"Is it time for Mickey ice cream?" DEC 2014 Trip Report update 12/17

[stephm0188]

Make Like a Tree and Leave​

The kid fell asleep in the stroller, so we let him nap a bit.

"Wait. Why is an almost 7 year old in a stroller?"

The kid has developmental delays and an issue called hypotonia, which is pretty much a fancy word for "low muscle tone." We're able to manage okay at home with our day to day routines with small adjustments, but Disney is a whole other ballgame.

He wasn't happy about the stroller. He was pretty embarrassed, actually, and even said "It's for babies!" But even he quickly gave in and asked to sit for much of the trip. It was just too physically demanding for him. I think he was embarrassed by some of the comments people sometimes made, but it can't be helped.

Back to Animal Kingdom...

He probably would have napped a little longer had we let him, but our Dinosaur FP+ window was opening up and I wanted him to have time to wake up and adjust.

I apparently didn't give him enough time to wake up, because he balked in line. He didn't just balk, he cried. So we asked to do a rider swap. This was our first time riding Dinosaur, and I LOVED it. I thought it was a lot of fun, and I knew the kid would love it if he gave it a chance. I met them outside and my husband went to ride. I told the kid that it was a "fun scary" ride, not a "scary scary" ride, and by the time the husband rejoined us, the kid had reconsidered and wanted to ride. We all went through the line again since it was only five minutes at that point. Final verdict? He liked it and said he was glad he rode.

Then he asked to ride Primevil Whirl one more time. You got it, kid. The line was short, so we gave it a quick spin (HA!).

After Primevil Whirl, it was time to head our separate ways. The guys were going to ride Kali River Rapids, and I was headed for Expedition Everest again. I had a great time.

The kid had a great time. He was smart enough to wear a poncho.

The husband was soaked. He did not have such a great time. Not sure why he didn't wear a poncho.

Unfortunately for him, he was going to have to be wet and uncomfortable. Our Boma reservation was a mere 40 minutes away, so we decided to bid farewell to Animal Kingdom and head to the bus stop.

On our way out, we passed a cast member at a kiosk who called out "See you later, alligator!"
We replied with "After awhile, crocodile."
And then he followed with "Better swish, tuna fish."
I admitted that I didn't have anything to respond with, so he said "Well then, you'd better make like a tree and LEAVE!"

We didn't wait long for a bus, and the kid and I were able to snag a seat for the ride to Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Boma. This was my husband's request, and he was really looking forward to it.We waited just a few minutes to be seated. I'm not an adventurous eater, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Wow. I liked everything I tried, even if some of it seemed a bit odd. There was a peanut rice dish that tasted like eating rice and peanut butter together, but it was good. And the zebra domes! Oh, the zebra domes. I think I ate five. SO good.

When our bellies were full, we headed back out to the bus stop to head back to Wilderness Lodge. Epcot's bus was the first to arrive, so we boarded and transferred buses at the park. Lucky us! The bus for Wilderness Lodge had just arrived, so we were on our way back to our hotel with no waiting at all.

 

[stephm0188]

Extra Credit​

Our lovely day at Animal Kingdom ended with a tasty dinner at Boma, and then we were headed back to our peacefully quiet room at Wilderness Lodge.

Just kidding. No peacefully quiet room for us. It was loud. I was restless. So was the kid, I think, because he asked if he could go down the waterslide one time before bed. Why not? It beat staying in the room.

So we headed downstairs and outside. The slide was closed. Of course the slide was closed.

Back upstairs to the room. Noise noise noise. Argh. I felt myself become more and more annoyed by the second. We hadn't unpacked yet. I asked the kid if he wanted to watch the water pageant parade with me, and he said "Yes!"

Before we headed out to the dock, I stopped by the front desk. I nicely pleaded for a new room, explaining how loud I felt our room over the lobby felt. But by then, all the rooms were full and there wasn't anything they could do.

So I expressed my frustrations again (nicely!) I said I was disappointed with the room we were placed in and had not expected a room with literally no view and a bathroom more suited for a value resort than a deluxe. I was disappointed that the construction was ongoing, and the slide was not functional. Perhaps to some those things might be trivial, but they were important enough to us to factor into our decision to book at Wilderness Lodge. I was thisclose to asking for another room at another resort, but the manager offered us a $50 room credit for the nights we were in that room. I was assured that quiet hours in the lobby would start promptly at 10pm, and that we wouldn't experience any noise after that. I accepted the room credit, and we headed out to the dock.

We arrived just in time! The parade started the moment we found a place along the railing to watch. I think the turtle is my favorite float. The kid liked King Neptune the best.

Then it was back upstairs to the room to finally try to settle in and get some rest. The kid and husband were so exhausted that they fell asleep the minute their heads hit their pillows.

Me? I last remember looking at the clock at 11:30pm, wondering exactly when those quiet hours were going to go into effect while having an internal conversation with myself.
"Self, you are at Disney! It's DISNEY!"
"It is Disney, and we paid a heck of a lot to be here, which is why I'm a little disgruntled about the hotel."
"Okay, so it's not what you thought it would be, but it's Disney. It'll all be fine!"
"FINE."
"Go to sleep, tomorrow is a new day!"
"I would if it weren't so noisy! I can hear the noise through my earplugs!"
"That's not very magical."

My more reasonable side (and exhaustion) eventually won out.

 

[ursalita]

So sorry you continued to have problems with your room. That stinks.

Sounds like you had a really enjoyable day at AK, though. Both times we rode the safari my boys - the older one then the younger - fell asleep. It must be something about that ride. It's really disappointing that strangers feel the need to make comments about your son riding in a stroller. People just need to learn to keep their mouths shut.

I loved Boma when we went in 2011. I hadn't started reading the DIS so I didn't know about Zebra Domes so I'm not sure we got to try them. I definitely need to make a point of finding one this trip.

 

[stephm0188]

Casey Junior's Comin' Down The Track!​

Day Two.

We woke up bright and early at 6:30am. It was Sunday, our first Magic Kingdom day of the trip, and we wanted to be there for the 8am rope drop. We hurried to get ready while splitting a couple of muffins I had purchased at Roaring Fork the night before. We made it out to the dock shortly before 7:30, just in time for the first boat to arrive.

Rope drop at Magic Kingdom is one of our family's favorite things about Disney. There's just something about the whole opening song and dance that puts us in the Disney mood. It's one of my secret goals to be family of the day someday, but we can never quite seem to get it together to be there early enough to be chosen. Someday!

We happily watched the family of the day wave to us from the platform, then made our way through the crowd and into the park. We had a plan. We were heading straight for Frontierland. The kid decided he wanted to start off with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Sounds like fun to me!

We ended up on the very first train of the day. The kid loves BTMR and rides with his hands in the air for the entirety of the ride. It was the perfect start to our Magic Kingdom day.

Splash Mountain wasn't open yet, so we headed into Adventureland. We rode Aladdin's carpets, Jingle Cruise, and Pirates of the Caribbean, then headed back to Splash Mountain. We rode it twice, and then the kid asked an already familiar question:

"I'm hungry. Can I have my Mickey ice cream now?"

Nope. It was 10 am and time to leave Magic Kingdom. We had other things on our agenda!

 

[HikingBelle]

Following along!

By the way, I'm heading to Disney in January and it's our first time doing the dining plan. I am SO GLAD I read your trip report, because I probably would have forgotten to order QS dessert too!

 

[stephm0188]

A Supercalifragilistic Breakfast?​

We left Magic Kingdom at 10am so we could head over to Grand Floridian. We had breakfast reservations for 11:20 at 1900 Park Fare, and we were all beginning to feel a bit hungry.

We arrived at the boat launch just in time to see the boat depart. Womp womp womp. So we decided to go ahead and take the monorail the long way around instead.

It was nearing 10:30 when we arrived at Grand Floridian, and we had one stop to make before heading to 1900 Park Fare.

Basin White is one of our favorite stops. We absolutely adore their products, especially their bath bombs, so we stock up anytime we visit WDW or Las Vegas. We each selected 6 bath bombs and a few other products. Their Dr. Spot soap is one of my very favorites for stubborn stains!

We headed down to 1900 Park Fare just after 11:00 to check in.

And then we waited.
and waited.
and waited.
and waited some more.

It was 11:50 and I was ready to say "Forget it" and ask for the cancellation policy to be waived. "No, we can't do that, but you'll be seated soon!"

Our pager finally buzzed at noon and we were ushered inside for breakfast. We were lead through the main dining room and back into a corner of a much smaller dining space. It felt very cramped and crowded, especially once the characters began arriving. We found ourselves trapped at our table because getting up would have meant disrupting someone's interaction with a character. At one point, three of the five characters were all in the very small room!

The characters arrived just as soon as we were seated. I didn't even have time to take my camera out of the bag before Pooh was standing beside us! Luckily, he was patient enough to wait for me

We met Pooh, Tigger, Alice, Mary Poppins, and the Mad Hatter during our breakfast. The interactions felt very rushed. The exception to that was the Mad Hatter, who was especially delightful and hilarious. But I heard him being urged by another cast member to move along, so it kind of made me think that maybe my feeling about being rushed was accurate.

It was fun to meet the Mad Hatter, but this is not a meal I'd ever do again. We paid the tab and bolted outside for sunlight and freedom.

We were ready to head back to Magic Kingdom for more magic, and perhaps a Mickey ice cream bar

 

[ursalita]

Sounds like a good start to your MK day. It's awesome that you can make it to rope drop, we are never fast enough. It's my goal this trip to make it to RD and see the welcome show.

Ooh, I really like the sound of Basin White. I'm always looking for nice bath products. We are having lunch at GF Cafe so I will be sure to check it out when I'm there.

 

[cstorm65]

That's too bad about your character meal, especially taking so long past your reservation time to seat you when you checked in early.

Hope you have a great time at Magic Kingdom!

 

[stephm0188]

A Special Horse​

After a mediocre breakfast at 1900 Park Fare that took much longer than expected, we wasted no time hustling back to Magic Kingdom. The monorail arrived just as we stepped outside onto the platform, and there was barely anyone at the Magic Kingdom bag check. Yay!

We took a moment to check out the MDE app to see what current wait times were like, then decided on Enchanted Tales with Belle. The standby was only 20 minutes, and it would free up a FastPass for us later. So we headed back to Belle's cottage. I think we ended up only waiting 10 minutes for this one...maaaaaybe 15, tops.

The kid played the role of the footstool. He really had hoped to be the Beast so he could dance with Belle, but alas, it was not meant to be. He made a few really cute barking noises on cue, and then posed for his picture with Belle when it was time. He's quite smitten with all the princesses, something I adore about him. Not many boys his age would admit they love super heroes and princesses.

After ETWB, the kid asked if we could go see "The Donald Movie." That would be Mickey's Philharmonic to the rest of you. He loves the entire show, but the ending is his absolute favorite. I think it's a pretty cute attraction, so we went and enjoyed the show.

We stopped in the gift shop, and he chose to spend the remainder on his giftcard on a Baymax figure that had snap on armor. We had it sent to our hotel to pick up later. Then the kid asked to ride the carousel. He had a plan.

He chose a special horse. A very special horse.

The horse with the gold ribbon is Cinderella's horse. He was thrilled to stake his claim for the remainder of the ride.

We moved on to It's a Small World, then backtracked to use a Fastpass for Under the Sea.

And then it was time.
We had waited a LONG time for this moment. We had witnessed the construction during our previous two trips, and it was finally going to be our time to ride.

We headed over to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train to use our FPs.

The theme was adorable and I couldn't help but want to sing along throughout the ride. But my goodness, it was SHORT! The kid loved it and begged to ride again. Not today, kiddo.

We headed over to Tomorrowland to use our Buzz Lightyear FP, but we were just a bit early. So the kid and I stopped to take a spin on the teacups. I think this might secretly be the one thing I look forward to most. We laugh and laugh the entire time we try to make that silly little cup spin as fast as it can. How can you not?

After spinning ourselves silly, we headed over to Buzz Lightyear. I had earned my Galactic Hero badge two years in a row, and I was ready to claim it for a third year.

High 800,000s. Darn it. No badge for me... this time.

It was nearing 4:00 by that time, and we wanted to get out of there before the MVMCP crowds began arriving. So we bid farewell to Magic Kingdom and headed back to the hotel.

 

[ursalita]

Oh my gosh! That pic of the kid and Belle is adorable. I love the big gap in his front teeth. Seriously, it's so great to go back to those pictures years later.