Trip Report Our August 2013 Trip - Like No Trip We Have Done Before!

Boy, there are so many great new trip reports out right now, I am reluctant to start my own! I just want to read them all. I did want to start though, so I don't forget things that actually happened on our trip.

This trip was like no other we have done before because for the first time, we were traveling with a kid! We went with my sister and brother-in-law (we have gone with them once before) and my niece who just turned 4. We had to go at a totally different pace than we are used to which at times was refreshing. We couldn't do the parks commando style this time. We wanted to try and utilize the morning EMH more (which we have NEVER done) and stop in the afternoons for naps. Normally, we sleep in a little and go hard from late morning till late night.

One other big change for this trip was that I decided to travel light and left my DSLR camera home. That was hard! I upgraded my super old model Canon Elph and bought a Canon Powershot SX260 HS. It was nice not having to lug my huge heavy camera bag, but I did kind of miss it.

When we first talked about this trip, my sis wanted to do a short trip. I think the thought of being at Disney World with a 4-yo, with no good schedules or routine scared her a bit. This worked out well because by the end, sis was exhausted lol! Dan and I were ok with this as we had just been to the World in January for Marathon Weekend. 4 nights was about all we could afford this time around! We booked a woods view room at the Wilderness Lodge. We had originally booked the standard view but when the discounts came out, there were no standard views available. The woods view with the discount still saved us enough money to get the dining plan at about the same price as the standard with no dining plan.

And...Away we go!!

We woke up really early on Aug 8th. We had a 6 am flight out of Philly! I love and hate those early morning flights. We were up around 2 am. We had to take care of our horses and cats before we left. My friend was coming over that night to house sit for our critters. We had taken our pups to their grandparents' house the night before. I was trying to be out the by 3 am but we had a little late start and left about 3:10. We were supposed to meet my sis and family at the off-site parking but they got there really early. We decided to meet at the airport instead.

We had a quick bite at McD's in the airport and were soon on our way. We left on time with no delays. Yeehaw!

It was a bit of a rainy morning as we left.


Disney Aug 2013 019
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Soon we were up above the clouds and the sun was shining! Someone does need to clean the windows on this Southwest plane though!


Disney Aug 2013 024
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

My niece was very excited to go!! Frankly, I was surprised she was still awake (that wouldn't last long)!


Disney Aug 2013 021
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Nothing brings back the smiles quicker for a 4-yo than her first ride on IASW. She was totally amazed by everything and totally loved it!


It's A Small World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


It's A Small World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


It's A Small World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Although this pic was blurry, I kind of liked the way it showed the action. You can almost hear the hyenas laughing!

It's A Small World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


It's A Small World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


It's A Small World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


It's A Small World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


It's A Small World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

After IASW, we still had a little time before our fastpasses to BTMRR. Philharmagic had only a short wait, so we decided to do that. It would be my niece's first 4D experience and we weren't sure how she would like it.

Very serious before the show.

Disney Aug 2013 145
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

The verdict.....She loved it! I was cracking up the whole time watching her grab for things. Everytime they would switch to a different movie scene, she would squeal with delight. It was a lot of fun!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Yay! A trip report!
There are so many good ones out there right now, but there's always room for one more.
Your point and shoot did a great job! I bet you felt so carefree without the SLR! :)
Good call on IASW after a night time ride on Jungle Cruise.
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great TR so far! I always love reading when people were there at the same time. In fact, we were even in MK the same day :)
How awesome! I will have to look extra close at your pictures! :) It is neat to read other people's observations same from the same time.
Yay! A trip report!
There are so many good ones out there right now, but there's always room for one more.
Your point and shoot did a great job! I bet you felt so carefree without the SLR! :)
Good call on IASW after a night time ride on Jungle Cruise.
I know, I am finding it very hard to catch up!! I am pretty happy with the point and shoot although I did kind of miss my DSLR. It was very liberating though and I may make it a regular for my future Disney trips! It was great not to have to go through bag check!!
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
I'm glad IASW and Philharmagic made up for Jungle Cruise at night!

I was impressed with WL when we ate there. Beautiful resort from just the little I saw.
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So when I left off, we had brought back the smiles with IASW and Philharmagic. We had fastpasses for BTMRR and were a bit worried that we may erase the smiles with that one. Niece had been on itty bitty kiddy fair roller coasters and loved them but had never been on one as big as Big Thunder. The original plan was to try the Goofy coaster but the line had always been too long and we didn't want to waste a fastpass on that one. We decided to make this the last ride of the evening. My sis asked her if she wanted to go on and she said yes so we went with it!


Disney Aug 2013 149
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Aug 2013 148
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

She didn't like the first lift hill because it is dark and very loud. I was thinking "Oh boy, this is going to be a long ride for her!". I managed to glance back a couple times and she looked like she was liking it. When we got off she said, "What's next?!" It ended up being her favorite ride of the night (with IASW coming in a close second). Bedtime is next! It was approaching 10:30 and the park was closing at 11 pm. Everyone needed a good night's sleep after such a long day. We had an EMH date with Epcot tomorrow morning!

As we were leaving via Liberty Square walkway, the MM&Y show was starting. It wasn't very crowded so we found a nice spot on the sidewalk and watched.


Magic, Memories and You
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Magic, Memories and You
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Magic, Memories and You
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Magic, Memories and You
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Magic, Memories and You
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Towards the end, niece got extremely frustrated because people came and stood directly in front of her stroller. Since it was already close to being over, my BIL took her out and held her but come on people really? Right in front of a stroller with a kid sitting in it?

After the show, we caught a boat back to the WL. We didn't have to wait long at all. Again...love that boat!!
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Aug 9th -Before we parted ways, we made plans to meet the next morning at 7:30 so we could go to Epcot for morning EMH. We would have left a little earlier but we knew it was going to be tough after a long and late day yesterday. We made it to the bus stop by 7:35. Now, I have always heard that that morning EMH are much less crowded than the evening ones. When we are by ourselves, Dan and I prefer to sleep in a bit so we have never done morning EMH. I think we are going to keep it that way in the future. They did not work out for us this trip. We had no luck for early mornings! Sis also said that niece had trouble getting up. She kept asking for a few more minutes which is very unlike her. :p

We got to the bus stop and waited. And waited. And waited. The line for the bus to Epcot grew and grew. Multiple buses for all the other parks came and went. Finally after 20 min a bus finally came. They had to load a scooter and then we were on our way.....to Fort Wilderness. Ugh....it was already 8 am. So much for making it early. We finally got to Epcot at 8:20. As I got off the bus, my stomach dropped to the ground. Without looking for it, I knew that I had forgotten my KTTW card. One of the downsides to not taking a bag with all my camera stuff in it meant that I had to put my card in my pocket which I am not used to doing. Son of a $@%#@%@$%!!! I should also mention that we had 9:30 ressies at Kona Café that morning. My original plan was to do Soarin and Test Track and then head to breakfast. This plan had totally fallen apart.

I felt soooooo bad. After all that waiting, now I had to go to Guest Relations and see if they could help me. I sent my sis and her family in and Dan had to wait at Guest Relations with me. I told them to go right for Soarin and try to get in line to see it or get fastpasses. There were so many people in line at Guest Relations. I felt like crying and beating myself over the head. The line looked worse than it was because there were several groups that were taken together. It was still pretty bad because those groups had issues that took forever to solve. One lady took up a window (and there were only 2) nearly the whole time we were there. After 15 agonizing minutes, we went up and the CM printed me up a new KTTW card in less than 2 minutes.

Finally at 8:45 am, we made it through the turnstiles and into Epcot. I texted my sis. They were headed back to SE because Soarin' already had a 40 min wait. :eek: They got fastpasses for 11-12 pm. Test Track was also up to a 30-40 min wait. We rode SE with only a 5 minute wait.


Spaceship Earth
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Spaceship Earth
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Aug 2013 161
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Sistine Chapel - Spaceship Earth
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Spaceship Earth
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Our silly picture. My picture reflects how I was feeling that morning!


Disney Aug 2013 166
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

After our ride on SE, it was time to head to breakfast. Not the morning I had planned. :depressed:


Disney Aug 2013 172
by
SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Well this view makes me feel a little better.


Spaceship Earth - Epcot
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Niece was very excited to ride the monorail. It didn't take long for one to come and we were on our way to the Poly. We got off at the TTC and took the walkway to the Poly. Soon we were seeing this!


Polynesian Resort - Walt Disney World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr
 

disneygirl76

Carey Poppins - Nanny and Disney Enthusiest
After taking a journey with Ariel, we made our way to Storybook Circus. We checked the wait times for the Great Goofini and Dumbo. Both were pretty long. We got fastpasses for Dumbo and jumped in line for Goofini. It quickly became apparent that we would not be able to last 30 min in line for the Goofy coaster. The sun was blazing hot, most of the line is not covered and I thought the line looked more than 30 min. We decided to nix that plan and go for lunch instead. We were interested in quick and close so we choose Cosmic Rays.


Sonny Eclipse - Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

While I understand the reasoning behind not allowing people to hold tables, it really does make it tough for people with little kids. It is also tough if you have people ordering from different areas and then trying to meet up after ordering. My sis and family had their food before we did and were seated in the room with Sonny Eclipse. I was trying to find them and had to wait in line to get into that room. My sister saw us and came out where the attendant said we could go in the exit with her since we already had a table but it was too hard to get out of the entrance line. We just had to wait it out.

Dan and I both had the burgers and they weren't very good. They were kind of old and a bit dried out. The fried onions from the fixin's bar helped. Another issue with the seating arrangement is that you couldn't easily find a table and go back to put your toppings on, so you are struggling with tray, drinks and all you were carrying in the parks. Yeah....I think I would rather take my chances waiting for a table to open up while someone else in my party is getting the food. My sis got the chicken nuggets to share with my niece and my BIL had the bbq pork sandwich. Both said their meals were good. Guess I should have gotten one of those!

After lunch we took a leisurely ride on the steam train. We took a round-trip ride from Storybook Circus. By the time we got back, it was time for our Dumbo fastpasses. My sis sat this one out as spinner rides aren't her favorite.


Flying Dumbo - Walt Disney World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Flying Dumbo - Walt Disney World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Flying Dumbo - Walt Disney World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Flying Dumbo - Walt Disney World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Believe and Soar!
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

My niece was starting to fade so we decided to call it and go back to the room for naptime. On the way out, we saw that the Tea Cups only had a 15 min wait. The boys wanted to take my niece on it. Sis and I have weaker stomachs so we decided to watch!


Tea Cups - Walt Disney World
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

It was pretty funny. We were watching my niece's face when they started. Apparently Dad and Unky Dan were spinning the cup a little too fast. They slowed it down and then she started laughing. By the end, they couldn't keep it going fast enough for her!

We took the boat back to WL. Love having the boat right there! Dad and Unky Dan fell asleep sitting up on the boat ride back. I took a hilarious pic and if it was just Dan I would post it, but not sure how my BIL would feel having that up on the internet!:p

I found the same experience with the burgers there - too dry!!! Lovin' the report so far!!! :)
 

WLBound

Well-Known Member
I'm really enjoying reading about your trip. Your niece is too cute! I especially love the photos of the Wilderness Lodge because we will checking in there in 2.5 weeks and we're getting so excited.
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm really enjoying reading about your trip. Your niece is too cute! I especially love the photos of the Wilderness Lodge because we will checking in there in 2.5 weeks and we're getting so excited.
Jealous that our trip is over and so many others have trips still coming up! More pictures of the lodge to come! Have fun on your upcoming trip.
 

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