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
@meyeet - I also forgot to add that the camera battery would usually last me a morning, taking quite a few pictures (maybe about 50-75) and then I would replace it when going back to the room. I ordered 2 non-canon batteries as backups and they did fine. The one day I forgot to replace it after going back to the room and it died just before dinner. Like most electronics it doesn't tell you your battery is low until it is almost too late. If it had said it had half a battery left, I would have remembered to replace it!
 

Jboccuzzi

Member
I just purchased that same camera a little while back for my trip in October! What setting did you use for the low light shots? Thanks :)
 

meyeet

Well-Known Member
@meyeet - I also forgot to add that the camera battery would usually last me a morning, taking quite a few pictures (maybe about 50-75) and then I would replace it when going back to the room. I ordered 2 non-canon batteries as backups and they did fine. The one day I forgot to replace it after going back to the room and it died just before dinner. Like most electronics it doesn't tell you your battery is low until it is almost too late. If it had said it had half a battery left, I would have remembered to replace it!
Thanks for all the info. I'll have to remember to buy some extra batteries just to be safe.
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I just purchased that same camera a little while back for my trip in October! What setting did you use for the low light shots? Thanks :)
I used the pre-set low light setting. If you turn the dial at the top to SCN and then hit the function set button, you can scroll down to the shooting mode. One of them is a low light mode. There is also a night-time scene which also worked but I liked the low light one better. There is also a fireworks mode but I didn't have a chance to try that one.
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks for all the info. I'll have to remember to buy some extra batteries just to be safe.
It is good to have at least two. I would just leave one charging and use one, that way I always left with a fresh one even if the used one still displayed plenty of battery life.
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After VOTLM, we went just across the way for the Disney Jr. Stage Show. We were really hoping to get into the first show there at 9:45 am so we didn't have to wait for the next one. Niece REALLY wanted to see this as she loves all the Disney Jr. characters. I had never seen this before.


Disney Junior Stage Show
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

It was very cute. I definitely wouldn't need to see it if I wasn't with a 4 year old. You have to sit on the floor, so just be warned if you have trouble sitting on the floor, it is about a 20 minute show and they kind of pack you in. The kids loved it. For each scene, they have a special effect in the theater. For the Sophia part, they make it snow. For the Doc McStuffin's part, they do bubbles, and for the Jake and the Neverland Pirates they rain down "gold doubloons" which are gold paper discs. At the end for Minnie's birthday they rain down streamers. My niece loved it and sang along to all the songs.

We met the guys after the show at the Animation Building. While we were waiting, we checked the character lines. The only character available at that time was Sorcerer Mickey. The Wreck-It Ralph characters would be out in 15 min but we didn't want to wait.

After we met back up with them, we gave them our KTTW cards and they went to get Star Tours FP for us.

Dan and I hadn't had breakfast yet so we walked to Starring Rolls. Holey Moley! The line was out the building and all the way to the end of where the outdoor seating was. Good grief! No cupcakes for me. :arghh: Thinking about it later, I should have gone to the Writer's Stop but I didn't even think of that then. :banghead: Instead we went to Min and Bill's Dockside Diner. Dan and I shared a pretzel dog and we each got a milkshake. I got a vanilla and he had a chocolate. My sis and BIL got a milkshake too. They really can't call these milkshakes. Don't get me wrong, it was very good but it was more like a big soft serve ice cream in a shake cup. They were so thick you had to eat them with a spoon to the very end.

It was finally time to use our FPs for TSMM.


Pixar Place
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Toy Story Midway Mania
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

We split our group for the ride since I knew we would have to wait longer to go in the same car. Dan and I were taken right way since were just a group of 2. I am not sure if my sis and BIL split up for their ride. Dan won of course. We waited outside for them.

My sis said my niece was starting to fade and really wanted to go back to the hotel to swim. Dan, BIL and I went to do Star Tours while sis took my niece back.
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I just got our photopass CD the other day so here are some of the pictures from that.

These are from the Story Time with Belle show.

Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Silly smile!

Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

All of us at Epcot.


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Epcot Character Spot

Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Yes...I don't know why Dan wore stripes with plaid. I am still giving him a hard time...sigh.


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
More from the Character Spot -


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Hmmmm.... Minnie didn't hug me...:p


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

DHS


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Dan and BIL's pic on RNRC


Disney Vacation Aug 2013
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

It is a good thing he didn't loose his brand new Oakleys! Jeez.
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So when I left off, my sis had decided to take my niece back to the hotel for some swim time. Dan, BIL and I went to ride Star Tours with the fastpasses. My pictures didn't come out too great. We always go through the fastpass line and I don't have time to stop and take a real pictures.


Star Tours
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Star Tours
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

I think we had the Vader beginning and went to the ice planet Hoth and ended in the with the underwater scene. After our ride with Star Tours, we decided to go back to the room. BIL found a mother and son just entering the standby line and gave them the extra fastpasses since my sis and niece hadn't gone. They were super happy as wait was currently at 40 min.

As we left DHS, I snapped a quick shot of the Monsters U topiary. Very cool! Had to get it at an odd angle because they are using it as a photopass spot.


Monsters U Topiary
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Once again, we decided to have lunch at Roaring Forks at Wilderness Lodge. I had the Buffalo Chicken Flatbread, their chef's special flatbread of the day. Dan had the cheese flatbread. Both were very good despite the long line! We took a short swim and then nap time!

After our nap, we were going to Epcot. Sis and BIL weren't quite ready so we went without them and decided to meet up with them when they got there.

On our way to the bus, I took a few pics in the lobby.


Wilderness Lodge
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

Would love this lantern in my house!

Wilderness Lodge Lighting
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Wilderness Lodge
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Dan and I caught the bus to Epcot. Of course, because we had plenty of time...the bus came almost immediately. o_O

Earlier, Dan had found a survey marker and before we went to the entry gates, he made sure he got a shot.


Epcot Survey Marker
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

The sky was so beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky and so blue. Perfect day for a photo shoot!

Spaceship Earth
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Spaceship Earth
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Spaceship Earth
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

While waiting for my sis, we went to browse in Mouse Gear. Dan wanted to get niece a special present. He had a certain idea and wanted to see if he could find it there.


Mouse Gear - Epcot
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

No luck in Mouse Gear...luckily we had seen something at the hotel gift store so we would pick that up tonight. About this time, I got a text that they had arrived. Dan and I were babysitting tonight while my sis and BIL went to Le Cellier. We gathered up the little girly and her first request was to go on Spaceship Earth. My kinda girl! :D


Inside Spaceship Earth
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Inside Spaceship Earth
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Inside Spaceship Earth
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

We went to dinner at Sunshine Seasons. I hardly took any pictures this evening. I can't remember what Dan had, but I had the pork chop with potatoes and strawberry shortcake for dessert. I think my niece had the mac and cheese kids meal. Dan ate most of it. It was a really large portion for her. When I was getting her meal, we asked her which side she wanted and one of the choices was a cookie. She picked the cookie but told me not to tell her mom that she got the cookie. It was funny because I know my sis would have gotten her the cookie too but she was so serious. After we were almost done eating, an older gentleman that was there with his family came up to me and said, "I just have to say something to you. She is so adorable!" . Couldn't take the credit lol. She isn't mine. :p

We had a fun aunt and unky evening. :happy: After dinner, we went on LWTL and then went over to see Figment. My niece is still talking about Figment making a stink! She loved it.

We had a little hide and seek with Duffy.


Hide and Seek with Duffy
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

We tried to see the "real" Duffy in WS, but he had just left. Instead we went to Mexico with Donald again. She saw the kids coloring at the Kidcot station and wanted to color a Duffy. I received a text that they were finishing up at Le Cellier and heading our way to meet us.

We met them close to Germany where they had bought us each a grapefruit beer! YUM! We found out that they had a bit of a problem at Le Cellier. When they tried to use their dining plan, the server told them that they only had two dining credits left. My sis said she was kind of embarrassed because the server said, you know this is a signature restaurant that requires 2 credits per meal. They had purposely saved credits so they would have enough. They didn't have any choice but to pay for one meal out of pocket until they could get back to the hotel to see what the issue was.

We split up. They went back for another boat ride in Mexico. Dan and I went to Japan to browse around Mitsukoshi. I needed some Japanese candy!:hungry:

We left WS as Illuminations was starting. Wow! I had never seen it from the area near the entrance to WS. The Inferno Barge is so much closer to that point. The heat from the fire there was so intense! We got to the buses before the huge crowds and were back to the hotel in no time.

Night time at the Wilderness Lodge - Wish I got more night pics!


Wilderness Lodge at Night
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I read your trip report with a real pleasure
I take some notes for my vacation in 2014 august

Sorry if my english is not so good but I'm french :)

Thanks for reading and welcome to WDWMagic! I saw this was your first post! Hopefully I will be able to finish this in the next few days. I haven't had a lot of time for posting lately.
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I am back to try and finish this up!

When we got back to the hotel, we met up with the family. Dan wanted to take niece to get her surprise. So, the story is...one of Dan's earliest memories is that his godfather gave him a Mickey Mouse watch. He still has the watch although it no longer works and he really looks upon that memory with fondness. He wanted to buy niece her very first watch (although kind of obsolete in this society :)). He saw a couple Ariel watches in the Mercantile so we took her down there to pick it out. She was so excited and loved it!

It was now bedtime because we had another early morning planned for the next day.

The next morning, we got up early. We had a morning breakfast planned for Donald's Breakfast Safari at the Tusker House. We got to the bus stop at 7:15. There were no EMH for AK that day but we knew from previous days that the buses ran early as we had seen them more than the ones for the EMH parks. Don't you know that as soon as we got to the stop, a lady told us that there had just been two AK buses in a row. ARRRRRGGGGHHH! So we wait and wait. 20 minutes later a bus pulls up. There were already people on it so I was hoping that we would just go to AK since it had already stopped at FW. Nope...we went to the Poly just to drop off one family. Than we had to go to GF. Needless to say, we were late again. Luckily it wasn't too big an issue. Even though we were late, I still wanted to snap some pictures.


Animal Kingdom Welcome
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Animal Kingdom Entrance
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Let the Memories Begin!
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

It was really nice being in the park before it opened to the public. I wish I had more time to take some more pictures.


Tree of Live
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Empty Animal Kingdom
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr



Tusker House
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


After giving our name, we got right in line to meet Donald. We didn't buy the overpriced photo!


Tusker House
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Tusker House
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Safari Donald Duck
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Safari Donald Duck
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I only took a pic of my first plate, but I found this to be the best breakfast buffet that we have had a WDW. I do like CP but I really liked the choices here. Last visit we did Cape May Café and the breakfast was really lacking and the quality was not very good. This was excellent! We had good character interactions and it was just overall a great experience. We will definitely go back here.


Donald's Safari Breakfast
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr

My niece got to lead the parade!


Donald's Safari Breakfast
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Disney Aug 2013 280
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Donald's Safari Breakfast
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Donald's Safari Breakfast
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr


Donald's Safari Breakfast
by SupersonicNJ, on Flickr
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Loving your report!! Isn't it amazing how different a trip to WDW with kids is versus just adults? We too love Tusker House breakfast and can't wait to go back in June! Can't wait to read the rest!
 

zelie

New Member
Great !!!
I see it´s very different than in France
We don ´t have those characters ( I mean like that ) except during the sunday brunch with a different thema every sundays
I think we go to spend very good vacation
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Loving your report!! Isn't it amazing how different a trip to WDW with kids is versus just adults? We too love Tusker House breakfast and can't wait to go back in June! Can't wait to read the rest!
Thank you! Yes it was different but very fun. It was so funny and really exciting to see how excited she was about everything. It was truly magical to look at Disney through her eyes. :happy:
Enjoying your report and pictures; and your niece is adorable!

Thank you! Yes she is!

Great !!!
I see it´s very different than in France
We don ´t have those characters ( I mean like that ) except during the sunday brunch with a different thema every sundays
I think we go to spend very good vacation

There are quite a few restaurants that have character meals. I think all of them serve breakfast and/or dinner every day of the week. Every park has at least one and most of the deluxe resorts have one. It is definitely a great way to see the characters without having to wait in lines at the parks! MK has Crystal Palace with Winne the Pooh and friends. Epcot has Akershus which is Princesses and Garden Grill (only dinner) with Mickey, Pluto, and Chip and Dale. Animal Kingdom has Donald's Breakfast Safari (breakfast only). Polynesian Resort has Ohana which has characters for breakfast. Contemporary Resort is Chef Mickey's and serves breakfast and dinner. Grand Floridian has 1900 Park Fare (I think they do breakfast and dinner). The Beach Club serves breakfast with characters at Cape May Cafe (didn't really like the breakfast there last time).
 

Kristia

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks for all these references

Oh yes and I forgot Cinderella's Royal Table which is in the castle. This also has princesses but it is the most costly and it can sometimes be tough to get a reservation. For all of them, make sure you try to get a reservation at the 180 day mark!
 

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