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]

We had a 7DMT FP+ starting soon, but I was having fun taking Kinley to things that she would appreciate. The wait for Enchanted Tales with Belle was 20 minutes so me, Kinley, Em, and Mom headed there. After getting in line, the wait jumped to 40 minutes so Emily bailed.

Me, Kin, and Mom met Belle. She wouldn’t sign the book which makes sense because there are way too many kids in there. I actually had to ask one of the attending CMs if Kinley could go up because they didn't offer it to her Maybe she looked too little or shy or something. Kinley went in for a hug which Belle wasn't expecting.

Emily and Dad used our 7DMT FP+ and Lukas hung out with Malcolm

We all decided to meet up at our dinner ADR location.

Up Next: Our final ADR

 

[ELeigh]

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

I am with you on this!

 

[fractal]

"Why are you taking a picture of that?"[/B]

Me again, "People care about these things"

I can relate to this!

Also hate getting stuck by the waterfall.

Catching up; great report!

 

[Sillysidewalker]

Loving your trip report. I am jealous of how easily your party separates and regroups. We have the hardest time with that! Our 1 to 1 child to adult ratio which doesn’t help.

 

[krause]

I can relate to this!

Also hate getting stuck by the waterfall.

Catching up; great report!

Thanks for reading!!

Haha the things we do to write a thorough trip report.

You’d think after riding Splash endless times I would think to sit on the left hand side but I never remember that the waterfall is there until I actually see it coming

 

[krause]

Loving your trip report. I am jealous of how easily your party separates and regroups. We have the hardest time with that! Our 1 to 1 child to adult ratio which doesn’t help.

Yes a 5:2 ratio definitely helped as well as one kid confined to the stroller or carrier But I also did have a very detailed plan which we always reviewed the night before (and reminded certain people of many, many, many times throughout the day ) so we all had a general idea of what direction we were headed in.

Thanks for reading!!

 

[krause]

Where were we headed? Jungle Skipper’s!

I would love this hutch in my house

We had a 4:40pm reservation but weren't seated until 5:10.

Our server was fine but not as “punny” as we were expecting. I think the longest line we waited in all week was this bathroom line - there were only 2 stalls, and they were not clean .

We had red wine with our meal. Emily had sangria which she says was fine but had too much ice which made it taste watered-down.

I swapped out my dessert for the Jungle Green salad (the only restaurant we went to that would let us do a swap). I ended up seriously regretting this decision as the salad was not good (too vinegar-y), and everyone loved their desserts.

Me, Dad, and Lukas had Dr. Falls Signature Grilled Steak

Emily had the Sustainable Fish

Mom had the Perkins Thai Noodles.

For dessert, Em, Dad, and Lukas had the Kungaloosh! Which they said was amazing! I made @AKemily give Kinley a few bites and she did not want to share

Mom had the Quick Sand!!! Which I tried and it was alright. A bit of a weird texture.

Apparently I didn't get any pictures of moms food at this meal.

I also ordered Kinley the Mac and Cheese which she didn't want, so I managed to help her out with that

Emily also managed these amazing pictures of Malcolm

Up Next: Finishing up our last night

 

[krause]

After dinner, we had only 2 things that we had the energy to (maybe) do. One was that I was still going to take Kin to meet Tinkerbell with my FP+. And the second was that we wanted to see OUAT and HEA. We knew that we barely had the energy for those things, so we would be leaving the park as soon as they were done. I remembered a great spot to watch from that would also get us out of the park quick! Everyone else headed up to the Main Street train station to find a spot to watch while I took Kin to Pixie Hollow.

The standby line for Tink was looonngggg.

Even with a FP me and Kin waited about 15 minutes. The CM was interested in Kinley’s autograph book - she tried to tell me where I could meet some of the more obscure characters but she wasn’t the most knowledgeable CM ever. “Hm, I’m not sure if Mufasa ever signs things”, she says. That made me giggle because there are a lot of characters in this book that I would never expect to see, never mind get autographs from. She talked and talked to us, I think she forgot to let us in. She thought she heard a firework at one point so she pulled her Times Guide out of her pocket to see if she could figure out what show might be going on at that point that would have set off a firework (There definitely wasn’t one). We finally were let in and the room was empty so I think she talked too long.

Kin finally met Tink! She loves the original Tinkerbell movie and Tinkerbell and the Neverbeast which is the only one on Canada Netflix. We were super jealous when we saw that US Netflix has ALL the Tinkerbell movies. I can’t wait for the Disney version of Netflix to happen!

 

[krause]

Mom and Em were able to find a good spot up on the train station to watch the show. However, Malcolm had an explosive poopy diaper and wouldn’t settle and Kin was extremely overtired and refused to be put down. So I was thankful that I had seen OUAT and HEA once, and did the responsible parent thing and got out of there with the kids (Dad had already left at this point as his sciatica was causing him a lot of pain). There were only about 8 other people on the bus. We gave the kids baths and put them to bed.

I started packing up the room. I quickly realized that even after using 100 diapers, I still wouldn’t have room for all of our new things and Emily and Mom were still going to pick up all the packages we had delivered to Fulton’s! So I texted Em to also find me a bag that could pass as a carry-on or personal item on the plane home, which she did.

A few final HEA pictures from Emily:

I was sad to have to leave early but we had had a very long week and we had been able to do a lot of things. I definitely want to watch the fireworks from the train station some day, for the few minutes that I was up there it seemed like an awesome view.

Up Next: Travel day home and final thoughts

 

[krause]

My parents were off to Mexico for 2 weeks to vacation from our vacation , so it was me, Em, Lukas and the kiddos on the plane home. We checked 2 of our suitcases this time so there would be less stuff on the plane. Mom and Dad’s Tragical picked them up at 5:20, and ours came at 7:30.

One last game of cornhole

Security took forever

We got one last Bacon and Egg sandwich from Nathan’s in the airport, sat by the very noisy construction area in MCO , and were on our way back home to the bitter cold by 11:30.

The kids both slept on the plane (And so did I apparently... all the Disney food must have gone to that double chin )

Home sweet home.

Up Next: Final thoughts

 

[amjt660]

Note: this post is sincere and not sarcastic at all :

You are an amazing mom
You put the health and well being of your children in front of your own needs
True you have already witnessed the two shows but you knew the right thing to do was to take them back to the hotel
All I have to say is

You da real MVP!!

Max

 

[DisneyBaba]

Note: this post is sincere and not sarcastic at all :

You are an amazing mom
You put the health and well being of your children in front of your own needs
True you have already witnessed the two shows but you knew the right thing to do was to take them back to the hotel
All I have to say is

You da real MVP!!

Max

My first comment! ... I am the lucky Baba that got to go along on this trip and I couldn’t agree more!

 

[amjt660]

My first comment! ... I am the lucky Baba that got to go along on this trip and I couldn’t agree more!

Welcome to the boards
And Marj you have two wonderful daughters

You and Kevin done good!!


Max

 

[Kiwiduck]

Mom and Em were able to find a good spot up on the train station to watch the show. However, Malcolm had an explosive poopy diaper and wouldn’t settle and Kin was extremely overtired and refused to be put down. So I was thankful that I had seen OUAT and HEA once, and did the responsible parent thing and got out of there with the kids (Dad had already left at this point as his sciatica was causing him a lot of pain). There were only about 8 other people on the bus. We gave the kids baths and put them to bed.
View attachment 266027
I started packing up the room. I quickly realized that even after using 100 diapers, I still wouldn’t have room for all of our new things and Emily and Mom were still going to pick up all the packages we had delivered to Fulton’s! So I texted Em to also find me a bag that could pass as a carry-on or personal item on the plane home, which she did.

A few final HEA pictures from Emily:
View attachment 266028View attachment 266029View attachment 266030View attachment 266031View attachment 266032

I was sad to have to leave early but we had had a very long week and we had been able to do a lot of things. I definitely want to watch the fireworks from the train station some day, for the few minutes that I was up there it seemed like an awesome view.

Up Next: Travel day home and final thoughts

What a fabulous place to watch the show from.How long did you have to wait to get that spot?

 

[krause]

Note: this post is sincere and not sarcastic at all :

You are an amazing mom
You put the health and well being of your children in front of your own needs
True you have already witnessed the two shows but you knew the right thing to do was to take them back to the hotel
All I have to say is

You da real MVP!!

Max

Aww thanks Max! That means a lot. It’s definitely hard in Disney to find that balance because you want to push them a bit like we didn’t nap in our room at all and Kinley ate more bacon than I’m willing to admit to but there is definitely a limit to how much pushing you should do.

Thanks so much for reading along and for all your comments (sarcastic and non-sarcastic )

 

[krause]

What a fabulous place to watch the show from.How long did you have to wait to get that spot?

I would guess we got there around 6:30 and OUAT started at 7:15. We weren’t right up against the rail there was one row of people in front of us but we wanted to be centered with the castle. There are also some benches up there, but also not centered with the castle. I will definitely do it again!

 

[Figment Forever]

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

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).

LOL No worries - it is a little weird. I have fond memories of the original ride that I still picture every time I ride this lackluster one. I miss it so much and wish my girls could experience it - although I have had them watch it on YouTube.

 

[krause]

Okay, let's wrap this one up. Some final thoughts from our trip:

Direct flight - Wonderful but it was painful leaving at 3:30 in the afternoon! I was so anxious to leave and we were so tired by the time we finally made it to POR. Don’t hold me to this, but I would rather do 2 shorter flights if it meant we got to MCO earlier in the day.

POR - Beautiful! As we said last year, we need to spend more time just at the resort. We could have easily spent a whole day here. Without kids I would spend a day at the resort and go to the park in the evening, but that doesn’t really work with little kids.

Dining Plan - I love that paying for the Dining Plan “forces” us to eat at new places and not order the cheapest thing on the menu. When booking, we thought that 2 meals a day wouldn’t be enough but it was definitely enough! Other than getting a bit hungry right before the meals, we were never hungry. We ended up having a lot of snack credits left over and a few QS which we exchanged for snack credits and so Emily picked up 11 snacks from the giftshop the night before we left. I’m torn if I would do the Dining Plan again. Probably not because on our next trip Kinley would be more than 3 years old and I definitely don’t think we would get our money’s worth with her. I do like the idea I’ve seen on here of pre-loading some gift cards to pay for food so you’re not pulling out a credit card at every meal.

What did we forget - Oh man. The more time that goes by, the more things I realize we never did. I feel like we did so much but there were still some of our favourites that we missed and some new things that I had wanted to try that I never ended up trying.

Magic Kingdom:

• Country bears! We love this show.
• Tiki room! My Dad loves this one, the rest of us despise it but it is one of the classic things that you just have to do even if it’s awful
• I never got a Dole Whip!
• Emily wanted a funnel cake
• Philharmagic
• Plaza cookie ice cream sandwich
• I thought about doing Kinley’s first haircut at the Main Street Barber Shop but just never got around to booking it (and she really doesn’t have that much hair to spare )

EPCOT

• I would have liked to see if Aurora was out for Kinley to meet
• We didn’t make it around the World Showcase
• Meet Joy and Sadness and Baymax
• I really wanted to make it to Ample Hills or Beaches & Cream

HS

• Carrot cake cookie
• Launch Bay and the future entrance to Galaxy’s Edge. Me and Lukas watched Episodes I - VI in preparation of the trip (In order of cinematic release, I know people want to know ). I don’t consider myself a big Star Wars fan, but I do think that the new land will be amazing and I like to know the basics at least.
• My Dad always enjoys Muppets 3D

AK

• Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Petting the goats was the highlight of Kinleys trip last year and I know she would have loved it again
• Gorilla Falls Exploration trails
• I should have ordered the hamburger pods and the blue cheesecake from Satu’li when I did our mobile order because I did really want to try those
• The other adults could have done It’s Tough to be a Bug. I was one of those screaming kids in that show when I was younger (but not THAT young ) and I still had to leave when I tried to go again as an adult, so I don’t do that show. And yes, I will be the crazy mom not allowing my children in there and when they’re adults they’ll go and be like “Our crazy mom never let us go on this because she was scared of it”. Too bad. So sad. Not gonna go. Nope nope nope.

I don't know when we will be heading back. I always think it will be years before our next trip, but then we end up going again the next year so hopefully it won't be that long. If we go with a big group again we will most likely just stay offsite (*gasp* can I even say that on these forums??) because it's just so much cheaper especially after the exchange rate and after a few really long bus waits this trip, I think we would have made it back to our offsite house quicker than we got back to our hotel room a few times.

Thanks everyone for reading along on my first trip report! I now can better appreciate all the work and time that you all put into your reports and I will continue to read them to gather inspiration for my next trip!

 

[riverside]

Great trip report!! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[amjt660]

First trip report?
Really?
Doesn’t show at all
Job well done

Your list of what you did not do reads like what should be your plan for your next trip
So most of your wrap up is the content of your next PTR!!

I enjoyed following along with my Canadian
Cousins from the Peg

Look me up if you ever come towards
Toronto
I am one hour west in Waterloo

Max