Once, Twice, Three Times to Disney!?! - Updated (finally!) 7/22

[toomuchtv]

Oh no! How disappointing to have a perfect meal turn into basically a disaster :-( The castmember booking the meal definitely should have known it wasn't a character meal for dinner. I'm glad the day at least ended well for you!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Our Last Day at Disney

So we have arrived at our last Disney day. But no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We have an action-packed morning planned. I had scored us a pre-park opening breakfast at Crystal Palace. So we were up at the crack of dawn and were ready in line when they started letting people with reservations in at 7:45. First order of business was photos. Because let's face it...the only thing better than Magic Kingdom photos is Magic Kingdom photos while it's practically empty!








We had time to kill before breakfast, so we let Luke run around an empty hub.




















Before we knew it, it was time to head over to breakfast!






We were seated quickly and before we knew it Eeyore was making his way over to our table!








Eeyore got some serious Luke hugs and high fives. Next up was a certain chubby little cubby...






We managed to get him to eat a few bites in between characters!




Then we had some bouncy, pouncy, flouncy fun with Tigger...






And last but not least was sweet Piglet!




Kisses for Piglet!






And then our server brought out a birthday card signed by all the characters and a cupcake for Luke! This was (literally) the icing on the cake! Luke was so happy!






After this, my mommy heart was healed from the failures of the day before. My boy was so happy!

(continued in next post due to number of photos)

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Our Last Day at Disney (cont.)

After a fantastic breakfast, we headed over to Tomorrowland. We still managed to beat the rope drop crowd and hopped right on my son's beloved Astro Orbiter. Then mama's beloved PeopleMover. And then we dashed back over to Adventureland and rode Jungle Cruise and Aladdin with no wait. After all that riding, we needed a little snack! And when in Adventureland...




But I didn't get much of my Dole Whip Float, because I was not the only one who loved it!






You have to love someone a WHOLE LOT to let them have your Dole Whip Float!


After our snack (well Luke's snack), we were energized and ready for more fun. Using a combination of fastpasses and short lines, we hit Haunted Mansion, it's a small world, Peter Pan, and Pooh before heading over to Storybook Circus.

We revisited some of Luke's favorites...Dumbo, Barnstormer, and of course, the splashpad! No pictures as we were just enjoying Luke's pure bliss. This whole day was just for him. All his favorites. I can tell you now, he was once happy birthday boy and we were happy parents watching him!

If you don't believe me about pure toddler joy, see for yourselves...










And with that it was time to head home. Luke had picked out a souvenir (you will see it soon) and we jumped on the train to head out of the park.




Luke fell asleep on the bus ride back to the resort:




We still had a little bit before our Magical Express came, so DH and I ordered a pizza and sat in the food court talking about all our favorite parts of the trip.






Our Magical Express bus arrived and we had some difficulty boarding. The driver kept saying we had the wrong papers. We told him we had the ones they gave us at the desk. He couldn't tell us what else we needed, just that ours were "wrong". He finally just let us board, but it was stressful for a while!

We got to the airport with plenty of time before our flight. Luke entertained all the other passengers by pulling the carry-on around and running up to the desk and telling the attendant "I need ticket".




My sweet boy. The flight went off without a hitch and before long we were back to our car for the 1 1/2 hour drive home from the airport. Luke wouldn't stop snuggling with his chosen souvenir...

 

[toomuchtv]

Such a happy boy! You've gotta love that pure toddler joy!

 

[Shimmyb812]

I have loved reading this portion of your trip report! Can't wait to leave for Disney TOMORROW!

 

[Dugette]

Just caught up on a bunch of updates. Hope you are doing well with two little ones in the house now. When is Annie's first trip?

Love that Luke seems to be a ride daredevil. Izzy is too, so this December's trip should be fun because she can finally ride the 40 inch-ers.

Wow, smart thinking with the seed. I know what you are talking about with the Nosefrieda, as we used one too. Glad it worked!

Funny that he was all about Mickey and Goofy and not so much Minnie at the character spot. Makes up for Izzy ditching the others to hug Minnie.

What a bummer about the birthday dinner not being what you expected! (We are doing H&V breakfast for the first time in December, as Izzy's a big fan of those characters too). I'm glad that Fantasmic was a hit with Luke, though. And that he had a fantastic next day!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Trip 3 - Day 1 - Goin' deluxe!

First, let me apologize for not having updated this report in NINE months! Work plus one toddler plus one infant takes ALOT of time. Also, I have switched phones and my trip notes are on the old phone. But I decided I need to knock out the last part of this report since so much has changed since then!

On to the trip report...

Day 0 was very uneventful. We left home about 3 pm and got on the road. We drove straight through other than gas/potty stops and a stop for dinner. The dinner stop had a cute story...

We stopped at Dairy Queen and there were a couple teenage girls working the counter. Luke flirted with them the entire time! He kept saying "hewo wadies" and "buh bye ladies"! Already a flirt! We arrived at 3 am and stayed the first night at a Holiday Inn.

We got up around 8 and headed over to a very special resort!

This third trip of 2015 was in October and it was our first time going deluxe. We were originally trying for the less expensive Boardwalk Villas, but when it was full we splurged and went for Beach Club.

We checked in early and our rooms were not ready so we decided to take advantage of the quick walk over to Epcot!

It was a beautiful sunny day and we were so excited to be at Disney! We strolled through World Showcase and made our way over to Future World.










The line was short for Figment (either 5 or 10 minutes), so we hopped in line and were soon enjoying our journey into imagination! Luke mostly loved the journey into the exit area!







He especially loved the musical squares and danced around here for quite awhile (I think I have a video I will try to find and add!)

Next stop was over to The Seas where we had a short wait for Nemo. Not a huge favorite, but cute as always. Then we spend some time wandering around the aquarium.

One of the few hidden Mickeys I've ever actually found...



Luke had a great time watching the fish for as long as his 2 year old attention span would let him (so probably a couple minutes!).






And I got to see some manatees!



Love, love, love manatees! Definitely in my top 5 of all animals (I'm still finalizing what animals are on that list before I laminate it! )



We went to Turtle Talk next, but Luke had a small meltdown, so none of us enjoyed it much as we were trying to calm him down so he didn't disrupt anyone else's experience. I no longer remember what the meltdown was about, but probably something trivial. You know how toddlers are!

And after The Seas we got our room ready text! Will add more next update!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Welcome back! I have been too busy planning our next trip, that I have kind of abandoned my TR. I really need to go back and finish it. So, you are not alone.

 

[toomuchtv]

Yay! Welcome back!

We stopped at Dairy Queen and there were a couple teenage girls working the counter. Luke flirted with them the entire time! He kept saying "hewo wadies" and "buh bye ladies"!

Ohmygosh, that's adorable. You're going to have quite the handful, it sounds like!

One of the few hidden Mickeys I've ever actually found...

Hey! That's one of the few I've found as well!

Luke had a great time watching the fish for as long as his 2 year old attention span would let him (so probably a couple minutes!).

I was going to ask how old he was on this trip, but I guess this answers it!

(I'm still finalizing what animals are on that list before I laminate it! )

Just be careful, because once you leave that animal off, it will walk into your life!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Trip 1 - Day 1 - Life's a Beach (Club)!

So when we left off, we were getting our room ready texts so we started making our way back to the Beach Club. My dad was flying in from a business trip and his Magical Express arrived around the same time. Perfect timing! We took a couple Photopass photos in front of the Seas before heading back.






We made our way back through World Showcase. It was very crowded at this time (not surprising for a Saturday during Food & Wine)! We were thankful to just be passing through and not going to the Food & Wine Festival, because it looks like we would have been shoulder-to-shoulder with a few thousand of our closest friends!






We stopped for a couple more photos on the bridge. This is my favorite photopass spot after the park icon shots.




After a ridiculously short walk we were at our room! I was loving the deluxe life already! After opening the door, we were even more excited by the spaciousness of the rooms. And the kitchenette was so handy!







We settled in a little bit, but we didn't have too long to rest. We had dining reservations to get to! Fortunately, our dinner was just a quick walk or boat ride away. We were dining at Blue Zoo for the first time! We arrived a little early and the restaurant wasn't open yet, so we played outside at the fountain for a little while.












We went back in at our reservation time and were seated immediately. This restaurant is so beautiful, I love the decor in here!








I had the Low Country Jumbo Shrimp - with white cheddar grits, okra, and smoked bacon butter. James had the Miso Glazed Mero - Hawaiian sea bass, shiitak-ginger rice, black garlic, and sticky soy. And we shared the lobster stuffed potato. Luke had plain spaghetti noodles. I have no idea what my parents ordered, and I have no pictures to help me out. Hopefully my mom will join in and shed some light on the matter.








Overall, I would say everything we had was very good, but nothing jumped out as truly exceptional. I would happily return, but with so many other favorites, we likely won't be back for several trips.

After dinner, we went out to the bus stop as we still had a big evening ahead of us. We had plans to catch the nighttime entertainment at Magic Kingdom!

 

[Shimmyb812]

Katie's mom joins in: Pretty sure that I had the dancing fish and Dad had the cast iron filet! I remember both were delicious. Will have to check for pics!