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!

 

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Continuing on...

It was time to leave Animal Kingdom. Mom took Victor back to the room to let him rest and get my grandmother. We had reservations that night at Captain’s Grill in the Yacht Club. Well, not wanting to waste any time, Amanda and I decided to go Epcot to hit up the F&W Festival.

We only had a few short hours to spare, and we really just wanted to roam around WS to see some of the offerings for this year. However, we did make time for some shopping, including a stop to Mitsukoshi.

I love Koala’s, and although I did not purchase any, this large box was tempting.

I took some pictures of the train in Germany using the built-in tilt shift effect on my camera.

Amanda and I didn’t eat too much during our time at WS since we had had a big breakfast and early dinner reservations. We split the Shrimp cake with Singapore noodle salad, which was delicious. I had a spicy tuna roll, and she ate something else. Then, we split the Artisanal Cheese Plate. I’m a sucker for cheese plates, and I thought this one was really good. Actually, I ended up getting three throughout the course of our trip.

That was the end of our eating excursion for the time being. The last thing that we wanted to do was to ruin dinner, so instead we headed to Norway to ride Maelstrom.

At the end of the ride the doors were wide open to the theater, and it was easy to tell that the film was already going on. Amanda mentioned that she had never seen it before. I told her that it was short and that I actually enjoyed it. So, we go in and sit on the very end of a row. As soon as we sat down the film ended. I looked at her and said, “See, I told you it was short.” I was surprised that the doors were wide open when we came to the theater to begin with since the film was playing. Plus, if I had actually wanted to see it I would have been a bit miffed to see people walking through in minute intervals. I guess on the other side of that not too many people want to stay around and watch the video so there is no reason to hold them at the end of the ride. Perhaps though, it might be less obstructive if the people who are walking through be directed to the back of the theater.

 

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The last thing we had time for was a stop into the Mexico pavilion. I have it on my list to try a margarita here during my next trip.

My mom called us to let us know that she was heading over to the Yacht Club. So, we began the trek back around WS. I remember when I was younger and this being an absolutely daunting walk that seemed to take hours. Now it is definitely my favorite spot in all of WDW.

Our reservations that night were for Captain’s Grille. I love the lobby of the Yacht Club. I’ve never stayed here before, and I wrestled with the idea of staying here for our trip in May or at the Beach Club, where I have stayed before. Although I like the lobby of the Yacht Club better, I’ve decided to stay at the Beach Club because I think the room renovations look better (at least what I’ve seen of them).

We were seated almost immediately at a round table just off the entrance to the restaurant. Although we were next to the entrance, we really enjoyed our location because we were secluded from the rest of the restaurant.

For dinner my grandmother, my mom, and myself all ordered the Grilled Rib-Eye. It came with broccolini, mashed potatoes, and topped with herb butter. The steak had a good flavor to it, but I’ve had better herb butter on my steaks before. My biggest complaint was that there was a whole lot of fat on my steak. I had to cut away a large percentage of it. The broccolini was excellent, though.

My sister ordered the crab legs. She liked them a lot, and she had a generous portion of them.

 

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Victor had the meaty macaroni, which came with some vegetables and apple slices. This would be the first of many meaty macaronis for him. The portion size here was more than enough for him to eat, but it was the smallest portion that he received at any place where we ate. I’ll post a picture later on in the trip.

Next up was dessert. Mom, grandmother, and Amanda ordered to Hazelnut Gianduja Chocolate Cake with Toffee Sauce and Chocolate Caviar.

They all loved it, and their plates were all clean. Before mom ordered she asked me what chocolate caviar was, and when she got it she just looked down and said, “Well, I guess this is it.” I looked at her and said that it looked more like mouse poo.

I ordered the Blueberry-Cherry Pie with Lemon Gelato. Honestly, it tasted like a frozen Stouffer’s dessert. It was absolutely edible, but it did taste like it came from the freezer aisle.

Victor had a kid’s fondue plate. He devoured it! It was a nice presentation for him. It came complete with a Mickey straw. We were a little confused as to why he received the straw. I did try to get him to stick it in the chocolate and drink it, but Amanda killed that bit of fun.

After dinner I walked out to the pool area to take some pictures. The pool is one of the two main reasons why we are going to stay here in May. I know Jordan will absolutely love it.

 

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We decided to head back to Epcot for a bit longer that night. This would be the second reason why we are staying over here on our next trip – the convenience to World Showcase.

Music was playing in the U.K. so we stopped there for a few minutes to let Victor check it out, while Amanda did some shopping.

We moved on towards the tea shop and stopped there. Victor could still hear the band playing and did an awesome air drum solo along with them.

The only other thing that we did here was go on Spaceship Earth. Soarin’ was way too crowded, and there was nothing else that we really felt like doing at the time.

 

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Check out my future, or actually check out the super awesome cropping job that was done and my super awkward photo.

Sorry, Jordan, but Pedro and I are going to go live it up in the future.

We walked back to the Yacht Club to all load into the car. On the way back Victor discovered that my grandmother was nice enough to let him sit in her lap while she rode on her scooter. However, my grandmother thought that it was a good idea to let him drive. That ended when he almost ran into the door of the Yacht Club. Again, he’s four and doesn’t understand the concept of letting go of the handle to stop.

 

[Monty]

Great TR so far!

Cute kid! :king:

Victor's a sweetie too... :lookaroun

 

[popsicletrees]

Great TR so far!

Cute kid! :king:

Victor's a sweetie too... :lookaroun

Hah! Thank you! :kiss:

 

[Lexi]

Great trip report so far...and I absolutely love this picture!!

 

[blackthidot]

Good stuff! You can see your photography skill getting better as your trip progressed. I wanna get my hair cup on Main Street!!!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

What a great report so far, Rachel! Your sister stories are so funny!

I think you got some great shots with your camera. The tilt shift pictures are super cool!

 

[popsicletrees]

Great trip report so far...and I absolutely love this picture!!

Thanks so much!

Good stuff! You can see your photography skill getting better as your trip progressed. I wanna get my hair cup on Main Street!!!

Thank you! Watching Victor get his hair cut on Main Street was definitely a cool experience. Plus, the cost of it was very reasonable. I believe we only paid about $16.

What a great report so far, Rachel! Your sister stories are so funny!

I think you got some great shots with your camera. The tilt shift pictures are super cool!

Thanks, Tammy! I do love her, but we are different.

Ok, so I haven't updated this in nearly two months. I hate that I 1) haven't finished it and 2) have waited so long between posts. Truth be told I had not even been on this website for close to two months. Life has been busy lately in some respects. So, now to continue this in order to finish it up.

October 18, 2011

This morning we went to DHS. I didn’t get my camera out at all while we were there. The skies looked like they could have opened up at any point, and I didn’t want to risk ruining my new toy. We arrived about 15 minutes after park opening and headed straight to TSMM. The wait time was posted for 40 minutes. We got in line. About 5 minutes in my sister looked at me and asked, “Is this really worth waiting in line for?” Ummm, yes. More or less this was something that Victor could ride and enjoy. We ended up waiting around 20 minutes.

Next up was Star Tours. This was my first time since the refurb. Victor was gung-ho for about 2 minutes until we were about to walk into the building. He froze. He said he didn’t want to go in because it was dark. There was no getting him in there either. So off Amanda and I went without Victor or my mom. It was a shame because Darth Vader is his favorite character and as soon as we walked into the building Vader walked through after a Jedi Training session.

I was very impressed with the refurb overall. We had a male Rebel Spy on our flight, but they kept referring to him as a ‘her’ in the script. I found that humorous. That was all that we did for our time at DHS. We actually didn’t go back at all. Really anything that myself or my mom would have wanted to do there we couldn’t ride with Victor. We decided to head to Epcot for lunch so my sister could pick up a few things and because DHS doesn’t really have too many good places to eat for quick service.

I don’t recall that we did much at Epcot that afternoon except for eat lunch and ride the Gran Fiesta Tour. Lunch was at La Cantina de San Angel. Mom and I went there during our trip the previous December and really enjoyed the nachos. Plus, they serve churros as a dessert, which is always good.

The nachos were good, filling, but good. However, I wasn’t very crazy about the churros. They just seemed to have a different consistency than ones that I’ve had previously. So, I gave them to a four year old who was eager to eat them for me.

After a quick ride on the Gran Fiesta Tour we decided to head out in order to get Amanda to the airport on time.

I decided to stay at the resort while everyone else went to the airport. That meant a nice hour long nap. It was much needed.

When the rest of the family arrived we figured we would take it easy for the rest of the night. We were hungry, and my grandmother suggested that we go eat at Trail’s End at Fort Wilderness. She loves this place, and it is much cheaper than most of the other buffets at Disney.

Once we got to the main parking area at Fort Wilderness we hopped on one of the internal busses. There was another family on board with us: grandparents, parents, and two children. The boy of the family looked to be around Victor’s age. He was sitting on his grandmother’s lap facing her. The grandmother was well-endowed, and the boy was taking advantage of this as he kept pushing on her and burying his face. Each time he would bury his face, he would blow raspberries. She just laughed the whole time and would say every once in awhile “Oh, these kids.” No, not okay. It was weird, real weird. So, they ended up getting off the bus with us and walked in the opposite direction. My mother and I quickly exchanged glances.

We were seated at Trail’s End immediately. So, if you ever find yourself wanting a sit down meal without having a reservation, I would suggest going there. During our first trip to the buffet I noticed the family from the bus. I could only imagine what the kid’s next trick would be, maybe putting food down his grandmother’s shirt? Trail’s End is a decent place to eat, not my first, second, or third choice, but it will do. It reminds me of eating at my grandmother’s. Not that her food isn’t delicious, because it is, but it just reminds me of food that I can get any time. I will say that they normally have a decent cobbler for dessert and their cornbread is awesome. I think I ate four pieces of it that night.

After we went back to Pop, mom and I decided that tonight would probably be our only chance to go to DTD. Victor was tired, so we knew that it wouldn’t be hard to get him to go to bed. Mom put him into bed and told him to behave for my grandmother while we were gone. We knew he would be no problem at all for her. In fact, once we returned she said that he didn’t even move after we left and just fell right to sleep. Mom and I were pretty tired ourselves, so we knew our trip to DTD would be short.

 

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We stopped in at the World of Disney where I picked up two Star Wars Vinylmations and a parks Vinylmation. I waited until I returned home to open them with Jordan. We got a R2D2 and Storm Trooper Vinylmation. Mom got us two more Star Wars Vinylmations for our Christmas stocking. We added Chewie and Darth Vader to our collection then. Our Vinylmation based on the parks was Abe Lincoln. That was appropriate because our first son (in 20 years!) will be named after him. We did a bit more shopping in the Christmas store before heading to the Art of Disney. I love going into this store, but I hate it at the same time because I look at all of the art that I adore but could never get all of it. Well, I spotted one piece that I absolutely loved. It was based off of the artwork in the Stretch Room at the Haunted Mansion. The print was a canvas wrap of Snow White as the girl on the tight rope and wooden alligators underneath. I talked about it for the rest of the trip. My big present from my parents at Christmas this year was a framed copy. I love it.

We were back in the room by 9 and exhausted. We went to bed early ready for another full day at the parks.

October 19, 2011

We decided to head over to Epcot this morning to ride a few things that we had not gotten the chance to experience yet on this trip. Our first stop of course was Soarin’.

I need to add that we were having some serious problems with my grandmother’s scooter this morning and ended up pushing it out of the loading area in Soarin’. Don’t worry it would only get worse.

Since we were there Living with the Land was the logical thing to do next.

 

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We stopped by the F&W festival center to find my dad a bottle of wine and for mom to do some shopping. With so many breakable things in sight I spent most of the time in there on a bench with Victor entertaining him by pulling my hair across my face and making various types of moustaches.

With the F&W Festival on the brain, we decided to walk around World Showcase and sample some selections. Plus, it was an absolutely gorgeous day outside and perfect for walking around.

Another picture of the cranberry bog. Craisins soon became a favorite snack of Victor’s during the trip.

My first dish for the afternoon was from Brazil. It was the seared Mahi Mahi with steamed rice. It was a pretty generous portion and filled me up.

Still, I knew that I had to press on because up next I needed to order the Veiled Maiden from the bakery in Norway.

Victor and mom were shopping in Norway, so I sat outside and ate before I decided to walk around and play with some camera settings.

 

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Around Germany I ordered another cheese plate, while mom got an apple strudel. We walked around Germany for a bit before heading off.

We stopped again in France to try a few more things.

 

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I ended up ordering two items from the booth in France: a red wine braised chicken with mushrooms, pearl onions, and macaroni gratin, as well as a milk chocolate crème brulee.

Once I finished eating everyone else decided that they wanted something a bit more filling for lunch. So, off to the French bakery they went for a sandwich. I went through line with them to take pictures before I went off to do some more shopping of my own.

 

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Victor wanted to ride Test Track earlier that day. While, I’m not crazy about the ride I remembered the letter he wrote to me before our trip that said if he saw a ride he wanted to ride I needed to let him ride it. So, we grabbed fastpasses earlier that morning, and it was time to go ride.

Although we used a fastpass for the attraction the stand-by line was pretty non-existent in the building. Victor loved Test Track! He even made up a song about it later. It was all he talked about for several hours. After Test Track we decided to head to the Magic Kingdom until it was time for our reservations that night at the Grand Floridian Café. On our way out of Epcot the battery in my grandmother’s scooter quickly depleted. It was incredibly convenient. So, mom and I ended up pushing the scooter with her in it back to the car. Victor couldn’t understand why we were going to the car because we kept promising him that we would ride the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. So, mom told me to go take him to the Magic Kingdom while she and my grandmother took the scooter back to the resort to recharge the battery. My first thought, ‘Lord, do not let me lose this child.’ Honestly, it was quite a bit of pressure.

Victor and I got on the monorail and went on in to the Magic Kingdom. He didn’t know what he wanted to do first, so I suggested the Tomorrowland Speedway. He jumped at the idea but insisted that I drive.

After our high speed race we walked towards Fantasyland. He saw the teacups and started talking about those, so I asked if he wanted to ride.

While we were in line mom called to let me know that they had arrived. Victor liked the teacups although I couldn’t get him to help me spin.

Our next ride was IASW. The stand-by line was the longest that I have seen it in a long time. We were directed to the line for people in wheelchairs. The difficult thing about this was the constant incline of this line. When my mom got back to Pop she asked if they had a wheelchair she could borrow. They did, but we had to push it, or in this instance, stop it from running into other people. We waited a good 20-30 minutes in line building some good muscles.

 

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At this point we just wanted to get away from some of the crowds and do something relaxing. So, we decided to go on a trip on the Riverboat.

 

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As we were coming back around to the loading area, we heard “Rocky Top” playing in the distance. This is Victor’s favorite song. When we asked him later what his favorite thing of the day was he said, “When they played ‘Rocky Top.’”

Up next was the Country Bear Jamboree. Victor enjoyed that as well.

Our reservation time was nearing, so we made our way to the front of the park and ducked in some shops along the way.

In one of the shops I found this shirt. It reminded me of my husband.

 

[popsicletrees]

We took the monorail over to the Grand Floridian for our first ever dinner at Grand Floridian Café. We had high expectations for the meal going into it. We were seated in the very back and were quite surprised by the noise level throughout the restaurant. Now, it wasn’t like we were in for a romantic evening with us three ladies and Victor, but there were a lot more families with groups of small children than I expected considering that 1900 Park Fare is right next door. For dinner the adults all ordered the NY Strip, and Victor ate his meaty macaroni. His was a very generous portion.

I liked this steak much more than I did the one at Captain’s Grill. It had a lot less fat on it and really good flavor to it. Our waiter offered to take our picture in between courses. Completely blurry but I appreciate the effort.

It was another early night for us, which was mostly spent doing laundry once we got back to the resort. I know, we are terribly exciting people.

For dessert mom and I decided to split the sampler for two. It was a great decision because honestly so many of their desserts sounded so good. Victor said that all he wanted was the chocolate Mickey that came with the sampler. Our waiter was nice enough to bring out two just for Victor. My grandmother ordered the fondue, but I think she did this just so Victor would eat it.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Great report so far!
I'm so glad to hear you liked the Tusker House breakfast. We're not huge on breakfast either and have heard some mixed reviews as well but wanted to try it. Thanks for the confidence! Glad to hear they had a nice selection too.