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]

Enjoying the report and pictures. Your niece is adorable.

Thank you! She sure is!

 

[Kristia]

We arrived at Kona Café a little late (seemed to become a theme for this trip). Although it is a short walk to the Poly from the TTC, it seems to be a bit of a hike to the Great Ceremonial House and I always underestimate how much time it takes to walk there. No worries though as there were plenty of tables and there was only a 5 minute wait before they called us.

Sorry....no pictures. My BIL and I had the tonga toast of course! Dan had the steak and eggs and I think my sis had an omelet. Everything was soooooo good as always! We really confused the waitress because my sis and BIL wanted to pay for their meal with cash. They wanted to use the dining plan for their daughter's meal. They were trying to save credits because they had a Le Cellier date for tomorrow. Dan and I were going to watch my niece so they could use the plan for her today. One thing with this new system, CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS! Really scrutinize your charges if you charge gratuities, drinks, apps, etc to the room. I didn't do this (even after my BIL warned me) and the waitress here charged us for our meals here. They weren't on the dining plan and I didn't notice till I got home. Our receipt we signed at the Poly showed that they should have only charged us gratuity. Many of the servers had issues with the new system and told us they were still learning. It got worse tonight at Akershus!

Anyway, after we were stuffed with breakfast, my sis and BIL decided they wanted to head back to the room to swim and nap so they would be ready for tonight. They gave us their FP to Soarin'. We were going to cut it close, trying to make it over there!

We made it with about 10 min to spare. I felt bad that they wouldn't be able to ride. The fastpasses that were still available were for when we would be eating dinner.

The only pic I took at Epcot after breakfast was this one. I had to show my sis how long the line for SE was now! Crazy. I think it was a 30 min wait!


Huge Line for Spaceship Earth! by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Sorry for the pathetically short update. More tomorrow!

 

[FlaggNL]

Thanks! Not sure I will ever make it there, so I will take your word for it!

As you can see I will build a trip report from last summer in Paris (10 days ). There will be pictures of Disney Dreams in the report!!

 

[Kristia]

As you can see I will build a trip report from last summer in Paris (10 days ). There will be pictures of Disney Dreams in the report!!

I will definitely check it out!

 

[Kristia]

I actually did take another couple pics when we went into The Land to use the Soarin' FPs.


The Land by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Inside the Land by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Inside The Land by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

After riding Soarin', it was time to head back to the hotel for a little pool time! We didn't want to do too much without the family. On our way out, we browsed around at the Art of Disney store. LOVE that store! We actually saw a couple prints that weren't too expensive. They even had the hula Minnie and Mickey print in an 8x10 that I had seen on the Disney Cruise. I don't think I had seen it as a smaller print before.

Anyway, now some pool fun! Niece fell in love with the water slide. If you ask her what was her favorite thing about the trip, she tells you the water slide and eating with the princesses (in that order). They have life jackets for the little ones and she went down that slide repeatedly by herself and also coaxed each of us to do it a couple times with her too. Was using my waterproof Kodak, so the pics aren't the best.


Disney Aug 2013 003 by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Aug 2013 011 by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Aug 2013 009 by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Aug 2013 016 by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Aug 2013 020 by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

After swimming, we had lunch at Roaring Forks. I really wish that place was bigger for this size resort. The cold sandwich and soup line wasn't long but the flatbread/burgers/chicken line was huge. Of course I wanted a flatbread. Dan had some kind of sandwich with homemade chips (YUM!). We got cupcakes for the dessert. Mine was the carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and his was chocolate with a caramel center. Both were delicious! With stuffed bellies, we went back to the room for a nap. We made plans to meet up with sis around 4 pm. By this time, we had worked out a good system with the adjoining room. During the naptimes, we kept the door closed and when we were ready to get going, we would open the door to let the other room know we were ready. That way we still had privacy if we wanted.

 

[Kristia]

We met up at 4:15 and head out to the bus stop. We had a 6:30 pm ressie for Akershus that evening. We get to the bus stop and the same family with the scooter is there waiting for the Epcot bus. Again, it was quite a wait. It took about 15 minutes probably. The bus pulls up and there was no room for the scooter because there was already one there. The guy waiting at the stop was pretty angry. What can you do? Someone got on before you.

Finally, we were back at Epcot after first making a stop at Fort Wilderness. We still had plenty of time before our reservation so we headed for the Seas with Nemo. On our way there, we passed by the Character Spot and noticed that it was only a 5 min wait. Woohoo! Niece's first character encounters! I just ordered the Photopass CD today so I will upload the pics once I get them. We saw Mickey, Pluto, and Minnie. She loved them all and had them autograph her book.

Now onto the Seas!


The Seas by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

We rode Nemo which she loved (except for the scary angler fish)!


Jellyfish! by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Next up was Turtle Talk with Crush...again big hit! She was a little apprehensive at first but once she saw all the kids sitting on the floor she was fine. It was about this time that I notice my camera battery was getting low. Utoh....I didn't bring a spare with me either!

Weird angle so I didn't get people in the shot!

Nemo! by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

We still had time before our reservation and I knew that niece would love the Gran Fiesta Tour in Mexico. I was right! This was one we had to repeat a couple times during our trip.


Pyramid - Grand Fiesta Tour by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


San Angel Inn - Mexico by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

 

[FlaggNL]

I will definitely check it out!

Hi Kristia, the first parts are there Hope you enjoy it!

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

We usually avoid any type of EMH like the plague. They always seem more trouble than their worth and the parks are always more crowded. Also, the angler fish in Nemo freaks me out every time and I'm an adult.

A chocolate cupcake with caramel center?! I might be heading to Roaring Forks in December when we stay at WL...

 

[Kristia]

We usually avoid any type of EMH like the plague. They always seem more trouble than their worth and the parks are always more crowded. Also, the angler fish in Nemo freaks me out every time and I'm an adult.

A chocolate cupcake with caramel center?! I might be heading to Roaring Forks in December when we stay at WL...

I think we will definitely avoid the morning ones. Sometimes I like the evening ones, especially at the MK. Both cupcakes were really good but the chocolate one was heavenly!

 

[Goofnut1980]

Love the report!!

 

[Kristia]

Love the report!!

Thank you!

 

[jkl2000]

Great TR and pictures. This TR is pretty interesting to me, as we'll be bringing our DS4 to WDW this October, so it's interesting to see how your (very cute!) niece did with the rides. We;re staying at POFQ, and I sort of covet your WL boat, but probably it's all good.

Oh, I love the photo of the tea cups, because you can sort of only see the men, not your niece. I suddenly realized how funny it looks to see people sitting in giant tea cups!

 

[Kristia]

Great TR and pictures. This TR is pretty interesting to me, as we'll be bringing our DS4 to WDW this October, so it's interesting to see how your (very cute!) niece did with the rides. We;re staying at POFQ, and I sort of covet your WL boat, but probably it's all good.

Oh, I love the photo of the tea cups, because you can sort of only see the men, not your niece. I suddenly realized how funny it looks to see people sitting in giant tea cups!

Thanks for reading! It was definitely a different experience with a 4 year old. She is pretty adventurous (not like I was) and will try anything once. We just had to remember to go at her pace and my sis took her back to the room if she thought she was getting too tired. Only a couple small meltdowns, but nothing too major! The tea cup ride pictures are pretty funny! The boat was nice but we could only use it for the MK. Wish there were other ways than the bus! Thanks for reading! More too come!

 

[Kristia]

Once thing that I forgot was Dan had seen a print in Art of Disney when we had stopped in there after breakfast. Before we went back to the Seas, he went to purchase it. We knew that sometimes that store closes early so we wanted to make sure he bought it before it closed for the day.
This is the print he bought. He is a huge Pluto fan!


Disney Aug 2013 004 by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

After we toured Mexico with the Three Cabelleros, Dan and I stopped at the market and bought an Oaxacan woodcarving. We started collecting them years ago. There used to be a shop in New Hope, PA that sold them. Now we can only get them in WDW and on the internet. This is the one we picked.


Disney Aug 2013 001 by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

While we were making our purchase, my sis took my niece over to the bathrooms at Norway so she could change into her princess dress.

We met them over by the bathrooms and went to check in at Akershus. We made it to the line at 6:25 pm. Apparently, earlier in the evening there had been a computer glitch and earlier people had not been able to check in. They had told them to take a ride on Maelstrom and come back. They had "checked" them in on paper. There was one lady who bypassed the line to ask about the check in. She argued with the host for 15 minutes while the line got longer and longer. Finally he had to go get a manager. We finally got checked in and then had to wait another 20 min before we got seated. I know the big problem was that we had 5 people. Parties of 4 that checked in way after us kept getting called. That was kind of a drag. Finally we got checked in and went for pictures with Belle. I will post those at the end as my sis has them and I have to scan them. Another big bummer...my camera battery died so I have no pics from the night. The food was excellent and I loved the cold buffet. The princesses were great and each took quite a bit of time with my niece. I think Cinderella was first. My niece was star struck and just so excited. My sis, said this alone made the whole trip and waiting to get seated all worth it. I think it brought a few tears to my sis's eyes! We saw Cinderella, Ariel, Aurora and Snow White.

After dinner we struck a claim to a bit of land for Illuminations. My sis and BIL took my niece for another ride in Mexico while Dan and I waited. When they came back, Dan and BIL went in search of some beer from Germany.
Dan brought back grapefruit beer. One word....YUM!!! I am not much of a beer drinker and I loved this. You can definitely taste the grapefruit and it is a bit carbonated. It is quite refreshing in the hot weather. I had a few sips of his (since he only bought one). Illuminations was a bit of a disappointment tonight. The globe didn't work at all for the first part. It was quite boring. They finally got it working during the second song. Very disappointing since this is my favorite show.

 

[Kristia]

After Illuminations, we made our way to the exit. Of course so did everyone else and the bus lines were long. My sis didn't feel like waiting in line with a tired kid so she sprang for a cab back to the Wilderness Lodge. At the end of the day she is not the most patient person. It cost just over $12. Not too bad.

We said good night and decided to meet even earlier tomorrow to try and get to DHS morning EMH. Dan wanted to check out the arcade and use our points voucher so I changed my camera battery and went down with him. While he was playing some games, I wandered around to take some pics. I really missed my DSLR camera for these pics.

Territory Lounge

Territory Lounge by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge Fireplace by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge Fireplace by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge Lobby by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge Lighting by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge Lobby by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge Check In by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge Lobby by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge Lobby by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge Mercantile by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

 

[Kristia]

Love the lighting details at Wilderness Lodge. I only have two pics, but there are so many neat lighting fixtures.
I want them all for my house. Not sure where I could put those huge teepee chandelier type lights!


Wilderness Lodge Lighting by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge Lighting by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Time to hit the hay! We had an early morning the next day!

Aug 10th - We met and headed out to the bus stop. We were at the stop at 7:15. Again the scooter family came. I swear they were following us! The bus again took forever. I don't think I have ever had this much trouble with buses. I know they tell you 20 min between buses but I rarely had to wait that long for one. Again, we saw multiples for all the other parks (which did not have EMH hours that morning).
Here is the waiting for the bus excitement pose....

Waiting For the Bus by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Bus came about 20 minutes on the dot from when we got out there. Then we go to Fort Wilderness to cram on about 5 people (which was all we could fit). 2nd day trying for EMH and I decided I would never do it again.
Maybe it would be worth it in the "slow" time but during the summer...forget it!

We got to DHS gates at about 8 am. We separated from the guys and my niece. Sis and I were going to go through the bag check while the guys went through no bags. The crowds were horrendous and they didn't start letting people in the gates until about 8:05. The security guard was not happy when we got up there. She said she likes to get people in to the gates and was upset they hadn't opened on time and that they didn't let people at least start through security.

Once we were through, we met the guys and grabbed their tickets. We were going to run to get fastpasses for TSMM and hopefully jump in the standby when they got there. We had planned to go running on vacation but that didn't happen, so this was our workout! Well we were dummies and made a wrong turn and had to double back. By the time we got to the fastpass line, the guys were just strolling up. Yeah, they didn't let us live that down. Sis stayed in line to get fastpasses and we hopped in the standby which was down the street by this time. Posted wait time jumped to 40 min while we were in line. Sis came back and we decided that we didn't want to waste time standing in line. I think the fastpasses were for close to noon. Ugh!

I am not too much for the thrill rides. I love RNRC after the launch but that scares the bleep out of me! TOT, not a fan at all! I was happy to send Dan with BIL to go do RNRC and TOT. Sis and I took niece to see which characters were out at the hat.

She was very excited to see Stitch! We just barely got to see him as he only saw one more family after us. That would have been a meltdown if he left before she saw him!

Stitch by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

She also got to see Goofy, but was upset at the time and sis just had him sign the autograph book so no picture.

It was getting close to 9 am and we wanted to catch the first VOTLM show. On our way there, we stopped to shop a bit and niece bought a Duffy. That made her feel better. It was quite funny because she also wanted an outfit for him. Sorry but she picked the worst looking outfit. The Uncle Sam outfit! It has this big pimpin' hat which is probably what makes the outfit kind of weird looking. Sis tried to talk her out of it, but there was no doing that and it was her birthday money. Sis asked her later why she picked that one and she said she liked the bow on it. I also have heard recently that she has yet to put the outfit on Duffy!

After shopping, we went to see VOTLM! Niece's favorite princess is Ariel so she loved this!


Under the Sea by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Under the Sea by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Look At This Stuff, Isn't it Neat by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Ursula by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Ariel and Ursula by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Flotsam and Jetsam by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Ariel by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Ariel and Eric by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

 

[need2go2wdw]

I am loving your TR so far! I have a 5 year old daughter who loves Disney and I can relate to all the "kid stuff" you have to change your plans too! It's quite a change going with kids vs no kids! Our last trip was in April and I'm already having horrible withdrawals! Reading these reports makes it better! A little worse because it makes me want to be there NOW, but it still makes it better

I wonder if it would be weird to post my TR from April? I haven't posted a TR in years, but the last time I did, it was right after the vacation.

 

[Kristia]

I am loving your TR so far! I have a 5 year old daughter who loves Disney and I can relate to all the "kid stuff" you have to change your plans too! It's quite a change going with kids vs no kids! Our last trip was in April and I'm already having horrible withdrawals! Reading these reports makes it better! A little worse because it makes me want to be there NOW, but it still makes it better

I wonder if it would be weird to post my TR from April? I haven't posted a TR in years, but the last time I did, it was right after the vacation.

Thanks for reading! My sis is a big planner at home and very regimented. While she loved going to WDW, she said 4 days of craziness was about all she could handle lol!

It wouldn't be weird at all to post your trip from April. Plenty of people do them a little late. It is a great way to beat the WDW withdrawls by writing about a past trip!

 

[meyeet]

Great trip report.

I'm looking for a new camera to replace an 8 year old Canon Elph and started looking at the SX260 HS after reading through your report. Amazon reviews seemed to be pretty good and it seems like you have been happy with the camera. Any other thoughts that you have about it? How long does it last on a fully charged battery? Have you used it for video at all?

 

[Kristia]

Great trip report.

I'm looking for a new camera to replace an 8 year old Canon Elph and started looking at the SX260 HS after reading through your report. Amazon reviews seemed to be pretty good and it seems like you have been happy with the camera. Any other thoughts that you have about it? How long does it last on a fully charged battery? Have you used it for video at all?

I really like it. It is just a little bigger/heavier than my old Elph (can't remember which model I had) but mine was about 8 years old too. I haven't used it a lot yet but it does take really nice pictures. Most of the time you can get away with the automatic features but it does a lot more if you like to do some manual stuff too. The indoor/dark ride pictures didn't turn out quite as well as my DSLR but I thought most of the time they came out well. They have a low light mode which is what I used most of the time. I didn't really do any video this time but have used it a little at home. The video quality is very good. It has a great zoom with an image stabilizer which helps immensely if you are using the full zoom. There are some good you tube reviews that can show you some of the video quality. It is really daunting trying to figure out which camera to buy. There are just so many to choose from! I went back and forth before I finally chose this one. Most of the pictures are right out of the camera but there are a few that I tweeked with photoshop for color. I did have a bit of trouble at the beginning because somehow I switched it to the AI servo mode where it can track a moving object. I couldn't focus on anything because it kept trying to track something that wasn't there. Once I fixed that all was good!