Trip Report Parenting... Just in a different location.

As TRUE as this was.. I am back from an amazing FIRST family vacation with just us 3 and ready to report out all the fun (and drama lol)

When: Feb 3-11, 2023
Where: Polynesian!
Who: Me, my husband Ian and 13 month old daughter Nora

I have SO much work to catch up on.. but I will try to be as speedy as humanly possible on this TR.

Here we go!!

 

[rshell68]

 

[Wicked Sisters]

Pleased to see you have had your operation and hope you are fully recovered soon. Loving this TR and the wonderful pics.

 

[joshsprincess921]

Yes! Traditional ear headbands bother me so much but these were GREAT! Nora even managed to wear them longer than expected haha

Oh that's great! I'll will definitely have to try them out now.

I hope you have a speedy recovery!

 

[Tiki Traveler]

 

[mpaulam]

 

[annienevells]

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Pleased to see you have had your operation and hope you are fully recovered soon. Loving this TR and the wonderful pics.

Oh that's great! I'll will definitely have to try them out now.

I hope you have a speedy recovery!

Thank you everyone! Much appreciated!

I had a cute recovery buddy at least

 

[annienevells]

Day 2 continued...

We made our way out of the park and headed right to Nora's new favorite ride - the monorail.

Happy girlie!

Ian's idea of a break is napping, while mine is lounging/swimming/getting a tan. This worked out perfectly for us. We would get Nora down for a nap and then I would head out to the quiet pool to read my book.

The sun was shining, and I was getting updates from home of -18 degree weather. I felt VERY happy to be in sunny Florida!

Ian sent me an update picture from the baby monitor - I think Nora enjoyed her first morning!

Nora took a nice 3 hour nap. I ended up heading back to our room after 2 hours to shower and get changed for our evening. We had our goals, and one was already out of the realm of possibility. Because Nora napped for so long we were not able to ride the train. Bummer.. hopefully later in the week?

We also had plans to meet up with one of my sorority sisters from college and her little family! If you read my babymoon TR you may remember us meeting up while pregnant!

We took our quick monorail trip and headed back to MK after Nora had some snacks.

We wanted to ride the PeopleMover but it was down - LAME!

We settled for another classic and first for Nora.

I think she enjoyed it. No complaints at least!

After this we grabbed some Mickey pretzels and a hot dog to have a picnic with our friends on the hub grass.

Babies in 2023:

Pregnant ladies in 2021:

It was fun to sit and have a snack together and talk Disney and parenthood. She lives just 5 minutes from MK (jealous!!).

After a fun little visit we parted ways. What would we be able to accomplish before the night was over?

 

[RememberWhen]

My little one has been talking about the monorail non-stop since we got home! “Mono rail a-morrow?” Poor kiddo doesn’t know we don’t currently have any Disney trip plans!

 

[annienevells]

We got a LL for Buzz and headed that way.

Nora was super serious once again on this ride and as soon as we exited... you guessed it.. laughs and smiles!

We decided to try and use our Multi Experience LL on Pooh. But first.. YET another Mickey pretzel

Our Buzz photo showed up quickly.. this makes me laugh. Why am I SOOOO serious? And I didn't even WIN!

Time for Pooh. As you all saw from CP breakfast, Nora is a big fan!

The LL line was a bit long, but Nora hung in there and was a trooper.

After Pooh we made our way out of the park to get out of there before fireworks crowds.

Our first day was so amazing. Nora was so happy and engaged. As I am sure many of you have experienced, people in my life have questioned why we took a 13-month old to Disney claiming she was too young. My line was always - WE are going to Disney and WE have a child now so she is coming along. But already on day 1 she got so much out of being there. It made our hearts so full.

We ended day 1 happy and ready to take on day 2!

 

[mpaulam]

Nora looks like she is really concentrating on Buzz!

 

[MickeyCB]

As I am sure many of you have experienced, people in my life have questioned why we took a 13-month old to Disney claiming she was too young.

Tell them to stuff it!
I'm already bugging my daughter to let us take them and our granddaughters who will be 10 months and 2 1/2 years in October.
Took the first one at 10 months and didn't regret it for a second!

 

[RememberWhen]

I totally understand people not understanding why someone would bring a small child on a trip to Disney, but I had such a blast on my recent trip with my 20 month old. I would go again in a heartbeat if we could make it happen!

 

[annienevells]

Day 3!

You know what they say about the best laid plans?

Well.. that is the theme of our HS day. Buckle up.

I went into a HS day with low expectations but feeling optimistic. I knew there would not be much by way of rides for Nora but she DOES love shows. We also decided against Genie+ for this day.

Nora woke up around 7 and we changed up quickly to head to the bus stop. We were hoping to make it for Early Entry.

We managed to walk into HS with 15 minutes left in Early Entry. We headed straight for MMRR.

I brought a baby carrier for Nora although I NEVER use it. She is 30+ pounds and SO SOLID. But I decided this one time to use it for the MMRR line. And a brilliant idea that was.. as the ride never went into operation until after early entry had started. I think we waited 20 minutes before the line started moving. I was frustrated but at that point we were COMMITTED.

I did have to take a break from Nora being in the carrier.

Once we finally made it on the ride Nora had a blast! Lots of giggling and pointing.

She looks unimpressed but I promise she was into it!

Once we were off MMRR we took a look at wait times.. 55 for Alien Swirling Saucers! OUCH.

Okay.. let's have a snack and come up with a plan.

IFYKY - this will always be our choice lol

Our main show interest was BATB. First show was at 11, so we decided to head to Frozen first.

Nora was into it but seemed pretty subdued. She did come alive a bit more when the snoap fell!

Okay.. still some time until BATB. Where to?

Let's head to Muppets!

Hi Goof!

We also took a photo opp/BR break stop.

Nora fell asleep on me during Muppets. Fully fell asleep, snoring and all.

We came out of Muppets and knew we had to make the smart choice and head back to the Poly. I was sooooo excited for her to see BATB, but I knew it wasn't worth it to push her when she was clearly so tired.

We made a sad little march out of the park to the buses.

We waved hi to Donald and Daisy!

 

[annienevells]

As we waited and waited for a bus, we noted that leaving was the right decision.

Exhibit A:

As we waited and Nora snoozed, Ian and I discussed our plans for the rest of the day. We had a reservation for Mama Melrose for that evening we were both super excited about but we could not muster up the mental energy to consider coming back to HS. We decided to find something ANYTHING at MK to do for dinner instead. All we were able to find was Tony's but it was better than nothing.

Once back at Poly we decided to take Nora for a little swim.

She LOVED it.

But almost immediately was tired again.

Her nose was also super runny, and we started to think allergies were at play. Coming from the cold in Maine (and the two of us being very allergy prone) we were not surprised.

We got Nora back to the room and changed and while Ian was getting a bottle ready she was already back asleep in my arms!

All of us decided to nap during this break and it was much needed.

Nora woke up about an hour and a half before our reservation so we quickly got changed, gave her a snack, and headed to MK.

We arrived about 5 minutes before our reservation - time for a quick picture!

The wait for Tony's after we checked in was...... brutal. I think it took 40 minutes. Nora looks in good spirits here but she was NOT pleased.

Finally we got sat and I prepped Ian to order immediately. We also wanted to be out of MK before fireworks!

We started off with bread and cheese sauce which was probably the best part of the meal lol

Ian got alfredo which he said was MEH and was missing his Mama Melrose meal

I ordered this for Nora and she picked at it. She mostly ate the chicken. This was a huge children's serving!

 

[annienevells]

I went with the spaghetti and meatballs. They were fine. I inhaled them SO FAST so I could help Nora ASAP lol

We eventually made it out of there and were able to head out of the park in a timely fashion.

Quick mom and dad selfie

On the way out I requested a popcorn bucket - I knew I was going to need it this week!

Once we got a very tired and cranky Nora down to sleep I grabbed our mugs and headed out to fill our sodas and take a little walk around the Poly.

This is also when I took this picture for @Tuvalu

I felt very calm and relaxed just walking by myself and enjoying the resort. I needed this time after a long day.

So.. our HS was a bit of a bust. BUT we still had fun and made memories with our Nora Bea. Honestly.. I'm not sure we will come back with Nora to HS until she is older. Maybe hop to the park for an evening to see Fantasmic next trip but other than that... I've been burned lol

 

[Tuvalu]

Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow…..

Although personally, I think that pool time at the Oasis and an evening stroll around the Polynesian is an EXCELLENT use of time.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

3hr nap?

Sorry your DHS day turned out rough. It certainly isn’t a very kid friendly park now.

 

[RememberWhen]

3hr nap?

haha! That’s what I thought too!

 

[Songbird76]

Day 2 continued...

We made our way out of the park and headed right to Nora's new favorite ride - the monorail.

View attachment 701066

Happy girlie!

View attachment 701067

Ian's idea of a break is napping, while mine is lounging/swimming/getting a tan. This worked out perfectly for us. We would get Nora down for a nap and then I would head out to the quiet pool to read my book.

View attachment 701068

The sun was shining, and I was getting updates from home of -18 degree weather. I felt VERY happy to be in sunny Florida!

Ian sent me an update picture from the baby monitor - I think Nora enjoyed her first morning!

View attachment 701069

Nora took a nice 3 hour nap. I ended up heading back to our room after 2 hours to shower and get changed for our evening. We had our goals, and one was already out of the realm of possibility. Because Nora napped for so long we were not able to ride the train. Bummer.. hopefully later in the week?

We also had plans to meet up with one of my sorority sisters from college and her little family! If you read my babymoon TR you may remember us meeting up while pregnant!

We took our quick monorail trip and headed back to MK after Nora had some snacks.

View attachment 701070

We wanted to ride the PeopleMover but it was down - LAME!

We settled for another classic and first for Nora.

View attachment 701071

I think she enjoyed it. No complaints at least!

After this we grabbed some Mickey pretzels and a hot dog to have a picnic with our friends on the hub grass.

Babies in 2023:

View attachment 701072

Pregnant ladies in 2021:

View attachment 701073

It was fun to sit and have a snack together and talk Disney and parenthood. She lives just 5 minutes from MK (jealous!!).

View attachment 701074

After a fun little visit we parted ways. What would we be able to accomplish before the night was over?

How was the book? Hope you are feeling better after your surgery!

 

[annienevells]

Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow…..

Although personally, I think that pool time at the Oasis and an evening stroll around the Polynesian is an EXCELLENT use of time.

3hr nap?

Sorry your DHS day turned out rough. It certainly isn’t a very kid friendly park now.

haha! That’s what I thought too!

so many struggles with a toddler but she has always blessed me with SLEEP. thank god lol

How was the book? Hope you are feeling better after your surgery!

It was really good! I grew up in Massachusetts and the book is based mostly on Tuckernuck Island. A great read!