Nope, Not Ready For Kids - An October 2011 Trip Report

Welcome to my trip report. This trip was planned as a sort of last minute excursion to WDW, although my mom and I had discussed the possibility of this trip for awhile it just never came about until what seemed like last minute. Our dates were October 15 - 21, staying at Pop Century. We chose these dates because this was the time that the school district that I work for took Fall Break. Leading up to the trip these dates made me nervous that the parks would be crowded considering the possibility that other schools would also be on break. We had a glimmer of hope when we were able to get most of the ADRs that we wanted; however, that would be short lived.

Now for your cast of characters:
Me - Rachel, 25, have been going to WDW since I was less than a year old. I work at a high school. My official title is Reading Assistant, but I pretty much do whatever they need me to do. I am certified to teach History and Language Arts. I received my Master’s in the Art of Teaching in July, and as a graduation present, my parents got me a Nikon D5100. I am still very much learning how to use it.

My mom - Disneybird, older than me, has been going to WDW since around the time it opened. She is responsible for not only my love of Disney but for planning all of my trips as well, thus far. After all of these years she still looks forward to trips to WDW as much as I do.

My grandmother - 81 and cruises around in a scooter while in WDW (which will be quite an ordeal throughout the trip). She finds any and every excuse to head to WDW for a quick getaway and will pay for just about anyone to go if they will take her.

My nephew - Victor, 4 ½, and he is very proud of that ½. This is technically his 3rd trip to WDW. He went for the first time in January 2010. That trip included a lot of our family. Plus it was my husband’s first trip to WDW, as well. You can read about it HERE. He went to the Magic Kingdom with my parents for a few hours in April, also. He is a lot of fun to be around, but we (my mom and I ) tried a lot during this trip to bring out the adventurous little boy inside of him during this trip. He is just a bit too cautious and practical for his age (parents fault).

My sister - Amanda, Victor’s mother, 33. She has gone to Disney quite a bit, as well. However, her trips have become farther between. She had a few vacation days that she needed to take before the end of the year, so she decided to join us for a few days and before flying back into Chattanooga.

For those of you who did not see my trip report, my husband and I were doing the Insanity workout system before I left on my trip. I told him that I would do the program as long as I could eat whatever I wanted to on the trip. I know that he was worried that I would just throw all of my hard work away over this week, but I reassured him that I would not go overboard on eating and would walk a significant amount during the trip. So, determined to prove my ability to maintain what I accomplished, I weighed myself the morning I left, took a pedometer, tracked the amount of steps we took, and weighed myself the morning after we returned.

So, there we all are. Now on with the show!

 

[popsicletrees]

October 15, 2011

Finally, departure day was here! I had been mentally preparing myself for this trip for awhile prior to this day. I knew that it would be different since Victor was going and adult supervision would be limited. Plus, there would be 5 of us and a scooter packed into my dad’s SUV. I was dreading the car ride more than anything during this trip. I hate riding in a car for an extended period of time, especially knowing that on the way down there I would be in the back seat with two others on a 9 hour car trip. My mom and I already discussed switching out the driving responsibilities during the trip, but my sister insisted on driving down there and claimed that she gets car sick in the back. Mom and I joked that she just did not want to be stuck in the back. I was impressed though that she did all of the driving on the way down, which allowed for ample napping opportunities.

I managed to get everything of mine packed into one large duffel bag. My mom got all of her stuff in two smaller duffel bags. This was quite a personal triumph for us. Overpacking does not even begin to cover it. As a girl, I fully believe in having several outfit choices for the day, but I had to put that on hold and remember that we would be doing laundry on this trip.

We had a few delays before we were off and on the road. My nephew had a soccer game that morning at 9:00. We knew it would be over promptly at 10. The plan was to go to my sister and brother-in-law’s house after the game, change his clothes, and get their things packed and ready before picking up my grandmother to hit the road. Once we arrived, my sister announced that her ipod had been corrupted and she had to reformat it that morning. So, of course, it was necessary to put her music back on to it once we got there. Why that couldn’t have been going on during the soccer game is beyond me. So, that took up an extra 20 minutes of time. Afterwards, we picked up my grandmother at Costco and pulled out of the parking lot to begin our 10 hour drive at 11:45. Already this trip was taking way longer than expected.

Nothing eventful happened during the car ride. We stopped at the Varsity in Atlanta for lunch. Although it is cheap I really don’t find the food worth the time or the effort to stop there. After being there for an hour we were off again. I will say that the drive was so easy. We hit no traffic the entire way and ended up making it to Orlando is less than 9 hours of driving time.

I need to add that while we were waiting on Amanda at her house, Victor walked out with an insert from Scholastic Magazine. He told me that he wrote me a letter on it. Sure enough there were markings on the insert. So rather than pretend to know what it said I asked him to read it to me. He plopped down on the grass, held it up, and said, “Tattoo (that is what he calls me. It is cooler than Aunt Rachel.), if you take me to Disney World I will ride lots of rides with you, but if I see something that I want to ride, let me ride it!”

During the drive we decided to stop at DTD for dinner at T-Rex. None of us had ever eaten there before, and we thought that Victor might enjoy it. DTD was extremely crowded that night, of course it was a Saturday night by all means. We got in line to see how long the wait would be for 5. Everyone ahead of us was quoted 45 minutes to an hour for smaller parties. Once we arrived at the stand we were told the same. My mom asked if it mattered that she was a Safari Club member. They handed us a ticket and told us to go wait in line to be seated.

Mom and Mamaw

Amanda and Victor

The group:

I really liked the interior of the restaurant. Although I’ve been to DTD since the restaurant opened this was my first time venturing inside. We were seated just outside of the Ice Age area.

 

[popsicletrees]

For dinner I ordered the Triassic Tortellini with grilled chicken added. It was a tri-colored cheese tortellini with sun-dried tomatoes, peas, and mushrooms in an alfredo sauce. I was really impressed with my dinner. It was very good and not too heavy on the sauce. Also, I am a little leery about ordering dishes with sun-dried tomatoes at times. I like them, but I find that a lot of times the ingredient with greatly over power the other flavors of the dish. This wasn’t the case this time. The focaccia bread was a little tough for me, but overall the meal was impressive.

My sister ordered the Jurassic Shrimp Skewers.

My mom and grandmother split the Boneyard Buffet, which was plenty for two people.

We sat through about 4 meteor showers while we were there. I know most small children don’t particularly care for loud noises, but every time something is loud or even just an abnormal noise, Victor’s hands go straight to his ears. Now, I understand this is a normal response. However, with Victor his hands will remain at his ears in fear of another loud noise. I blame his parents.

Once dinner was over, Amanda and Victor went to the gift shop to build a dinosaur, and I went outside just to take pictures. This was my first attempt at taking any night time photos with this camera. Again, I’m still learning how to use this.

After the bill was paid mom and I booked it over to Guest Services to purchase our Annual Passes. This was my first ever purchase of an Annual Pass and hopefully not my last. I was really excited tp purchase this, and in my excitement I completely forgot to take a picture of it.

We stayed off-site for the night at a Comfort Suites, which was beside an attraction area called Old Town. It was 11:30 by the time we arrived at the hotel, and Old Town was still going strong. I was worried that we may be able to hear quite a bit of noise in our room as a result. However, our room was completely silent. This Comfort Suites was really nice. Our room was clean and comfortable. Plus, it was only a 10 minute drive from Disney.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Great photos. We really like TRex. The food seems to be better than Rainforrest.

 

[The_CEO]

Awesome Photos! I really love the atmosphere but fear the price gouging that go along with the experience. Obviously you are paying for the privilege to dine with the dinos, but it just seems about a good $5 to $10 more than I would expect to pay. I left full though!

B+

 

[Todd H]

We sat through about 4 meteor showers while we were there. I know most small children don’t particularly care for loud noises, but every time something is loud or even just an abnormal noise, Victor’s hands go straight to his ears. Now, I understand this is a normal response. However, with Victor his hands will remain at his ears in fear of another loud noise. I blame his parents.

Sorry to change the subject but has he ever been tested for Asperger's? My son has it and that is one of the symptoms.

 

[jhoff3405]

Following along! Your pictures are great!

Just finished Insanity myself last week (got my free t-shirt already!)...and all I can say is that it is named "Insanity" for a reason!

 

[Disneybird]

Rachel, your trip report is starting off with your great sense of humor. I think you got it from me. However, on the other hand, I'm glad your sister is not a member here. :lol:

 

[popsicletrees]

Great photos. We really like TRex. The food seems to be better than Rainforrest.

Thanks! It has been a few years since I've eaten at Rainforest, but I liked what I had at TRex a lot.

Awesome Photos! I really love the atmosphere but fear the price gouging that go along with the experience. Obviously you are paying for the privilege to dine with the dinos, but it just seems about a good $5 to $10 more than I would expect to pay. I left full though!

B+

Thanks! It was definitely a place that I wouldn't want to eat at every trip, but I was impressed with it overall.

Sorry to change the subject but has he ever been tested for Asperger's? My son has it and that is one of the symptoms.

Well, he has been taught to cover his ears at the slightest noise by his parents. He has gotten much better about it, but the behavior is completely taught.

Following along! Your pictures are great!

Just finished Insanity myself last week (got my free t-shirt already!)...and all I can say is that it is named "Insanity" for a reason!

Thanks and congratulations on finishing Insanity! I feel like I can do anything in terms of a workout now.

Rachel, your trip report is starting off with your great sense of humor. I think you got it from me. However, on the other hand, I'm glad your sister is not a member here. :lol:

:lol: I agree!

 

[popsicletrees]

October 16, 2011

We woke up bright and early at 7:00 that morning to get ready to go. Victor did not get into bed until after midnight the night before and had not napped the entire car ride down, but he was up and going almost before any of us. We went downstairs for breakfast around 8:30, and wow, what a spread they had. The breakfast area had a lot of different options, including Mickey waffles and baked beans. Yes, I will repeat that - baked beans. My sister said it was common to eat baked beans in the morning in the U.K. Still, I thought this was odd (sorry to anyone from the U.K.), but I do like baked beans, just I like baked beans with my bar b que.

It took us roughly 15 minutes from the time we left the hotel to the time we arrived at Pop. Mom and I had checked in online a few days earlier, so it was a breeze going up to the counter and getting our information. We had priority locations, and our rooms were located in the 50’s section. Our rooms were not ready, but we decided to go ahead and store our luggage.

I took Victor over to watch cartoons while we killed some time.

We decided to go to the Magic Kingdom first. We drove to a lot of the parks this trip. My grandmother took her scooter rather than renting one for this trip. It was easy to break down and for my mom and me to load in and out of the car. One of our biggest frustrations in trips past was having to load her scooter on and off the buses at Disney. Plus, I hate having to take up three seats on an already not-so-efficient bus system just to load a scooter.

We arrived at the T&TC where we waited on Victor’s absolute favorite ride...the monorail.

I love seeing the Magic Kingdom decorated for the Fall. It has been about three years since I have visited during this time of the year.

Our first ride for the day was Space Mountain. At this point I missed Jordan. This is his favorite ride and probably mine, too. Sadly, this was the only chance that I got to ride Space Mountain during the entire trip. My sister and I went together and practically walked on. I really didn’t care much for the sound effects during the ride either, but I don’t think that it takes away from the experience in anyway, it just doesn’t add to it.

 

[popsicletrees]

Mom took Victor on the TTA while they waited for us. Afterwards, we all went on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. This was Victor’s first ever ride at Disneyland. I prefer the flexibility of the laser gun at Disneyland, but this is still a ride that I really enjoy. Unfortunately, my score doesn’t reflect any sort of ability that I have on this ride.

We walked to Fantasyland, and I was surprised at how high up Beast’s castle sits. The scale of it was a bit disappointing, though.

Victor determined that he wanted to ride Dumbo and that I was going to ride it with him. I have not been on Dumbo since I was a freshman in high school. I’m not opposed to riding it, but I don’t want to wait in a ridiculous line to ride it either. The wait was listed at 20 minutes, so that didn’t seem like it would be too bad. Plus, I would wait in line so that Victor could ride. Yes, I am an awesome aunt.

As we were waiting in line Victor asked me if this was a funny face...sure. So, I had to take a picture of it for him.

 

[popsicletrees]

Once we got on the ride I tried my best to take a picture of Victor and me. I was never good at doing that on a point & shoot, now I had a rather large camera to attempt this with. Here is my progression, or possibly regression, of self-portraits with Victor.

I managed to take a few shots over the walls, although it was pretty difficult while being commanded by a 4 year old to go higher and lower.

 

[popsicletrees]

Fantasyland was getting crowded at this point, so we decided to go over to Columbia Harbour House for lunch. I had the lobster roll with chips and an apple crisp (we were on the Dining Plan). I only ate half of it. I was disappointed in the meal and wished that I had just stuck with the fried fish basket instead.

Since we were there it was time for a ride on Haunted Mansion. Victor expressed his concern for riding this by stating that he did not like the beginning when we are in that room, it gets dark, a woman screams, and glass breaks. He has an excellent memory, which became a struggle later on trying to get him on other rides. So, we convinced him to go on anyways. The wait was posted at 20 minutes, but I believe this is more for going through the extended queue.

I had my 50 mm lens on hoping to catch some decent ride photos. Nope, didn’t happen. I still need to figure that out as well.

I really liked the new ending and thought it was a nice touch.

From there we went to Frontierland to ride BTMRR. I caught a nice shot of the Liberty Bell in front of splash, but at this point I was having difficulties fully focusing the 50 mm lens.

Sad times.

Victor didn’t object too badly to riding on this. A wait of 20 minutes again was posted, but we pretty much moved the entire time. I decided to try and get creative with the lens.

 

[popsicletrees]

When we got to the bottom of the ramp I noticed that they started roping off the front two rows. I’m guessing this is to keep people from just cutting into there. Despite the terrified look on his face the entire time, Victor declared that that was a fun ride. We attempted to get him to go on Splash Mountain. He flat out refused. He did not want to get wet.

Next on our list was Jungle Cruise.

Our skipper wasn’t that great. She was into what she was doing, which was better than the skippers who just give up, but her comedic timing was completely off. At the beginning of the ride she asked anyone to raise their hand if it was their first time on the ride, and she asked the same if it was their last time. Apparently, this was Victor’s last time.

Alright, is anyone familiar with the website pinterest.com? If you aren’t, it is an addictive website where you pin photos and links from other websites to your own personal online pin boards, or you can see what others have pinned and repin it yourself. There is a picture going around of this elephant under the waterfall. So many of the captions will read, “This makes me happy,” “This elephant is so cute,” or “I just love elephants.” I have never bothered to check where the hyperlink of the picture will take you, but just reading the captions makes me laugh. I’m surprised at the amount of times I actually see it on the website and that so many people either do not recognize where it came from or think that it is real.

“Happiest Elephant Ever!”

 

[popsicletrees]

Next up was Pirates, but first Victor stopped in a short line to meet Pirate Goofy.

Mom parked my grandmother near the exit of the character interaction area. Goofy kept waving at her in-between kids, which was sweet.

At this point we only planned on doing 1 or 2 more things before leaving for a short break at the hotel. Amanda and Victor had fastpasses for Peter Pan. So, the rest of us did a little shopping before standing outside of the exit waiting for them.

 

[popsicletrees]

It was approaching 3:00 P.M., and we headed towards the entrance to do something that I’ve never experienced in the parks. We were going to get Victor’s hair cut. On our way we passed a bride and groom walking around with a PhotoPass Photographer. I had to do a double-take. They were gaudy, even Lady Gagaesque. I wish that I had gotten a chance to take a picture of the front. The bride was wearing these silver sunglasses with silver beaded strands going down the front of the lenses. It was so bad that I even had to question if this wasn’t for the Halloween party that night. Still, no matter how bad they looked they were able to take pictures in the Magic Kingdom in their wedding attire, and I did not.

We also saw the Barbershop Quartet out entertaining the crowd before the parade.

When we arrived at the Barbershop all of the seats were occupied, but we were told the wait would not be long. There was another boy, around 8 or 9, sitting in the waiting area playing a football game on a handheld device. Victor sat next to him and looked over his shoulder the entire time watching him. The other boy was very patient with Victor and talked to him about what he was doing. Victor likes football, but he asks a lot of questions about it. Remember, he’s only 4 so questions come naturally in any situation. So, we had to tell him a few times to not bother the other boy since he was nice enough to let Victor watch. The other boy was waiting on his little sister to get her hair cut, and within about 5 minutes Victor’s name was called. Victor looked at him and said, “Okay, pause it until I get back.” We laughed and the other kid took it well.

Amanda told the woman that she just wanted a trim, so for the last time here was how Victor looked.

We really lucked out with the time that we came to get his hair cut and the chair that he was sitting. Not long after she got started the parade started going by, and he had a front row seat looking through the window.

 

[amaley01]

Enjoyed your trip report can't wait to see more:sohappy:

 

[tiaragirl]

So happy to see a TR from you, pretty lady! You have to remember that doing "selfies" with a four year old is hard no matter what kind of camera you have - hahah.

Also:

Alright, is anyone familiar with the website pinterest.com? If you aren’t, it is an addictive website where you pin photos and links from other websites to your own personal online pin boards, or you can see what others have pinned and repin it yourself. There is a picture going around of this elephant under the waterfall. So many of the captions will read, “This makes me happy,” “This elephant is so cute,” or “I just love elephants.” I have never bothered to check where the hyperlink of the picture will take you, but just reading the captions makes me laugh. I’m surprised at the amount of times I actually see it on the website and that so many people either do not recognize where it came from or think that it is real.

Speakin' my language! Pinterest is the best time killer in the world - my wedding board is solid I see "the happiest elephant ever" all the time, it's "so cute", and "precious"! Makes me smile - and wish I was at Disney.

Keep 'er comin =)

 

[popsicletrees]

Enjoyed your trip report can't wait to see more:sohappy:

Thank you!

Speakin' my language! Pinterest is the best time killer in the world - my wedding board is solid I see "the happiest elephant ever" all the time, it's "so cute", and "precious"! Makes me smile - and wish I was at Disney.

Keep 'er comin =)

I spend numerous, countless, wasteful hours on Pinterest. I love it! That picture makes me wish I was at Disney, too. It also makes me want to comment that of course this elephant is happy it is on permanent vacation at Disney World!

 

[popsicletrees]

Victor did very well during his hair cut. He only asked a few times if she was finished yet, and he kept very still during the whole thing. I didn’t get any pictures at that moment of the final product, but I have some from that night that I will post.

After the hair cut we headed out back to Pop. During Victor’s hair cut I received a text that my room was ready, but mom had not received hers yet nor did she ever. We had reservations at Boma at 4:45, and we wanted to go to the room to at least get her luggage and get Victor’s costume for the party that night. Since we already had our keys the plan was to get into my room, see which room connected, and try mom’s key out. The plan worked, but we ended up waiting a long time on our luggage. We ended up missing our reservation time for Boma. We did call the reservations line to see if we could get a later time slot, but they told us nothing was available. So, we thought we would take our chances by seeing how long it would be for a walk-up.

After about an hour and a half rest our luggage arrived, and we headed towards Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was around 5:30 when we arrived, and we were sat immediately for dinner at Boma. This is one of my favorite places to eat on property. I appreciate that it obviously isn’t your typical buffet fare. I had the bobotie, sweet potatoes, some sort of corn chowder, which was good, but by far the best thing that I ate was the Butternut Squash Soup. The soup had a great consistency and a sweet taste to it. I tried the curried seafood gumbo after it, but I definitely liked the Butternut Squash Soup better.

I got a variety for dessert, as well.

This was some sort of coffee flavored cheesecake type dessert.

This was my favorite dessert, which was peanut butter flavored. I think I ended up eating 4 of them.

The passion fruit dessert they have.

I also got the bread pudding. It was a banana caramel bread pudding, which I love bananas but I’m not crazy about bread pudding. Unfortunately I did not really care for this either. I think it may be a texture thing.

Mom stocked up for herself and Victor with some zebra domes and chocolate mousse.

After dinner it was time for Amanda, Victor, and me to head to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. This was my third party that I would be attending and Amanda and Victor’s first.

Once we arrived Amanda took Victor to put on his costume. So, I stayed around Main Street taking pictures.