Bear Hugs & Piggy Kisses - Baby's 1st Trip ~ Updated 12/6: Aulani TR Started!!!

[Dugette]

Hey, all! Just popping in quick to let you know that I decided to start a Hawaii PTR! It's over on the DVC TR board, since we are staying on DVC points. You can find it here:

"It All Started with a Massive Price Glitch"

Don't worry - I'll keep "cranking out" this TR at my "super-awesome" pace! I just need some place to get my thoughts and plans together for Aulani without overtaking this TR. Feel free to join me for the planning and dreaming!

 

[schmass]

I love all the Christmas photos! I'm a little jealous that Izzy can stay awake long enough to hop to another park at 7:30pm. Rory would be desperate for bedtime at that point!

Off to check out your Aulani PTR.

 

[Dugette]

Random post, but just had to share this video! Dug watched the Little Mermaid with Izzy and she started singing afterwards:

(click to watch)

I love it! Can't get enough of her little singing voice!

 

[Dugette]

Yay! Update!
You guys are such rebels. Lol sticking it out to the last second! (Just kidding)
Seems like a wonderful evening so far, looking forward to your Epcot adventure

Yes, we're total rebels! Kinda felt like it, though. Epcot coming up!

What an awesome time in MK! You got on quite a bit for the short time you were there! And so festive too, loved all your shirts

That was interesting they were opening IaSW at 7. Wonder why that was!

Yeah, we did okay for a short and unplanned visit. Glad we had a chance to wear our shirts, despite not actually attending the party! I would guess they just finished the refurb early on IaSW and decided to give the party-goers a bonus? Too bad we couldn't get on, though (until another day).

Love all the pics and agree - some rides are so much fun at night!

How did Izzy do with the late nights and all those lights?

Yes, I love the parks at night! Izzy did really good with the late nights and the lights. It helps to have a stroller that she can nod off in. You'll see that in the next update. In general, we've found that Izzy is very adaptable to changes in routine while on vacation, so that's been great!

love, love, love Dumbo at night! Bummer you didn't get good pictures though

the fact that you even thought up that someone could hide out in Casey's means that people have tried it. That is cool that you got to experience the snow on Main St.!

Yeah, I can't believe that none of the pictures turned out. Dug was in front of us on Dumbo and took pictures looking back, but you can't see us in any of them!

I'm sure people have hidden out everywhere to "sneak in" to the party. But glad we could still enjoy some of the party elements, despite being refused a snack!

Love the Christmas-y photos! You could totally pass as party guests!

Thanks, I think so too!

I love the Christmas pictures! I was so up in the air about going at Halloween or Christmas. It looks so pretty that we'll just have to add Christmas season to the to-do list!

The Dumbo play area looks like so much fun! I love that Disney has play areas for little ones to blow off steam - going from stroller to ride (and sometimes a high chair in between) must get old!

I love Christmas season at WDW! Between the party decorations and the resort decorations, it's so magical!

Play areas are awesome! Just in general, and definitely at Disney!

Caught up again!

Mmm, that shake looks delicious! Wonder if that can make that without bananas?

I don't see why not - that would be good too!

I can't remember if you had mentioned or not, but how did the milk situation work for you while at the World? Would you just buy milk throughout the day?

On this trip, we ended up buying milk a few times from the Poly store, then storing it in our fridge and filling her cup each morning. We kept the cups in the bottle coolers and used them throughout the day. When she finished the milk and/or it got warm, we'd buy her some milk at restaurants (generally not whole milk, but fine).

In June, I remembered to bring her Thermos straw cups and they kept the milk cold for longer. We also ate at a lot of buffets, so we were able to get free milk to refill the cups there. I'm planning to bring the Thermos cups in August and use them throughout the day with milk purchased from Pop Century.

I would have been freaked out too about that large group getting on to our bus. Glad it worked out though!

Even though the ocean view would have been totally amazing, $450 sounds even better!

Yay to the dole whip! I mean, don't you think this should have been one of the first things to be added when they first opened up?!

Yes! Crazy they just got it. The Dole Plantation is on Oahu and there is Dole Whip there too, but now we can get more of it!

Your Christmas outfits! Love them!

Agh! I totally forgot about the toddler play area! He was never able to walk so we just skipped it, but i'm so excited for him now!

I'm sure he'll have a blast! It's a fun little diversion!

Aw man, too bad you couldn't grab the corn dog nuggets. But hopefully Sunshine Seasons more than made up for it. I love that place!

Me too. Always something good to eat at SS.

I love all the Christmas photos! I'm a little jealous that Izzy can stay awake long enough to hop to another park at 7:30pm. Rory would be desperate for bedtime at that point!

Off to check out your Aulani PTR.

Izzy was certainly getting tired, as you'll see in the next update, but she was quite the trooper. She is generally pretty good with variations from her sleep schedule, even though she goes to bed "early" at home (7-8pm). Vacation is special, though!

 

[Dugette]

We made it over to Epcot via monorail around 8pm. First stop was for a Photopass picture:



Gotta love how the Goofy topiary is eating Dug’s hair!

We also saw this cute Bambi topiary:



Izzy spotted it too:



Ah, Spaceship Earth at night:



Ah, beautiful fountain:



Epcot is so pretty at night!

But the best part of strolling through there at night was that Izzy was so much fun! She had just randomly learned how to stick out her tongue and she and I were just sticking out our tongues at each other and giggling:



I can’t even tell you how much fun that was. Such a great memory!

After our tongue-sticking-out contest, we went to Spaceship Earth:



Izzy kept up with her pattern of enjoyment of dark rides and had a good time. Plus, we let her make all of the choices on the interactive part, which surely was her dream come true:



Plus, I took some DIS advice and held Izzy up and ducked down myself for the photo. It worked out great! And here is the video of Izzy and Dug’s future, decided by Izzy:

(click to watch)

When we finished up with the ride, we went and found their picture displayed:



I always love the blue palm trees:



We didn’t have much time, so we headed right for The Land to ride Soarin’. We’d had FP+ for it earlier, but that time had long since passed. I’m thinking we just were trying for a walk-on/rider swap. Not sure why we wouldn’t have changed the FP+ time – maybe there was no availability? Our plan was to swap while we ate dinner.

At any rate, on our way in, we noticed that Izzy was half-asleep in her stroller. Never wanting to wake up a sleeping baby, we went up to the CM at the entrance to see if there was any chance of bringing the stroller in, just to get the rider swap and to eat. It was late and not many people around, so no crowds or anything. I knew that The Land was pretty anti-stroller, but figured it couldn’t hurt to ask. She gave us a rather confusing answer, though. I don’t remember the words, but she basically said that strollers are not allowed in, but if a baby is sleeping, it’s sometimes okay. We showed her that Izzy was falling asleep and she said it was okay. So, we headed in and she was fine with it.

A few seconds later, though, she was chasing us down saying we couldn’t bring the stroller in. Say what?

In retrospect, I think what she’d been trying to say earlier is that they would allow us to bring the stroller into the lobby and park it by the door, but that was it. I guess the idea was to be able to stay inside with the sleeping stroller baby, rather than sitting in the stroller parking lot with them or something? It was odd.

So, we left the stroller by the entrance and got sleepy Izzy up. She needed dinner anyway, I guess. But I hate messing with baby sleep!

We went down to Soarin’ and got this:



I went on first while Dug and Izzy went to Sunshine Seasons to get some food. It looks like Dug got some sort of sandwich and potato salad:





Mmmm, and a strawberry shortcake:



He got me the beef and broccoli that I’d requested:



And this yummy macaroon:



The place was pretty empty. Izzy seemed to enjoy using a fork:



Meanwhile, I was in line. The park was open until 9:30pm and I texted this to Dug, starting at 9:17pm:

Not looking good. Not on yet.

Still waiting. On next ride. Loader guy sucks. Sorry.

9:22 and not on, so probably no chance for you. And my food is getting cold. Row 1, though.

I was having a very frustrating experience in line. I can’t remember all the details now, but the CM who was sending people into the rows was not doing a very good job. At one point, they needed a single rider(s). I was an actual single rider, so I raised my hand. However, the group of 4 right in front of me volunteered to split up and ride as singles. And he let them! Ugh, I was so frustrated, being a true single rider and knowing that Dug was running the risk of not being able to ride if I couldn’t get on soon. And everything was just going SO SLOW.

I finally got sent in to a queue and ended up next to a guy that had clearly been drinking. And he was chatty. I don’t remember most of what he was saying now, but he was pretty much talking the whole time we waited. And, then, lucky me, I was right next to him on the ride. And he was a single rider too. And I was on the very end of the row, so I’m sure it looked like I was with him to the people sitting on the other side of him. So, scratch “ride Soarin’ with a drunk” off the bucket list. I remember him being fairly amusing and really enjoying the ride, though.

Obviously, it was after 9:30pm when I got off the ride, so we figured Dug was out of luck. But he went up with the Rider Swap anyway. And I was so happy to see a text from him that said they were letting him ride! Turns out that both he and another dad using Rider Swap were both there and they didn’t hesitate to let them on. Maybe they knew how slow the ride had been loading beforehand. So glad he got to ride!

Once he was off, we got Izzy all cleaned up from dinner. We were the only people there. I’m sure the CMs cleaning up were anxious to get us out of there.

It didn’t take long after we left for Izzy to resume her sleep attempt:



We took the monorail to the TTC, then I think we walked back to the Poly, since this didn’t look fun:



And for your random funny of the day, I just found this note on something we’d overheard earlier in the day. A family was discussing the Seven Dwarfs and trying to name them. This is what we heard of it:

Sloppy, Slumpy, Slidy, Sleazy, Slaphappy

Love it!

Up next: Breakfast at ‘Ohana (our first time)!

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Did you know that only one out of seven dwarfs is happy?

Anyway, just popping in to say this lurker is still following all your reports and very much enjoying them. Izzy is just adorable! And looking forward to hearing alll about your Hawaii adventures.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I love your EPCOT Photos! Great family shot at the beginning.

And the fact that in one of the most technically advanced places in the world one of your favorite memories is you and Izzy sticking your tongues out at each other pretty much sums up parenthood.

Glad that Dug was able to get on the ride - hope your food wasn't too cold by the time you got there and you got to enjoy it.

I agree with you - EPCOT at night is really pretty ... especially Future World I think it increases the look a lot.

 

[AprilRenee]

Awww That video of Izzy singing is PRECIOUS!! Loved it!

And I love little goofy things like tongue sticking out contests too. It's so funny how the small things are the most precious.

Glad they let Dug and the other dad on. Sorry your Soarin' wait was such a mess...and that you had to ride with drunky lol

 

[Dugette]

Did you know that only one out of seven dwarfs is happy?

I suppose now you're going to tell me that only one is grumpy too?

Anyway, just popping in to say this lurker is still following all your reports and very much enjoying them. Izzy is just adorable! And looking forward to hearing alll about your Hawaii adventures.

Thanks for popping in! I always like to know that I haven't frightened or bored people away! Hawaii is going to be so amazing, I'm sure. Izzy frequently says, "I want go Hawaii, please!" these days!

I love your EPCOT Photos! Great family shot at the beginning.

Thank you!

And the fact that in one of the most technically advanced places in the world one of your favorite memories is you and Izzy sticking your tongues out at each other pretty much sums up parenthood.

Very true. It was just so fun because it was a new thing for her and she was having such a great time. Could have happened anywhere, but walking into Epcot is a memorable place for such goofiness.

Glad that Dug was able to get on the ride - hope your food wasn't too cold by the time you got there and you got to enjoy it.

I agree with you - EPCOT at night is really pretty ... especially Future World I think it increases the look a lot.

I think my food was still decent, but not exactly hot. I think all the parks are better at night, now that I'm thinking about it.

Awww That video of Izzy singing is PRECIOUS!! Loved it!

Thanks! Tonight (not on video), I asked her if she liked Elsa and she began singing her version of the famous song, "Let it gooooooo. No care, no care. [unintelligible words] Let it goooooooo...." Too cute!

And I love little goofy things like tongue sticking out contests too. It's so funny how the small things are the most precious.

Very true. Love all those sweet little moments.

Glad they let Dug and the other dad on. Sorry your Soarin' wait was such a mess...and that you had to ride with drunky lol

Drunky! It was so strange. Just the whole thing was...off. Glad it worked out okay, though.

 

[Imagineer5]

What a fun night at EPCOT, I wish they would ease up on their stupid stroller rules, I hate that! Odd about the CM and being so wishy washy! Glad you both got to ride though ,it is nice to sit inside and have a snack while doing the Soarin' rider swap that's for sure! So nice to do the TTA walk to Poly, I like that you have that option there.

Spaceship earth photos were really cute too! I love that I can never guarantee what photo I'm going to get lol!

 

[schmass]

I'm glad that you were both able to get on Soarin'! And I'm glad that Izzy was able to resume her nap after dinner!

 

[hokieinpa]

Great family picture! And Izzy is just too cute!!

So glad everything worked out for your quick night in Epcot!

 

[Dugette]

What a fun night at EPCOT, I wish they would ease up on their stupid stroller rules, I hate that! Odd about the CM and being so wishy washy! Glad you both got to ride though ,it is nice to sit inside and have a snack while doing the Soarin' rider swap that's for sure! So nice to do the TTA walk to Poly, I like that you have that option there.

Spaceship earth photos were really cute too! I love that I can never guarantee what photo I'm going to get lol!

Yeah, the stroller thing was just so weird. It all worked out fine, it was just awkward, I guess.

We were lucky we got the cute Spaceship Earth photo of Izzy and Dug that time. Didn't work out so well for me and Izzy in June...

I'm glad that you were both able to get on Soarin'! And I'm glad that Izzy was able to resume her nap after dinner!

Thanks! It all worked out okay in the end. Just a little nerve-wracking at the time.

Great family picture! And Izzy is just too cute!!

So glad everything worked out for your quick night in Epcot!

Aw, thanks! It was a nice little Epcot visit and glad we were able to get a couple rides and a nice meal in.

 

[dtr_angel]

I'm glad you were both able to ride Soarin'! I heard that they are adding a third screen when they refurb Soarin' next time, they definitely need it!

 

[Dugette]

I'm glad you were both able to ride Soarin'! I heard that they are adding a third screen when they refurb Soarin' next time, they definitely need it!

Oh, that will be nice! I hadn't heard that. Much needed!

 

[AKL_Megs]

So, I just decided to look at a few TR's last night over dinner, as we are 25 days out for our WDW trip! I stumbled upon this TR, and I proceeded to read all of this, and every other TR you've written! I'm hooked! Your TR's are the best! Can't wait to read what's next!

 

[Dugette]

So, I just decided to look at a few TR's last night over dinner, as we are 25 days out for our WDW trip! I stumbled upon this TR, and I proceeded to read all of this, and every other TR you've written! I'm hooked! Your TR's are the best! Can't wait to read what's next!

Aw, shucks! Thank you so much - I really appreciate the compliment! I mostly write them for myself, to preserve the memories while I can, but I'm so glad other people enjoy them too. Gives the part of me that wanted to be a writer (vs. an accountant) an outlet!

Also, you must have had one heck of a long night to get through all of those. I'm impressed! I have received a couple of PMs from others that did the same thing, though, so I guess it is possible.

Yay on being so close to your WDW trip! Not long to go now!

 

[AKL_Megs]

Aw, shucks! Thank you so much - I really appreciate the compliment! I mostly write them for myself, to preserve the memories while I can, but I'm so glad other people enjoy them too. Gives the part of me that wanted to be a writer (vs. an accountant) an outlet! Also, you must have had one heck of a long night to get through all of those. I'm impressed! I have received a couple of PMs from others that did the same thing, though, so I guess it is possible. Yay on being so close to your WDW trip! Not long to go now!

About an hour and a half! (I didn't read comments, just your posts.) I'm glad you write them, they are great!

 

[Dugette]

About an hour and a half! (I didn't read comments, just your posts.) I'm glad you write them, they are great!

Wow, that's not too bad at all! Thanks for reading!

 

[Dugette]

Just a quick post with some of Izzy's newest acquisitions!

I found a great deal on some Cinderella (Stride Rite) shoes for her and they just arrived today:



Love 'em! They will be great on our Labor Day Weekend trip.

Then, today, we made a quick Target run and had to wait for a pharmacy item for 15 minutes. So, how did I spend that time (since we were already done shopping)? Browsing the toddler clearance racks, of course.

Izzy spotted this and brought it to my attention by yelling "Minnie!!!!!!!!!!!":



You can't have too many swimsuits, right? She currently loves her Little Mermaid one, but gotta have a Minnie one too. The kid is going to need a few in Hawaii, I'm sure.

This one I found (for $2!) It's a 3T, so on the big side, but hey it's a shirt - throw some leggings under it and done:



Yay, Hawaii!! As a side note, Dug's mom said she picked up a couple cute sundresses for Izzy to wear in Hawaii. I haven't seen them yet, but nice!

And even though I already posted this video, I think it got buried in the comments, so just posting again because I think it's about the cutest thing I've ever seen - Izzy singing "Under the Sea":

(click to watch)

She was actually singing it again at daycare today and then tonight at dinner with us. Soooooooo cute!

That's all for now! See ya real soon!