Take Your 2-Year-Old to Disney! Aug '17 TR * COMPLETE 1/10/19

We headed outside and discovered that my rushed attempt to cover the stroller was a big fail. I guess it prevented some water from getting in, as a lot had pooled on top of it, but the stroller was pretty wet. It occurs to me that learning how to use the cover prior to being stuck in a downpour would have been a good idea. Lesson learned for next time! :scared:
We had this same thing happen back in the stroller days. You think getting the cover on would be easy and of course it never is.

After I parked the stroller I found DD and DH having fun dancing in their ponchos in the rain
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Precious!

Back at Coronado, someone spotted a snail on the sidewalk and the kids were thrilled to see it. We probably spent 5 solid minutes watching this snail. Spend thousands to bring your family to Disney World so your children can stare at a snail on the ground :laughing:
:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2: Maybe it all really started with a snail instead of a mouse :-)

We'll be at Coronado (again - yay!) from May 18-22. This will be my shortest Disney trip since going as a kid, and the most last minute, but a short trip is better than no trip! I am taking 2.5 days off from work for this trip and I really can't take any more so I'm stretching this as far as I can. I'll mention some of our plans as the trip gets closer, but for now, back to August...
Awesome news Heather!!!!!! So excited for you.

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Stitch!! I'm honestly not sure who was more excited, DD or DH! He was visibly excited when he saw who we were going to see. There was a line of only 3 people ahead of us. DD gave Stitch lots of hugs and even told him "Ohana means family" and said "I love you Stitch" :lovestruc
What a great picture. Though I gotta ask, where is stitch in MK? I don't think we've ever seen him

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To say she loved it would be an understatement.
She could totally e a Disney commercial. Her reaction is perfection!

At this point both Peter Pan and Merida were scheduled to come out for meets so we asked DD who she wanted to see.
Any guesses?
I'm gonna vote for Peter!
 
:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2: Maybe it all really started with a snail instead of a mouse :-)

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Awesome news Heather!!!!!! So excited for you.

Thank you!!! :banana:

What a great picture. Though I gotta ask, where is stitch in MK? I don't think we've ever seen him

Stitch was in Tomorrowland, back by Space Mountain.

She could totally e a Disney commercial. Her reaction is perfection!

:goodvibes

Oh gosh the pictures with Ariel are so adorable!

Thank you! :goodvibes
 
Chapter 20
In Which Roo Gets a Poncho

When we left off we had just asked DD if she wanted to meet Merida or Peter Pan and she chose "Me-di-dah"! (Now she can pronounce her name correctly but it was so cute when she couldn't) We had to wait about 10 minutes, during which it started to drizzle very lightly. DD kept saying that she wants to tell Merida that it's raining. At this point, DD hadn't yet seen Brave. She just really loved watching "Touch The Sky" on YouTube and seeing Merida riding her horse and climbing up to the waterfall and whatever else happens during that scene. When it was her turn, DD went right to her for a hug and thus commenced the best character meet of the trip.


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Merida took DD's hand and led her over a little bit and sat on the ground and motioned for DD to sit on her lap. DD was just about to sit but decided she wanted another hug instead...
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DD did eventually sit and she even told Merida it's raining, as planned :laughing:
Merida seemed to be genuinely enjoying DD which made my heart melt. This meet was pure magic.

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After she signed DD's autograph book, she closed the pen and gave it to DD so she could "draw" in the book too.

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After we finally said bye to Merida and as DD was walking away, I saw Merida make a face at her photographer like she was melting over DD and mouth "oh my goodness" and it made me get all teary. As magical as this meet was for us, to see how much Merida enjoyed being with DD was just pixie dust overload. I was seriously high off this character meet. I looked at the videos I had taken and realized that Merida had spent almost 3 minutes with DD! :lovestruc

Next we had a FP for Winnie the Pooh. As we headed in DD was so excited to play with the honey and then very disappointed that we were in the FP line and she couldn't play with it. She got excited again when she got to ride in the honey pot though, so no worries.
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In the gift shop DD really wanted to get a Roo plush. She had been pointing out lots of items she wanted in various gift shops throughout the trip, and she had some gift cards from her birthday that we were using for spending money for her. She had pointed out lots of things that she already had at home or things that really weren't appropriate for her age level or things that I didn't even know what they were... but I thought adding Roo to her Hundred-Acre-Wood collection was a great idea so we got him. Since it was rainy, the wonderful CM who rang us up offered to make a poncho for Roo which was adorable.
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I had been wanting a necklace for myself, something with DD's birthstone. No necesarily something Disney related but when I saw this I thought it was perfect so I spur of the moment bought it.
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A few hours later I put it on and realized it was totally for a child. It was like a very tight choker on me. Oops. I still have yet to put it on a longer chain :blush: At this point maybe I'll just keep it for DD in a few years :laughing:

Anyway, DD was super excited to have Roo and carried him around in his poncho for the rest of the morning.
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Anyway, DD was super excited to have Roo and carried him around in his poncho for the rest of the morning.

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We walked through the castle and took some photopass pictures
before heading out to our next destination.

(Continued in the next post)
 
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Roo had to be in the picture
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Then we headed here:
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Neither DD or DH knew where we were going at this point. Well...sort of...
I had actually told DH we were going to the Grand Floridian but he clearly didn't remember since he asked me where we were going. But I still hadn't told him what we were doing or who would be there...
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Up next: A new
restaurant for me and one of my favorite meals of the trip!
 
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What a magical meet and greet with Merida. I got a little teary just watching the videos and I generally have a stone heart :-) As much planning that goes into disney trip it really is the small, unexpected moments that make it!

Loving Too and his poncho. Ryann is just too cute with him.
 
What an awesome meet with Merida! Sounds like a great morning in a drizzly Magic Kingdom!

How fun that you get to go back so soon! I will actually be there May 17-21, too- for a Girls' Getaway Weekend!
 


Ok and I thought I loved the Ariel pictures!

The Merida meet reminded me so much of my oldest...also a May baby...and her first trip to Disney. She was 18 months and so in love with all the characters, well minus the face characters. She had a meet and greet with a few characters at once. She was the last before the switch and the CM closed the door and she got pictures with multiple characters at once. And then she went to meet Cinderella but had no desire to meet with her and her face, so Susie or was it pearla, brought her over and my dd sat in susies lap to meet Cindy.
 
What a magical meet and greet with Merida. I got a little teary just watching the videos and I generally have a stone heart :-) As much planning that goes into disney trip it really is the small, unexpected moments that make it!

Loving Too and his poncho. Ryann is just too cute with him.

I'm so glad Ryann was able to crack into your stone heart :goodvibes And you're right...it's really those little magical moments that you can't plan that make Disney so special.

What an awesome meet with Merida! Sounds like a great morning in a drizzly Magic Kingdom!

How fun that you get to go back so soon! I will actually be there May 17-21, too- for a Girls' Getaway Weekend!

It really was great! Are you staying at WL? (I saw your ticker) A girls weekend sounds wonderful.

Ok and I thought I loved the Ariel pictures!

:goodvibes

The Merida meet reminded me so much of my oldest...also a May baby...and her first trip to Disney. She was 18 months and so in love with all the characters, well minus the face characters. She had a meet and greet with a few characters at once. She was the last before the switch and the CM closed the door and she got pictures with multiple characters at once. And then she went to meet Cinderella but had no desire to meet with her and her face, so Susie or was it pearla, brought her over and my dd sat in susies lap to meet Cindy.

That sounds like such a special treat! And so so sweet
 
Merida took DD's hand and led her over a little bit and sat on the ground and motioned for DD to sit on her lap. DD was just about to sit but decided she wanted another hug instead...
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So cute! I miss those days! And Merida is just a fun character, so I think she tends to be a great meet as she has a lot to work with.

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After we finally said bye to Merida and as DD was walking away, I saw Merida make a face at her photographer like she was melting over DD and mouth "oh my goodness" and it made me get all teary.
She def was loving DD! Great pictures and video!

I was teared eyed just reading about it. I always get all choked up with those kinds of things!


Since it was rainy, the wonderful CM who rang us up offered to make a poncho for Roo which was adorable.
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I love it!!!!

Up next: A new restaurant for me and one of my favorite meals of the trip!
Ohh! I can't wait to find out where!
 
I'm so glad Ryann was able to crack into your stone heart :goodvibes And you're right...it's really those little magical moments that you can't plan that make Disney so special.



It really was great! Are you staying at WL? (I saw your ticker) A girls weekend sounds wonderful.



:goodvibes

We are! It will be my first time staying there!
 
So cute! I miss those days! And Merida is just a fun character, so I think she tends to be a great meet as she has a lot to work with.

I think you're right about Merida!

She def was loving DD! Great pictures and video!

Thanks :goodvibes

I was teared eyed just reading about it. I always get all choked up with those kinds of things!

:lovestruc

We are! It will be my first time staying there!

Awesome! I'd love to stay there one day too. We'll be visiting WL soon in this TR ;)
 
Chapter 21
In Which We're All Mad Here

We left off waiting for the monorail. We had to wait a little while because when the next one came it had to sit on the tracks for a few minutes. Maybe they were checking something? No one boarded that one and we waited for the next one. DD enjoyed the ride! (But really, who wouldn't?!)

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Before long we arrived at our destination:
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Having security in front of the resort sort of took away from the grandeur of our arrival but I get why they did it and I appreciated it when we were leaving as it was so fast and probably saved us a little time.

DD doesn't yet understand the magic of arriving at the Grand Floridian but DH was excited. And Roo too.
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We were here to have breakfast (brunch) at 1900 Park Fare!
We checked in a little early and I gave my cell phone number. The hostess said we would get a text when it was time to return which was neat. We headed outside to look around.
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At 11:43 I received the text and we waited near the hostess stand for another 7 minutes before we were led to our table. While we were waiting, I noticed a group of young adults (they looked to be college age) also waiting. One of them had a Mary Poppins umbrella so I embarrassed DH by going up to them and asking if they were cast members. DD was so excited to see Mary's umbrella (the one with the bird on the end) and I just couldn't help myself. They were so friendly and didn't seem to mind at all that I was chatting with them. It turns out two of the group had worked at Great Movie Ride and were now starting new positions since it closed :guilty: I sort of wished I could be in college and work at Disney and be friends with them :cool1:

We were seated close to the entrance and very close to the food :thumbsup2
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Roo enjoyed some coffee (decaf of course)
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This is definitely DH's plate. I love how bacon smells while it's cooking but I'm not a fan of eating it. Since there were eggs involved in this meal, we took turns eating. DH ate first.
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First came Tigger, followed closely by Mary Poppins. They each spent very little time with us. I was pretty bummed about Mary Poppins because she was the reason we came here. She spent 45 seconds at our table total. She came, said hi, took a picture, and left. I was trying to get DD to warm up to talk to her but Mary just kind of brushed us off. Luckily, the food cheered me up real fast.
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I was able to get a cute pic of DD and Mary, so at least there's that.

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Okay Mary, this picture's adorable so you're forgiven.
 
The chef came out to speak to us and prepared an awesome plate for DD. She got to eat safe Mickey Waffles!!!! I'm not sure who was more excited, DD or me!
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She LOVED her food and was pumped about the waffles. I got her mid-chew :laughing:
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Pooh visited next and spent a little more time with DD but still not very much. DD was excited to show him Roo and they hopped together for a moment and then I asked DD what Pooh likes to eat and she said "hunny." Pooh rubbed his belly and then was just suddenly like BYE and left :confused3
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So is it me? Do I need to adjust my expectations? My feeling is that we're paying a premium for a character meal so 30-45 sec per character feels very rushed. Alice and the Mad Hatter spent much longer with us, about 2 minutes each. Alice may have even been longer, since we said bye to her a few times and she just kept staying and playing with DD. It was such a great meet. DD absolutely fell in love with Alice after this.

The Mad Hatter terrified her at first. When she saw him coming she wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face. He was so silly and friendly that he won her over real fast.
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I was excited when it was my turn to eat. The food was so good! I was not good at remembering to take pictures before I started eating. Apologies in advance.
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This looks like french toast and bread pudding. I don't really remember except that it was all yummy!
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The strawberry soup was cold and tasted like a smoothie.
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My food pictures really didn't do it justice. It's not a five star restaurant, but for a buffet it was really, really good. Some of the character interactions could have been better but maybe Tigger, Pooh, and Mary were all having a bathroom emergency... Actually, this was the very end of the breakfast hours so they were probably very tired and ready for a rest. I can get that. But on the flip side, I'm paying just as much as the guests who had breakfast at 9am. And despite all that, DD had a blast and loved her food and overall this was one of my favorite meals of the trip. In fact, I have it booked again for May :banana:
 
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Hi!
Your post are wonderful! You are a girl after my own heart ;)
I’m a Disney obsessed teacher from New York, love to plan and help all my friends plan there wdw trips. I too have a reluctant DH that pretends not to love Disney but has the best time when we go and listens to me go on and on..We have a 4 year old DS who has been going to Disney since he’s 9 months old. We’re heading back for Easter (crowded I know) but can’t wait bec DS is finally 40 in and he can’t wait to ride splash mountain. I’m so excited!! We actually invested in annual passes and will be going back in Aug. Thank you for all your advice..this is my first time posting, you definitely inspired me!!!! Keep sharing everything..
 
Sorry some of the characters were rushy! We ate there last year at Girls Getaway, and really enjoyed brunch! (We ate there for dinner with my kiddos a couple years ago, and also enjoyed it!)
 
Hi!
Your post are wonderful! You are a girl after my own heart ;)
I’m a Disney obsessed teacher from New York, love to plan and help all my friends plan there wdw trips. I too have a reluctant DH that pretends not to love Disney but has the best time when we go and listens to me go on and on..We have a 4 year old DS who has been going to Disney since he’s 9 months old. We’re heading back for Easter (crowded I know) but can’t wait bec DS is finally 40 in and he can’t wait to ride splash mountain. I’m so excited!! We actually invested in annual passes and will be going back in Aug. Thank you for all your advice..this is my first time posting, you definitely inspired me!!!! Keep sharing everything..

Thank you so much for your very kind words :goodvibes Your post really moved me :hug:
We do have so much in common!
That is sooooo exciting that your DS is tall enough for Splash Mountain! What a fun trip that will be! Amazing about the annual passes and two trips this year! That's the best!!!

Sorry some of the characters were rushy! We ate there last year at Girls Getaway, and really enjoyed brunch! (We ate there for dinner with my kiddos a couple years ago, and also enjoyed it!)

I was thinking about doing dinner in May since DD is now into Cinderella but I decided to do brunch again and figured she may enjoy dinner more when she's a little older. Which meal did you like better?

I heard that Roo gets crazy when he has too much caffeine!

You heard right! :rotfl:

I love DH photo bombing in the back round.

He's a ham :laughing:

We had dinner here awhile back, and my oldest had 3 bowls of that Strawberry Soup. But I also think it tasted like a smoothie or those animals yogurt drinks.

That's a lot of strawberry soup! :bitelip: I had seen pictures of it on the Dis and always wondered what it tasted like...
 

This. Picture. :love::love::love:


Seriously, how amazing are those CM's?! This is adorable!


A few hours later I put it on and realized it was totally for a child. It was like a very tight choker on me. Oops. I still have yet to put it on a longer chain :blush: At this point maybe I'll just keep it for DD in a few years :laughing:

Oh no! It's really cute though, and definitely keep it for DD!

Neither DD or DH knew where we were going at this point. Well...sort of...
I had actually told DH we were going to the Grand Floridian but he clearly didn't remember since he asked me where we were going. But I still hadn't told him what we were doing or who would be there...

Ugh, this is my DH. Doesn't remember anything and honestly, sometimes it's a good thing, cause then I can change my response the second time around if i'm wanting to change plans! :rotfl2:

Having security in front of the resort sort of took away from the grandeur of our arrival

Right?!?

One of them had a Mary Poppins umbrella so I embarrassed DH by going up to them and asking if they were cast members.

Me! :wave2: Something I would do, and not care!
I sort of wished I could be in college and work at Disney and be friends with them :cool1:

I sort of wish I could be in college and work at Disney and be friends with EVERYONE!


That's too bad about the quick meet, but the picture is really cute, and how Mary is holding Roo!



These two pics are great!
 
Looks like you all had a great meal at 1900, but that is odd that the characters interacted so little. Maybe they were behind or something?
 

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