Trip Report Wherever I go, she goes ***Completed***

(Here’s the pre-TR for anyone that would like it, otherwise I’m going to get right to it.)

I have enjoyed experiencing various “Disney firsts” on my previous trips but I don’t think I could have anticipated how different (in good and bad ways) a first Disney trip with a child would be.

I’m by no means a Disney expert but I’m certainly not a novice. I had naively assumed changing from a party of 2 to a party of 3 would be smooth given all of my past Disney experiences. I would say that wasn’t the case but that was as much due to some recent Disney changes as it was to lil BES.

Buckle up and be sure to keep your arms and legs inside the TR.

Who:

• Me (BES)
• DH (Magician’s assistant in training)
• Lil BES (our 19mo daughter. I briefly considered giving her first initial but I think it may be too easy to guess)

When:

February 3rd-9th 2023, will also be including Feb 2nd, our pre-travel day.

Where:

AoA Family Suites

Inspired by the GotG influence on the trip (and DH being a huge music nerd) I think I’d like to include a soundtrack with the TR as well. This TR is as much for me as for you all so I think it’ll be fun to look back at our current soundtrack someday. I’ll hide them in a spoiler tag though so it won’t be too annoying.

Spoiler: Track #1

Before lil BES was born we often referred to her as Kid A. Don’t be worried- this is probably the “weirdest” song on this playlist. But lil BES is a weird kid so it’s fitting:

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Gotta love the public meltdowns.

So. Many. Tiny. Feelings.

DH gets way more embarrassed about them. Especially at Disney it seemed like all adults we encountered looked at us sympathetically and we’re just glad it wasn’t there kid.

Love the picture of lil Bess in the Connections shop! Glad you got to enjoy GOTG so much. Kuddos to you for moving her to The Seas to distract her from the escalator. Fish have a calming effect on most people!

Thanks. Her tantrums are generally short lived and a change of scenery and/or distraction usually helps.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Wednesday February 8th (Day 6) continued:

We all split a fruit and cheese tray and then this awesome looking cake:

DH didn’t like it. It was kinda messy but good. Well kinda messy for a toddler.

Got a cute video of me asking lil BES what color the bite of cake I had for her was and her saying “Boo!”

We then went over to Canada and spent 2 hours there. (And with the exchange rate that’s like 2.6 Canadian hours.)

Lil BES climbed up all of the stairs. And down. And up and down again.

Lil BES looked at all of the plants and attempted to snatch flowers off of many of them.

She climbed on benches. We explored the waiting area to Far and Wide.

Lil BES perused the store. She really wanted a Coffee Crisp, a stuffed wolf and some adult sized pajamas. We settled on the Coffee Crisp.

We chatted with the CM at the Moosehead beer cart as lil BES tried to explore around it. ( but I didn’t try any @Darstarr )

We unfortunately realized that if you press the button on this blue bear it roared a lot louder than you would expect.

Luckily some stickers from the DVC rep counteracted the bear noise scare and then we were back to the various stairs in Canada.

At the very top we had a very special meet up with @Tuvalu and Woody. They are just as wonderful as you would expect. So glad this worked out.

And sorry @Zipadeelady , Tuvalu, Woody (and I’m assuming Em) now know more than lil BES’s first initial.

After we parted ways with Tuvalu and Woody, we started our journey back to the hotel.

Lil BES had taken one of her shoes off and insisted that only she be the one to put it back on. This precipitated another tantrum and a noisy exit from Epcot.

She was calm by the time we reached the Skyliner but I was really hoping we wouldn’t have to share a cabin in case she freaked out again.

The CM directing people into cabins commented on how tired lil BES looked and then without us asking put us in our own cabin and sent us ahead the party that was in the other side of the line that had gotten there first.

Not all heroes were capes.

The rest of the night was uneventful. We got some food court pizza, put lil BES to bed and started the packing process.

Spoiler: Track #22:

In hono(u)r of all of our time spent in Canada:

 

[lindawdw]

How fun that you got to meet up with Tuvalu and Woody! It's always nice when you get the Skyliner cabin to yourselves!

 

[meggo819]

We’ve compromised on many little things to prevent tantrums but never safety things.

Yes! I just had to remind my husband the other day “dude, you gotta choose your battles!”

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Thursday February 9th (Day 7):

Overnight I saw something amusing on lil BES’s monitor. She was snuggled up with her new Minnie and here was her beloved Osito:

DH and I were up a little before 7. We kept lil BES asleep as long as possible.

Had to pack this away safely:

Our stroller pickup at 9am, our Sunshine Flyer pickup was at 945, and our flight was at 1245.

We decided to push the crib down to luggage service first. Lil BES wanted to go too. That didn’t last long. I continued on while DH and lil BES toddled.

Next item on our morning agenda was breakfast.

Not to long after we got back to the room I got a text that stroller guy was there. It was 850am. With a toddler every minute counts. I needed those minutes.

I ran back down to luggage services to do the stroller drop off.

This is the stroller after one week of lil BES:

Luckily the Kingdom Strollers guy didn’t even bat an eye.

I checked out a luggage and brought it back to the room. We loaded up the cart and did a final room check.

With like 10 min to spare we made it to the bus pick up area.

Donald, Goofy, and Pluto were out at entrance in their 50th gear. Luckily lil BES didn’t see them.

Our Sunshine Flyer on right on time. The guy read off names of 3 families. Ours wasn’t one of them.

I showed him my email. The time, date and place were correct. He said no worries he would take us.

Spoiler: Track #23:

 

[lindawdw]

I can't believe your TR is coming to an end!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

I can't believe your TR is coming to an end!

I know! My goal is to finish it before lil BES’s birthday but that’s tomorrow so we’ll see.

 

[Darstarr]

I know! My goal is to finish it before lil BES’s birthday but that’s tomorrow so we’ll see.

 

[littleroo]

Happy Birthday lil BES! I look forward to seeing you grow up!

 

[lindawdw]

Happy Birthday lil BES!

 

[MickeyCB]

Happy Birthday Best Lil BES!!!!

 

[Tuvalu]

Happy 2nd Birthday < name redacted > !!!

 

[Swissmiss]

Happy birthday lil BES!

 

[cgersic]

I can't wait for the birthday pictures!!! Happy Birthday lil BES!!

 

[Wicked Sisters]

Happy Birthday Lil BES. Have a fun day.

 

[k8einwdw]

Happy Belated Birthday, Lil BES!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Happy Birthday lil BES! I look forward to seeing you grow up!

Happy Birthday lil BES!

Happy Birthday Best Lil BES!!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday < name redacted > !!!

Happy birthday lil BES!

View attachment 727207

I can't wait for the birthday pictures!!! Happy Birthday lil BES!!

Happy Birthday Lil BES. Have a fun day.

Happy Belated Birthday, Lil BES!

Lil BES and I thank for you the birthday wishes. She had a grand time.

Her actual birthday was a little chaotic (due to other family not lil BES) so I’m glad we gave her some of our presents the day before including Mickey lovey:

Lil BES in her personalized Daisy Duck birthday shirt courtesy of Grandma with one of her many many presents from Grandma:

And what lil BES was looking forward to the most for her birthday. Pink cake. Strawberry ice cream. As per her request.

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Thursday February 9th (Day 7) Continued:

Smooth ride back to MCO. The driver got off bus first and kept everyone inside while he unloaded all of the luggage. I think that worked very well.

I had gotten a very particular ribbon this trip that I attached to all of our luggage, stroller and car seat. It came in handy here as our carseat was otherwise identical to another in the huge pile ‘o luggage.

A Sunshine Flyer staff member was handing out coloring books and crayons. She also found me a free luggage cart. The wheel was wonky but hey it was free.

TSA was smooth. Even the regular lines seemed low. Precheck has been really nice especially with kid and nervous flyer DH.

Once we found our gate I took Lil BES for a diaper change and then left lil BES with DH while I went to find food.

I ended up doing mobile order from Starbucks and came back to this cuteness:

We had an easy boarding process. So happy lil BES is a chill traveler.

Had another lady pilot. The flight was smooth and lil BES slept for a good chunk of it.

While waiting to deplane I had to share that Coffee Crisp with lil BES.

We were the last ones off the plane and on our way out the flight attendants handed us* a bunch of extra snacks. First class snacks.

*99% sure it was because of lil BES’s cuteness.

This was one of the snacks and it was really good. Don’t remember the others:

Our drive home was uneventful. In the end I did only get charged the difference in airport hotel valet days and not an additional $500. My car still has the duct tape on it.

Spoiler: Track #24:

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

Wrap Up:
First off thanks for sticking with me for the many, many months it took me to complete this.

As with any Disney trip there were ups and downs but I would say mostly ups.

Most of our very toddler experiences would have happened regardless of our location so I guess better a tantrum at sunny Epcot than one a Target in Michigan in February.

Despite lil BES being so young on this trip it seemed to have a great impact on her. I don’t know if she’ll remember it in a few years but she remembers it now.

5 months after the trip she still talks about it unprompted several times a week.

“Beeeee Beeee Eight. Say hi. Go see him.”
My response is often “Someday.” or “Wouldn’t that be nice to see him again?”

Then she replies: “Put shoes on. Go there!”

Lil BES is still obsessed with Daisy Duck. Since the trip Daisy has joined her lovey entourage:

And thanks to the power of grandmas a good chunk of lil BES’s wardrobe is now Daisy or Minnie based.

A few months ago Lil BES pulled this out of the little free library in the park:

This is a terrible, terrible book. We are forced to read it several times a day but little BES loves it.

In summary: this girl is on track to out-Disney us all.

Spoiler: Post credit scene:

If you’ve made it this far you’ll certainly remember the various up and downs of this trip.

And if you’re familiar with my previous TRs you may remember the various ups and downs on my trip with my family.

Who would be crazy enough to combine both those experiences?

34 days

 

[Swissmiss]

Absolutely LOVED your TR BES! It was so worth the wait