the black spirit jersey (Emily already had the rose gold), towels for the kids, a tshirt for Malcolm, and a Mickey bus for Kinley (since that was the highlight of her trip). I also grabbed her a Snow White plush because I was feeling sad that I hadn’t taken her to the M&G.

A quick blurry pic with SSE because we hadn't taken one all day:
View attachment 265378

We headed to the bus and the line was crazy long again. We got on the 3rd bus and were back to the hotel by 10:30
View attachment 265369View attachment 265370

Up next: Our final park day

Best photo to wrap up the day: Malcolm mid-yawn!

 

[krause]

Day 7 - Magic Kingdom February 7, 2018

It was our final day . We were exhausted but ready to power through one more full day. We were up at 7. I was a bit sentimental this morning about it being our last day so I cancelled my FP+ for Splash and HM and instead got FP+ to take Kinley to meet Ariel and Tinkerbell. We were at the bus stop by 8 and at the MK by 8:20.

We went through bag check and turnstiles.

Me, Emily and the kids got right up to the stage for the Welcome Show. We loved the train station welcome show and it was a must-do for us. We do still like to see this show since we’re there for RD anyways, but it’s definitely not the same. The boys went to get us our Starbucks fix, and my mom went to the bathroom.

Our plan for this morning was to rope drop Tomorrowland and get everything done there as we had FP+ for other areas of the park later in the day.

First up, Space Mountain! Me, Emily, and Lukas went to ride. It was posted at 15 minutes but took closer to 25. I do wonder how the Tron Coaster will affect wait times here.

While we were on Space, Dad took Kinley to Tomorrowland Speedway as she was just tall enough! He says that she was confused at first but after a few seconds she pushed his hands off the steering wheel and wouldn’t let him touch it anymore

 

[krause]

Best photo to wrap up the day: Malcolm mid-yawn!

Haha yep! Pretty much sums up how we were all feeling!

 

[DisneyJeff]

We walked straight onto the Farm Ride with our FP+ and had a lovely ride. 2 trips ago I was nursing Kinley and I was in the first row of the boat and thought, “Hey! No one behind me can see what’s going on, I’ll just feed her here!” (I imagine people watching security camera see enough things every day that this doesn’t faze them). Well. I wasn’t aware of the Behind the Seeds tour. They may have gotten an eyeful when we came around the corner .

I think they would call that the "Behind the C's Tour"!!

 

[krause]

We had a LOT of snack credits to use yet, so Emily grabbed herself one of these guys

Unpopular opinion time: I much prefer the Mickey ice cream sandwich over the classic Mickey bar.

We walked on to the Peoplemover. Lukas was trying to get Malcolm to sleep.

After the Peoplemover, Malcolm still wasn’t sleeping so the rest of us went to Monsters Inc. while Lukas kept trying. At some point our communication was off and Lukas ended up on the Resort Monorail headed to our breakfast destination while the rest of us were in Monsters Inc.

In the Monsters Inc waiting room, Emily says what we’re all thinking “This room always makes me rethink my life”. It is the WORST room. Stuffy, smelly, dingy, and crowded. For some reason this room is just death. I always think that I am NEVER doing this attraction again when I’m waiting in that room, but then I actually get to the show and it’s cute and funny so of course I’ll do it again next time! “That guy” and the “churro” lady weren’t very funny this time around, but it was still good!

So without stroller (Lukas had Malcolm in it), we made our way out of the park to the resort monorail.

Stopped for a quick purple wall selfie!

“Why are you doing that?”, said Mom

“It’s just a thing”, said us.

We got on the resort monorail and headed to…

 

[krause]

I think they would call that the "Behind the C's Tour"!!

They definitely got more than they paid for!

 

[krause]

The Poly! We loved our dinner at ‘Ohana last year and I wanted to try the breakfast out! Kinley doesn’t love Lilo and Stitch but they are recognizable to her, and of course Mickey and Pluto were a hit!

Our reservation was for 11:30, we were buzzed at 11:50 and the CM seating us talked. And talked. And talked. I almost started eating the bread while he was walking us to our table.

We had a window view but not a castle view. Emily went and took this picture though:

POG juice… FINALLY! This food was yum! We loved the ham and the potatoes . The boys got Lapu Lapu’s. I thought these were served in pineapples?? I was giggling when they both ordered that drink because I was so looking forward to a picture of them with their matching pineapples

Me, Emily and Mom went for the Red Eyes which may have been a bit too strong for me for a breakfast beverage.

The bread was yum of course!

Breakfast platter (this was the second full one we got as we demolished the first one ).

Our server was cousin Sam and he was pretty mediocre until he brought our bill. He informed us that one of our dining plans only had 2 TS credits left on it instead of the 3 that we would need for our dinner ADR. He said he would phone Riverside and get it sorted out - and he did! It was so nice that he dealt with it here instead of us having to deal with the confusion at dinner.

Up Next: Character pictures!

 

[krause]

First up - Lilo!

It's always fun to meet Mickey!

Pluto!

Finally - Stitch!

If you haven't watched Lilo and Stitch for a while, I highly recommend it. After becoming a parent, it has a whole other message. Lilo's sister is trying so hard to be a good parent and keep Lilo out of the foster system, but Lilo is just such an out of control child. It has a whole deeper message than you would think at first.

 

[Kiwiduck]

I would love to know what that horse and carriage was doing outside the hotel, I wonder if it was for a wedding? I also tried in vain to find three caballeros merchandise to buy, but couldn't.
Great report!

 

[krause]

I would love to know what that horse and carriage was doing outside the hotel, I wonder if it was for a wedding? I also tried in vain to find three caballeros merchandise to buy, but couldn't.
Great report!

I know it was so cool! I would like to know how much it cost If we were “relaxed pace” Disney people we could have watched a while longer but that’s not us

Yeah we could only find 3 non-exciting 3 caballeros tshirts. It seems like there would be high enough demand that they would have something!

Thanks for reading along! I just caught up on yours yesterday and now I am craving a Disneyland trip!

 

[Kiwiduck]

I know it was so cool! I would like to know how much it cost If we were “relaxed pace” Disney people we could have watched a while longer but that’s not us

Yeah we could only find 3 non-exciting 3 caballeros tshirts. It seems like there would be high enough demand that they would have something!

Thanks for reading along! I just caught up on yours yesterday and now I am craving a Disneyland trip!

I am also craving a Disneyland trip, I am always craving a Disneyland trip!!

 

[amjt660]

I would be curious to see the Mickey bus. I have one and wonder if it is the same

Love that Emily cannot stop saying sorry
Trust me - I get it

I am always craving a Disneyland trip
But which one is the tough decision
( there are 5 you know!!)

Max

 

[krause]

Kinley fell asleep on the way back, so we took our time making our way to Fantasyland.

I had told my Mom at Christmas that we would buy her a Park Exclusive Pandora charm for her Christmas present and she could pick it out when we were here, so we headed to the Pandora store! What a quaint little area!

She chose a charm with the castle and Fireworks on it. The CM working there said very matter-of-factly, “This one is called Wishes because that’s the name of the fireworks show”. Hmmm.. I believe you that that’s the name of the charm because it’s probably not a new one, but that’s not the name of the show anymore…

I guess Em found this in the Emporium while me and Mom were Pandora shopping

My Dad had been wanting soft ice cream (not a Dole Whip he said) the whole trip so we decided to hunt that down for him. Plaza? Nope. Auntie Gravity’s? Yep! A swirl (we call it a “twist”) cone for Dad and for Lukas!

Kinley was still sleeping but earlier she had been asking to meet Daisy Duck, so while Mom, Lukas, and Emily took a LONG train ride to Frontierland to use our Splash FP+, me and Dad headed with the kids to Storybook Circus to track down Daisy.

We found her and Minnie with a 25 minute line (We had already met Donald and Goofy so we weren’t going to do that side), and we got in line! We waited about 25 for Daisy.

Daisy was moving a lot faster than Minnie though, so we ended up waiting about another 10 to get to Minnie. It was very crowded in the little space between Daisy and Minnie.

Up Next: More Storybook Circus and what the others were up to!

 

[krause]

I would be curious to see the Mickey bus. I have one and wonder if it is the same

Love that Emily cannot stop saying sorry
Trust me - I get it

I am always craving a Disneyland trip
But which one is the tough decision
( there are 5 you know!!)

Max

This is the Mickey bus she got. I'm glad they have these little souvenirs because I think the transportation is something that lots of kids remember. My cousin's kid was obsessed with the monorail on her first trip so she went home with a monorail toy

Haha yes we Canadians can't help but apologize. But it's hard not to when you didn't like something that you know someone else loves!

Haha well not all of us have the privilege to travel the world, so in this case I was speaking of Disneyland California .

 

[krause]

Dad and Kinley then rode Dumbo - it was posted at 20 minutes but I saw it go down to 10 after they walked in and Dad says that they only had to wait for one group to go before them. Kinley loved it! I had an impossible time catching a picture of them.

So just took pictures of Malcolm instead

Meanwhile, @AKemily, Mom and Lukas decided to take the MPB to Frontierland to use a Splash FP+ and we also had a HM FP+ lined up after that.

@AKemily says: After our exceedingly long train ride to Frontierland, Lukas, Mom & I were not about to get on that again so we decided to walk back to Fantasyland, stopping to use our HM FP+ on the way. Lukas rode alone and I think got some work done on his phone in his doombuggy . When we got on the ride Mom asked me to “explain the ride to her” because she’s “never understood it”. I said there’s nothing to understand, it’s just cheesy, ghosty goodness. I did explain a few things to her like the serial bride who gained a pearl necklace for each husband she killed off but I don’t think it helped her “get it” .

 

[krause]

Then we were going to either see Ariel or Enchanted Tales with Belle but as we left Storybook Circus there was a loooonngggg line and and the end of it was

Snow White! Yay! I was glad that we could meet her because Kinley wanted to so badly the day before at EPCOT.

We waited 15 or 20 minutes for Snow White.

They asked if I wanted to take Malcolm out for pictures and I said no that was okay (I think Kinley had used up all her time and then some already), but Snow White insisted and went over to talk to Malcolm in the stroller.

“Is that your little Dopey?”, she asked Kinley

“No, he’s Grumpy”, I told her, not even thinking of the dwarf

“I’m good with little men”, she said

After we were done with Snow White, it was my FP+ time for Ariel’s Grotto and we were right there! Me and Kinley walked in, walked straight into Ariel’s room, and Kinley climbed up next to her!

We got some good pictures but Ariel wasn't very chatty. It's interesting that some characters are so good at getting the kids to interact (Merida was by far the best face character, Mickey in EPCOT was the best non-face character), and some seem to not know what to do at all and didn't even bother to try (this Ariel and the Ariel at TaF were probably the worst for that).

By that time, everyone was separated so me and Kin grabbed ice cream at Maurice’s Popping Machine, found a table outside of Gaston’s, and texted everyone where we were.

I don't let her eat the entire Mickey bar but I sure as heck am not sharing my sandwich so I have to get her something for herself