Trip Report Surprise Trip - October 2014

fiercekittenz · Oct 30, 2014

Day 1

The next morning she was all kinds of excited! We were doing MK in the morning, then hopping onto the monorail to do Epcot in the afternoon (for Akershus). My daughter truly realized where she was when we turned the corner onto Main Street USA. It was practically empty, because we were in before park hours for our breakfast reservation. She got so excited that she shouted "Come on mommy, let's run to the castle!!!" and then she jerked forward and dragged me up Main Street USA. The CM photopass people seemed to think this was awesome.

Crystal Palace was hands-down the best breakfast ever. The characters took time with the kids and the food was awesome. Seriously... those au gratin breakfast potatoes. I need them in my life. I never knew my daughter liked Winnie the Pooh until we went here. She was ecstatic to meet every single last one of the characters!

After Crystal Palace we did Ariel's Grotto, Ariel's Undersea Adventure, and we met Tinkerbell (mixed in with some shopping, a few additional rides, etc.) and we headed to Epcot for our lunch reservation. We took the monorail, and I had been advised that it can take an hour to get to Epcot... I don't know why someone would say that. We budgeted an hour and a half to get to Akershus and we were in the park within 30 minutes, including security and entry scans. Since we had so much time, we rode the Journey into the Imagination with Figment ride. My husband loves that one. It's his absolute favorite character. Since he wasn't there, we rode it for him! My daughter loves it too, thankfully.

We arrived at Akershus 20 minutes before our check-in time as we had been instructed by so many on Reddit and here. Oddly enough, you can only check in to these meals within 5 minutes of your reservation slot. That caught me off guard, but since she had a toy she was itching to play with, we just went to the lakeside and sat down to wait 20m to check in.

Now 3 years ago we did Akershus when my daughter was 3. Her sister was only 7 months old. We enjoyed the experience quite a bit, and this time... not so much. The staff calling people into the restaurant and taking them to tables was quite rude (to the point where I heard the hostess mock another guest for asking about wait times). The young lady taking me to my table rolled her eyes and said I really wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom until seated but let me anyway (because my eyeballs were FLOATING y'all). The princesses, while sweet as always, just came by very quickly, autographed her book, took a picture, and ran off quickly to the next table. Now don't get me wrong... my kid loved every split second, but that's the thing: it was a split second. I had maybe two chances to get pictures before they ran off. Last time the princesses at least interacted with the children more. Maybe they disregarded us because it was a 2-person table? There seems to be a stigma around that...

In any case, I enjoyed the food and we finished up and walked out. At this point, Liv was done. We had the MNSSHP that evening, so we grabbed a cab to head back to the resort. It cost $12 and was worth every penny. We were back in around 10 minutes and in our room in enough time to give the kid a decent 2 hour nap.

MNSSHP

I only had a few goals with MNSSHP... see the parade and experience some trick or treating in freaking Disney World (OMFG SUCH EXCITE). My daughter was off the hook excited. Her nap recharged her just enough that she was insane and dragging me all over the place. We got turkey legs to munch on, candy to gobble, and we even rode a few rides with relatively low wait times (actually none... Dumbo, Barnstormer, Tea cups... no wait!). The parade was awesome and she really enjoyed that. Our costumes, naturally, weren't the only Anna/Elsa pair, but it was still cute.

We watched Hallowishes, which is when I realized my daughter was still afraid of fireworks, so we ran into a shop and waited it out before heading home for the evening.

(Continued...)

fiercekittenz · Oct 30, 2014

Day 2

Now something I do regret is booking a 7:30am reservation at Ohana. I love Lilo & Stitch and who can pass up an opportunity to eat family-style eggs and bacon am I right? Problem is, my daughter didn't have enough time to recoup from last night's activities. I deeeeeeply regret booking this reservation only because of that. She was tired, shy, and not interactive with the characters all morning, even after getting to the park.

I rented a stroller, because I figured if she's this tired, she'll zonk out at some point and I'd rather it be in a mobile situation for my sanity. She refused to participate in Enchanted Tales with Belle, but Belle picked up on her shyness and left it alone until all the kids were lining up for pictures. Belle slowly came over, got down to my daughter's level and started interacting with her. This coerced her just enough to stand up and get a picture. I will always remember that stroke of kindness from Belle. So so sweet. It made Liv feel special!

We took a break and had a cinnamon bun at Gaston's before doing the Mine Train. I also regret the mine train ride. The gopro videos online don't look too fast or crazy. When you are actually on the damn thing though, it's insane. I thought it was fun... my daughter did too, until she cracked her head against the seat. Why they don't have head cushions I'll never know. It stopped suddenly midway (probably broken again) then shot off like a bullet from a gun. My daughter's head slammed against the back of the seat and she cried the rest of the way. I got her calmed down though and she wasn't crying when we got off the ride, so thankfully I didn't get "oh that mom" looks from anyone. I already felt badly enough. I didn't need the looks on top of it!

After she was all calmed down we went to our BOG lunch reservation (FP+). She LOVED LOVED LOVED this. Great food, awesome theming, and fast service. I loved it. Someone helped us find a seat right next to the snowy windows. That was awesome. She kept asking if it was all real. Naturally, I said yes.

We ran down to Main Street USA to watch the Festival of Fantasy parade after this. We had decent road-side seats thank goodness. Afterwards, I was walking out and going to catch a bus when a Photopass guy says "oh such a cute sleeping Belle!" and of course, Liv had zonked out. She stayed like that for TWO FREAKING HOURS in a stroller, sitting straight up, while I walked all over the park and shopped. She sat straight up at the 2 hour mark and goes "I want to ride the tea cups!" So off we went.

That evening we dined at Cinderella's Royal Table. I highly recommend this meal. The food was good (despite reviews saying otherwise) and the princesses spend at least 2-3 minutes at each table. Nothing felt rushed and they were so good with the kids. Loved this.

We rounded out the evening by visiting Anna and Elsa. That was really awesome for my daughter. We had a FP, so we saw them in around 10 minutes. They're very good with the kids and spend a lot of time with them when they visit. This is likely why the line is so long LOL.

The fireworks were due at this point, so Liv and I ducked into rides in Fantasyland that were indoors. We got to do Peter Pan's Flight, It's a Small World, and Winnie the Pooh while Wishes was going on. Fantastic! She was so wired and awake that she asked to stay for the electrical parade.

And that was it. We left after the second parade and headed back to the resort to sleep off the day and head home the next. I definitely want to go again next year. I'm trying to plan it out now, because I want to make sure we don't have to "fight" for reservations too close to our trip next time. I want to take my youngest (she'll be 4 next year) and my husband this time

(Edit: All photos are done!!! On a side note: I strongly suggest getting Memory Maker. I'm a photographer and didn't want to lug around all my gear. I only had my Fujifilm x100s with me. The lighting in the meet & greet areas is HORRIBLE. I cannot express this enough. The photopass guys and gals had flashes in most cases and were setup to shoot in those conditions. I have much better photos from them oddly enough!)

WishIWasAtWDW · Oct 31, 2014

I loved your report! Thanks for sharing! Your daughter's reaction in that video is so cute. "Why?"

Hahaha It took her a minute to process but she got there! I love the surprise trips. So sweet! It sounds like despite a couple hiccups, you all had a wonderful time.

I love that she ran down Main Street. So cute!

That's so great that you were able to grab so many reservations! You can luck out when you plan last minute but I agree with you that I prefer to plan well before the 180 day mark.

Yes to more pictures!

Thanks again for sharing!

fiercekittenz · Oct 31, 2014

We're definitely planning the next one way in advance. I'm looking at June this year. I hear there's actually pretty moderate crowds in early-June. We'll tell the girls that day too as we drive to the airport ^_^

Trip Report Surprise Trip - October 2014

fiercekittenz

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fiercekittenz

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WishIWasAtWDW

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fiercekittenz

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