Trip Report The One Where Elsa Followed Us To WDW

If I don't start this now... I never will!

When: December 3-11, 2024
Why: Our annual trip with our little family. We usually go late January/early February, but wanted a Christmas trip!
Where: Art of Animation Lion King family suite
Who: Me (Annie), my husband Ian, and my 2-year-old Nora (she turns 3 on NYE!)

I took SO SO many photos, I hope you are all ready LOL

Without further ado..

Our trip week kicked off with a rough start. On Sunday, we took Nora to see Moana 2. She did so well and LOVED it.

We got home and I proceeded to have the most violent food poisoning of my life for the next 30ish hours. SO AWFUL. I kept crying thinking it wouldn't be over in time for our trip. Somehow, I was okay on Tuesday morning when we got up to get ready to go to the airport but it was touch and go for a while there!!

Our flight was at noon out of Boston, so my dad picked us up around 8 to head from Maine to Boston.

We traveled in matching sweatshirts

We got into the city and through security pretty easily.

We checked two bags that weighed in at EXACTLY 50 pounds each. I guess this is the last trip we can get away with no suitcase for Nora!

Speaking of Nora, she was a huge fan of the escalators and moving walkways in the airport.

Once we found our gate and ensured it existed, we went to the play area to let her blow off some steam.

After running around like a chicken with her head cut off, it was time for some donuts from Dunkin.

We had more than enough time as things had been running very smoothly. We headed back to let Nora do some more playing before boarding.

We do not board early because I do not need MORE time with a toddler in a confined space lol

Ian got the carseat loaded up and soon we were taking off.

We do not do screens at home apart from family movies together, so the seatback TV kept Nora entertained the entire flight. I personally wished she would've napped, but she was an angel, and I was grateful lol

3 hours later we made it to MCO around 4 PM!

Nora was excited about the "monorail"

to be continued!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Yay!! Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

 

[Tuvalu]

 

[mpaulam]

 

[meggo819]

Can’t wait to hear about it and see all the pix!

 

[Tiki Traveler]

Looking forward to this trip report!

And you have great taste in Disney wear!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Yay! Looking forward to seeing more.

 

[RememberWhen]

We just arrived at pop today and my 3yo has the same princess sweatshirt! Could have been twinsies!

 

[Katiekitten]

Following along looking forward to hearing more!

 

[annienevells]

Yay!! Can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Wish we could've crossed paths on this trip!!

Can’t wait to hear about it and see all the pix!

Glad someone is excited about my many many pictures

Looking forward to this trip report!

And you have great taste in Disney wear!

View attachment 831371

Impeccable taste!!

Yay! Looking forward to seeing more.

Welcome!

We just arrived at pop today and my 3yo has the same princess sweatshirt! Could have been twinsies!

Love it!!

Following along looking forward to hearing more!

 

[annienevells]

We got our bags, stroller, diaper bag, and carseat (AHHHHHH) plus the 2 year old gathered and got an Uber to AoA.

Of course, Nora chose this time to fall asleep for approximately 20 minutes. I guess a 20 minute nap is better than zero?!

We are home!

Nora woke up as we were arriving at AoA and shouted "MY HOTEL!!!"

She was sooooo excited about everything and while I was missing the Poly, I knew already that we made the right choice for this trip.

First Christmas tree! I really liked this one.

We checked in with bell services to have our luggage and Walmart order brought to our room. They told us they would meet us there shortly.

We were in a Lion King family suite on the 3rd floor!

Nora was taking it all in and totally in awe.

Her favorite thing ALL week was pressing the elevator buttons lol

Time for some room photos!

 

[annienevells]

There was plenty of space and we were so grateful for it on this trip. Nora is a diva sleeper, so it was amazing giving her her own space to do so.

Best picture I got of "Nora's bathroom" (note the tiny hand shooing me away lol)

She was SO happy. And so were we!!

Once we unpacked everything, we headed to Landscape of Flavors to get our refillable mugs and some dinner. Ian and I were on the dining plan, as it works well for us especially with how many character meals we do!

The grown-ups got chicken parm and Nora got nuggets. Nothing crazy but did the trick!

We decided to end our night with a Skyliner ride before calling it early with our first park day bright and early the next day.

Big smiles!!

 

[annienevells]

Nora LOVED riding the Skyliner. We transferred to the Epcot line and loved seeing everything lit up!

Resting our tired feet.

Nora wanted a turn sitting like a big kid, of course.

After we returned to AoA, we took the long way to check out the Cars section.

Which turned into Nora refusing to get back in her stroller to get back to Lion King and me publicly arguing with a toddler...

Toddlers Gonna Toddler.

On our way back we came upon the smores area. Nora insisted lol

She LOVED it.

Getting her to stay on the designated spot and not close to the fire was... fun lol

After our treat, we headed up for Nora to take a bath and head for bed.

Books first!

We went to bed tired but excited for our first park day - MK!

 

[pkkurz]

I’m loving all the pictures, great details

 

[meggo819]

Glad someone is excited about my many many pictures

Yep! I read these reports and always wish I had taken more pictures myself. For example, we also stayed in a Lion King suite and I don’t think I took a single picture in there!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Wish we could've crossed paths on this trip!!

Glad someone is excited about my many many pictures

I definitely looked for you guys!

You know I'm not going to complain about lots of pics since I take so many of my own!!

 

[mpaulam]

Looks like a great start!

 

[annienevells]

Day two!

Our first park day! This was our first of two MK days. We love doing two of MK to ensure we don't feel so rushed trying to fit everything in, especially since we take mid-day breaks for Nora's naptime.

We also had only been able to book evening LLs for the most part on this day, so a slow morning was in the cards. We did not worry about getting a BG for Tiana because we had a LL for it!

We got up, got everyone dressed and ready to go and Ian looks at his phone at the last second and tells me "uh... did you know that it's 38 degrees outside right now?"

WHAT?!

In the middle of us discussing the cold Nora pipes up saying "DID ELSA FOLLOW US TO DISNEY WORLD?!"

Yeah girl.. I think she did.

We layered up the best we could and headed to the bus.

Nora was NOT a happy girl waiting in the cold. I was wishing we brought along her blanket!

The line was quite long but a number of buses pulled up at the same time.

We squeezed into the last one and my threenager INSISTED on standing on her own

We made it through security and tapped in pretty quickly upon arriving at MK.

Bring on the holiday magic!

We turned the corner toward the castle and Nora was SHOOK

 

[annienevells]

We stopped for a quick selfie before checking in for Early Entry.

It was just before 8 and EE was at 830. Our plan was to rope drop Peter Pan, so we joined the masses.

Honestly.. Nora was rightfully miserable during this time. I kept having to cup her hands into mine and blow warm air onto them. Brutal.

We survived though and were more than happy to enter the mostly indoor Peter Pan queue.

By the time we entered, it was about a 25-minute wait and I think it took just about that.

We had a reservation for 9:40 at Crystal Palace, so we decided to fit in as many short wait rides as possible.

First up, IASW.

Nora insisted on the "horsies" next. One of her favorites!

Time for some teacups next.

Nora loves doing "hands up!!!" on rides lol

Happy after a bit of adrenaline, we headed for breakfast with some friends!

 

[annienevells]

We checked in about 5 minutes early and were sat pretty quickly.

Our server let us know it might be a few before Eeyore joined us, so we happily headed up for our first plates.

Ian LOVES the churro Mickey waffles.

And Nora loves Mickey waffles in general.

If you read my last WDW report from March, you may recall that Nora really struggled with the characters. She was painfully shy and wanted nothing to do with them up close. I was pretty nervous about this trip and our scheduled character dining.

Eeyore was up first, and we were pretty cautious but not outright refusing. We even got a smile, but she insisted on mama holding her.

Next we had Tigger. As he was getting close to the table, Nora told me she wanted to hug him. Sure sure...

And then she did! All on her own! I was so proud and happy for her and her growing confidence.

We shared a hug together with Piglet!

It took a LONG time for Pooh. Like two buffet refills and then our server telling us to go meet him in a line at the exit.