Trip Report Now THIS is podracing! **Completed**

When: January 19-25

Where: AoA Family Suites

Who: Me, DH, and lil BES (our 2.5 yo firecracker of a daughter)

Why: 1) To get a break from MI winter. (Our high next Tuesday is 9*F )

2) To recharge a bit in between some extremely busy and challenging times* at work. (*More on that later.)

3) To get more of a vacation-y vacation than my previous WDW trip.

In addition to being an overall fantastic kid, lil BES is a great traveler. That combined with my long history of WDW trips means I don’t need to prep a whole lot before the trip.

That’s great because it feels like I am 5% ready and we have 7 days before our trip and I work 4 of them.

Our travel style is go with the flow and only have things loosely planned. With park reservations gone and all day park hopping back that should be a lot easier this trip.

Like anything involving a toddler this trip will be a little intense at times but overall I think we’re set up for a fun and wild ride.

Spoiler: Track#1:

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Friday January 19th (Day 1)

I got up at 530am- which is my normal wake up time for work.

Overnight it snowed a couple of inches. It was still actively snowing and 16*F. (A welcomed increase from earlier in the week )

I should have just went and got gas in my pajamas but since it was still snowing I was too lazy to clean off the car twice. Instead I showered and got myself ready.

Next I woke up DH and declared it was time to wake lil BES up.

Lil BES was in a great mood. Props to grandma “with red hair” (my mom) for the suggestion of dressing lil BES in airport clothes instead of pjs the previous night.

Sometimes past BES sets future BES up for success. The night before I had made DH and I some overnight oats to eat for breakfast. Good work past BES.

We packed up all of the last minute items and went through our pre-trip checklist (doors locked, oven off etc). I went out to clean off the car, warm it up and started to load luggage.

Soon it was time to load our most precious cargo, lil BES.

We were ready to leave but had to go back inside to grab coats. #puremichigan

All of you Southern readers might be wondering why we weren’t already wearing coats in 16*F. There becomes a certain point in the winter when Michiganders base their decision to wear a coat on how long they’ll be outside- not the temperature.

Lil BES had her light jacket on but DH and I were just in hoodies. So at the last minute I ran back inside our house to grab our real winter coats to have in the car in case anything happened during our transit to or from the airport.

Past BES both giveth and taketh away. Google suggested we leave at 645. We ended up leaving at 7am and then still had to get gas. Thanks a lot past BES.

It’s typically an hour drive to airport for us. Now it was 80 minutes and increasing. The drive was slow but uneventful. It wasn’t even worst drive I’d had that week.

We arrived at the airport 90 minutes before our flight instead of our standard 2 hours. No big deal.

This is exactly why I like to plan for 2 hours before and spring for parking in the airport garage.

Spoiler: Track #4:

 

[Swissmiss]

I totally get the coat thing - I often do the same (my car is parked in a garage in my building and my office has a parking garage). And even when I do bring one along, I usually leave it in the car while I am at work. Oddly, a week or so ago I actually brought it up to my office, and I don’t know why because it wasn’t more cold than the day before or anything like that - but I was happy to have it when we had a surprise fire drill and I had to spend a half hour outside.

 

[Minnie1986]

Lil BES “helped” me pack tonight.

View attachment 763677

In addition to literally every piece of clothing she owns, here are *some* of the items she thinks we should take:

• A can of black beans
• Bandaids
• A hammer
• Jump rope
• Harmonica

Doesn't everyone keep a can of black beans on them at all times?

 

[Tuvalu]

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

I feel like I’ve lived about 5 months in the 1 month since our trip.

Although I can’t say anything (officially) about my job situation yet…

And because I don’t have enough going in my life we are evaluating a potential move.

My intention is to get back to this soon. Especially since I want to remember all of lil BES’s trip comments while they are fresh.

Just know in the interim:

Spoiler: Track #5:

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Previously on BES’s crazy life…

I left for this trip having just submitted my application for an ill-defined job promotion that I wasn’t crazy about.

Within the 2 months after the trip I:

• Got said promotion
• Sold house
• Bought different house
• Moved

This summer:

• Dealt with a “once in a career” thing at work
• Had 4 separate in-law visits to new house
• Replaced the following in the new house (all issues we knew prior to buying):
  • roof
  • siding
  • electrical panel
  • AC

This fall: (errr actually all in November)

• I broke my wrist (no surgery luckily but a cast for 6 weeks)
• Lil BES had eye surgery (it went well)
• Had another “once in a career” thing at work

Oh then the holidays happened.

Suffice to say this TR has fallen off quite a bit. I’m really hoping the pictures jog my memories because my notes are less than helpful. (Like when drunk you leave a note for sober morning you helpful… )

Welp here it goes. Again.

Spoiler: Track 6:

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Friday January 19th (Day 1 Continued)

When we flew in December to visit family we got new spinner wheel luggage and decided to try flying without lil BES’s plane car seat. Two huge improvements to our traveling routine.

I pushed the suitcases to be checked. DH pushed lil BES in the umbrella stroller and carried her accessories. So easy! The appropriate number of things per number of adult hands!

Bag check and TSA precheck went smooth. We told lil BES she had to be in the stroller until after security. She held us to that. Once out of the stroller at TSA she was NOT getting back in.

A lady dared to say hi to lil BES. Her response was the low “Aaaaaaah!” growl she does when irritated.

I mobile ordered at the Starbucks near our gate and we headed in that direction.

This time I triple checked I picked up the right order…

Lil BES at some point in this travel process negotiated herself a chocolate cake pop for her morning snack. (Yay vacation). DH got a boring decaf and I got my BSOSE. (There’s no easy way to say or type that one.)

Our flight was officially delayed about 10 min but we didn’t take off until an hour and 15 min from original time due to the de-icing process. Time well spent.

Look familiar at @riverside ?

Lil BES watched Peppa Pig, sang and colored.

At some point, DH got a second round of snacks. Just DH.

I know I’m biased but lil BES is cute and a great flyer. Flight attendants should be making it rain* Biscoff cookies on her.

*Like this but with cookies:

Lil BES got a little squirrelly near the end of the flight. I decided to break out our “ace in the hole” - mini M&Ms. (Pro tip: mini M&Ms take longer than regular ones for toddlers to pick up and extend the distraction)

Lil BES’s seat post-flight. I promised I cleaned it up before we deplaned:

Spoiler: Track 7:

 

[Spash007]

BSOSE - took me a second, but when I remembered how I hate ordering my go to drink because of how long it takes to say, I realized it. It is a good one! Especially for lactose sensitive folks like me

 

[riverside]

Look familiar at @riverside ?

Awww!! J always read those like clockwork. Totally cracked me up!!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Friday January 19th (Day 1 Continued)

Finally landed at 1:30. I made the decision that we should eat at the airport rather than wait for the hotel on the account of lil BES.

I asked her want she wanted. Her lunch requests:

• Broccoli
• Squid soup
• Grapes
• Pineapple

DH got pizza, us girls got Burger King. Food acquired we finally found a spot to eat and noticed one of us was missing a shoe…

Luckily she must have kicked it off while waiting for the food so the shoe was quickly located.

We picked up our stroller rental from side A. Lil BES immediately fell asleep in “vacation stroller”. We then grabbed our luggage and went to the Mears bus area on side B and immediately boarded bus to Aoa, POP and CBR.

As much as I loved DME and had good experiences on Sunshine Flyers the new combined service with Mears seems…fine. (What I really miss is the luggage transportation…)

Lil BES loves Mickey shorts so she loved the ones on the bus.

AoA was the first stop and we made our way to room 6707, one of the Lion King family suites. As far as room locations go here I think the LK ones are the way to go. Quieter than Nemo. Closer to buses and food court than Cars.

We picked up the rental crib at luggage service. As soon as we set up the crib Lil BES declared she wanted to go to bed because she was “really tired.” It was probably like 5pm at this point so…

Sure enough. Less than 5 minutes in the crib and she was magically very awake and wanted to go somewhere.

We hopped on a bus to DS and ended up getting tacos from a food truck.

Then we walked around and looked for cookies. The line at Gideon’s was too long but I had a backup plan. Summerhouse.

No wait at all here! We walked right up to order. Lil BES got an M&M cookie. It was so good she ate the actual cookie-not just M&Ms. That’s high praise from a toddler. I forget what DH and I had but remembered liking it.

I’d still love to try Gideon’s but I definitely recommend Summerhouse if you just need good, more reasonably priced cookies with no fuss.

We explored DS a little more and then waited what seemed like forever for a bus back to AoA.

My notes at this point simply say:

George.

I *think* George was the name I gave to our hotel neighbor. Lil BES heard the people across the hall and wanted to know who it was. Just saying our hotel neighbor wasn’t specific enough. She needed a name. And so hence George.

After a long day we all fell asleep quickly.

Spoiler: Track 8:

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Saturday January 20th (Day 2)

I woke up at 430am but managed to fall back asleep until 630am when lil BES awoke.

It took a long while to get ready enough to head down to breakfast. Lil BES and I headed out while DH finished getting ready.

Note lil BES had on pajamas but bear had actual shorts on.

Lil BES and I had oatmeal and kid Mickey waffles respectively.

Eventually DH arrived and then got himself breakfast.

Back to the room where we had extensive negotiations with a certain toddler about going to MK.

Lil BES: “I’m busy. So busy! I don’t have time!”

Eventually we made it to MK around 10. Far far later than I would have hoped.

We rode IASW first based on wait times.

Big hit with lil BES. Always love seeing my man Don Quixote. (The book is long but hilarious.)

Under the Sea was next. We stopped at eels. Again.

Lil BES wasn’t scared this time (although she mentions needing to be brave to ride on UtS again…)

Got her to wave at the end but no pic.

Next up is my personal favorite, Dumbo.

After lil BES noticed Barnstormer for the first time.

“I go on a roller coaster!” And then she didn’t want to. Oh well. I have a feeling when this kid does go on a coaster she’s going to love them.

Then it was time for a for snack. This turned into lunch at CHH. Kids salmon for lil BES. I had a fish sandwich. DH had some sort of fake crab thing.

It has only been in the last few trips that I’ve tried CHH. So long as they continue to offer kid’s salmon I’m sure it will now be a MK regular for us.

Spoiler: Track 9:

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Saturday January 20th (Day 2 continued)

The next item on our to do list was to find a needle in a haystack.

Ok. Two needles.

Two WDW Magic VIP needles.

@Tuvalu and Woody were in somewhere Fantasyland and we set off to find them.

And it was actually surprisingly easy.

Tuvalu and Woody were a delight (as always) and so sweet to chat with DH and I (awkward also as always) and a grumpy/sleepy lil BES.

Soon we parted ways and stroller lil BES to sleep. It didn’t take long.

We exited MK and walked to GF. The walkway to Poly was closed so we double backed and stopped at the Gasparilla Island Grill. We got coffee and split some coconut crème de pot.

Then we meandered back to MK with a still sleeping lil BES. We sat near the silhouette maker until lil BES awoke.

Spoiler: Track 10:

Imaginary bonus points to whoever gets this reference.

 

[Tuvalu]

Always a pleasure to see you guys!

 

[k8einwdw]

I *think* George was the name I gave to our hotel neighbor. Lil BES heard the people across the hall and wanted to know who it was. Just saying our hotel neighbor wasn’t specific enough. She needed a name. And so hence George.

So it’s not just my toddler that thinks we must know the government name of every single person we encounter.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

So it’s not just my toddler that thinks we must know the government name of every single person we encounter.

Nope. Not just yours.

Is Lincoln in the “why?” phase now? Because we are fully in that phase. So many questions…

 

[Tiggerish]

Always a pleasure to see you guys!

I refuse to believe that BES is an awkward conversationalist, based on her writing skills.

I trust that your choice of gif is sincere and you are supporting my belief.

(if not, please don't destroy my illusion)

 

[Tiggerish]

Friday January 19th (Day 1 Continued)

Finally landed at 1:30. I made the decision that we should eat at the airport rather than wait for the hotel on the account of lil BES.

I asked her want she wanted. Her lunch requests:

• Broccoli
• Squid soup
• Grapes
• Pineapple

DH got pizza, us girls got Burger King. Food acquired we finally found a spot to eat and noticed one of us was missing a shoe…

View attachment 833226

Luckily she must have kicked it off while waiting for the food so the shoe was quickly located.

View attachment 833227

We picked up our stroller rental from side A. Lil BES immediately fell asleep in “vacation stroller”. We then grabbed our luggage and went to the Mears bus area on side B and immediately boarded bus to Aoa, POP and CBR.

As much as I loved DME and had good experiences on Sunshine Flyers the new combined service with Mears seems…fine. (What I really miss is the luggage transportation…)

Lil BES loves Mickey shorts so she loved the ones on the bus.

View attachment 833228

AoA was the first stop and we made our way to room 6707, one of the Lion King family suites. As far as room locations go here I think the LK ones are the way to go. Quieter than Nemo. Closer to buses and food court than Cars.

We picked up the rental crib at luggage service. As soon as we set up the crib Lil BES declared she wanted to go to bed because she was “really tired.” It was probably like 5pm at this point so…

Sure enough. Less than 5 minutes in the crib and she was magically very awake and wanted to go somewhere.

We hopped on a bus to DS and ended up getting tacos from a food truck.

View attachment 833231

Then we walked around and looked for cookies. The line at Gideon’s was too long but I had a backup plan. Summerhouse.

View attachment 833230

No wait at all here! We walked right up to order. Lil BES got an M&M cookie. It was so good she ate the actual cookie-not just M&Ms. That’s high praise from a toddler. I forget what DH and I had but remembered liking it.

I’d still love to try Gideon’s but I definitely recommend Summerhouse if you just need good, more reasonably priced cookies with no fuss.

We explored DS a little more and then waited what seemed like forever for a bus back to AoA.

My notes at this point simply say:

George.

I *think* George was the name I gave to our hotel neighbor. Lil BES heard the people across the hall and wanted to know who it was. Just saying our hotel neighbor wasn’t specific enough. She needed a name. And so hence George.

After a long day we all fell asleep quickly.

Spoiler: Track 8:

But for the straightness of her hair versus the rabid curliness of my own at the same age, I recognize that bold red color from my own childhood pictures. I hate to say this, but you're in for it.

 

[Swissmiss]

Is Lincoln in the “why?” phase now? Because we are fully in that phase. So many questions…

Someone once told me that when their kid went into the rabbit hole of why (every answer to his kid brought on a new why question) he would eventually put an end to the cycle by replying "why do YOU think?". It would get his kid to ponder; YMMV.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Someone once told me that when their kid went into the rabbit hole of why (every answer to his kid brought on a new why question) he would eventually put an end to the cycle by replying "why do YOU think?". It would get his kid to ponder; YMMV.

Certainly worth a try. I’m sure this will lead to many hilarious lil BES explanations.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Saturday January 20th (Day 2 continued)

As lil BES stirred we walked from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland via the path by Tron.

I have notes that the M&G for Daisy/Minnie was 10 min. But I also have no pictures of this M&G.

So did we do it?

Apparently we tried to do the Carousel next but instead switched (at lil BES’s request) to “the honey pot” ride instead.

Lil BES loved the toys in the line. Loved them. Especially the pop up gophers.

At some point she tried to go backwards in the line to go back to the toys.

“Redhead on the loose!” one of our line neighbors jokingly exclaimed.

After our ride, I asked lil BES if she liked it.

“No.”

What she did like was the post ride gift shop. She wanted to get a Pooh lovey. And a Pluto lovey. And a Goofy lovey. And bubble gun.

We did say yes to a Pooh lovey. But the regular one. Not the $120 one behind the counter. We did enjoy hearing about why the $120 one was $120 from a very sweet CM who likely has to tell that tale all day long.

We got lil BES some Mac and cheese.

She debrief us on her Pooh experience. The Heffalumps were too scary.

The very last note I have from this day is that we saw a service dog pooping.

Spoiler: Track 11: