Why Do I Have to Ride by Myself? A 2/25 to 3/1 Trip Report

[pld5]

Hello and Welcome to my 3rd Trip Report! Which I didn't think I would do, but then what would I do with all of these pictures?

We have been back a week now from a mostly magical trip to celebrate my son's 8th Birthday.

Who are We? I am Patty. I'm 44 and work in HR at a Utility Company in Pittsburgh, PA.

My husband is Paul, 37, who works for the federal government.

Our son is Edward, age 8, and this was his 4th trip to Walt Disney World. We discovered on this trip that it is much different traveling with an 8 year old than a 7 year old.



More sass and logic than cuteness and magic, I guess. But like I said in the beginning, we had a mostly magical trip and if I had to deal with the sass, I'm glad it was at WDW!

We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge from February 25 to March 1. This was our 3rd time there (also our 3rd time staying onsite). We love it there and especially while traveling in potentially colder months, like that it is enclosed. We also like the transportation options of a boat to Magic Kingdom and have indulged ourselves by staying Club Level the last two times there.

I'll include the requisite travel morning pictures in this first post and that way you can get an idea of what me and my husband look like, although I guess we will be showing up throughout the rest of the report here and there......



Ha Ha, But not yet! It was snowing when we left Pittsburgh, but not horribly and not enough to delay our fllight, thank goodness. But we got to be "De-Iced" by trucks on the runway that I'd be lying if I said that did not bother me ever so slightly. But Edward thought it was cool.



Soon enough though, we were on the Mini Monorail in the Orlando International Airport. This would have been around 11:30am.



Then we were on Magical Express!





I'm look a little tired here but I was the one drove us to the airport (left the house at 5am to get there at 7am for a 9am flight).



I certainly perked up when I saw this lovely sight!



Wilderness Lodge was the first stop and we were taken right upstairs to check in.



Up next, were any of my room requests met?

 

[pld5]

Reserved for post links

 

[pld5]

My two requests for a room at Wilderness Lodge were for an inner courtyard view and at the last minute, Edward asked if he could have bunk beds. So I put both requests through the Itinerary Planning Office (IPO) and was curious if either would be met. I had also requested balloons be placed in the room through the IPO and was told that the resort could do that at no charge or I could order something more elaborate through Disney Florist. I asked for the no charge balloons.

While checking in, our Concierge told us it looked like we have been upgraded. And I'm thinking how much more can you upgrade than Club Level? Well, he takes us to our room. Which is lovely.

And does not face the inner courtyard.

And has no balloons.

But it does have bunkbeds!





Apparently since bunkbeds are not a bookable category on the Club Level, they are considered an upgrade if you are assigned one of them. I'll admit I had fleeting hopes of the Presidential Suite after hearing the word "upgrade"...... But don't get me wrong, I was grateful for it all and our room turned out to be one of the quietest places I've ever stayed.

We went to get a snack in the Old Faithful Club and Edward made himself at home.





While we were having our snack, we started to discuss whether we were going to swim or head to Magic Kingdom. We packed our swimsuits so we could swim, but honestly, I can't stand being so close to Magic Kingdom and not being there on our first day! So we promised Edward that we would swim in the morning on his actual birthday and off to Magic Kingdom we went.

While deciding this, we changed into shorts. Paul realized he did not pack any in his carry on and while we were waiting for the elevator, we passed our luggage. So he got an opportunity to change into shorts. In hindsight, I wish I had changed out of my long sleeve shirt and my brown socks......

Waiting for the boat.




On the boat to MK! Look there's Space Mountain! Edward had told us (through the help of watching Youtube videos) that he thought he would be ready for Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain on this trip.




We're here!




And so stylish with my brown shorts, socks and shoes!




Look at that crane! And it's next to a Castle!



A Strategically placed border to cover my socks....



After Main Street, thinking that People Mover was closed for refurb, we headed left to Adventureland instead of our usual right to Tomorrowland. I had a Space Mountain Fast passes reserved beginning at 430, so we had time after our arrival at MK to wait in the 30 min Standby line for POTC as our first ride. We then headed over to Haunted Mansion and Edward was brave enought to ride that with us this year! We rode it on standby with a 25 minute wait.




Interestingly, as we were exiting the ride, it was closed and several people in security uniforms were rushing in as we were leaving.

We then went to ride the Peoplemover where Edward started getting anxious about riding Space Mountain when he realized he could not sit next to us on the ride, but we all sit one in front of another.





At this same time, my husband and I started feeling low blood sugars. Mine is an incovenience, but my husband is Type 1 diabetic and can be serious. So we sat and got a $5 frozen coke and talked about Space Mountain. Edward was visibly upset about not being able to ride next to us (Why can't I ride with you?), so we told him we could wait until he was older to try that ride. I got on my Iphone and changed our fastpass to Buzz Lightyear with a 830 arrival time. Then we decided to do the standby for Buzz while we were in Tomorrowland and only waited 20 minutes. The time was 450 at this point.




We stopped at Cosmic Rays for a hot dog and chicken nuggets at 520 and I was surprised that it was not packed at a normal dinner hour for people with children.



While there, a cast member was very creative with cleaning the windows. He made scene after scene (castle, tinkerbell, goofy) with his spray cleaner and Paul and Edward were fascinated.







Up next, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad! and Charming some Princesses!

 

[heaven2dc]

Fun trip already! I love how the CM decorated the window before cleaning - he's really talented!

Space Mountain is sort of scary when you ride by yourself - I was scared on my first visit to WDW and I'm an old lady!! Have you guys visited Disneyland and gone on SM there? I think I prefer the one at WDW.

 

[pld5]

Fun trip already! I love how the CM decorated the window before cleaning - he's really talented!

Space Mountain is sort of scary when you ride by yourself - I was scared on my first visit to WDW and I'm an old lady!! Have you guys visited Disneyland and gone on SM there? I think I prefer the one at WDW.

Welcome! That CM doing the window was having so much fun, as you can see from his smile. I think he really enjoyed having an audience for it too. I hope he ends up at Animation Academy some day!

We've never been to Disneyland. What is SM like there? I do have to say I prefer the SM of the 70s and 80s to what is at MK now.

 

[pld5]

After getting our bite to eat at Cosmic Ray's, we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to use our fast pass at 6pm.

First we stopped to do some pressed pennies.



Then we rode Edward's favorite ride. Clearly he enjoys it!



After riding it once, we went back on again. It showed a 45 minute wait time at 6:13 but it was actually 15 minutes.

We then walked back over to the New Fantasyland location and on the way Edward decided he wanted some ice cream. I knew we could find some behind the Hall of Presidents, but he didn't want that kind, he wanted it in a cone. So we made our way to the Friar's nook area and got a cone (or two) of ice cream while waiting for our fast pass time for Enchanted Tales with Belle to begin at 7pm.




We did not get to do this last year so I only had a vague idea of what to expect. It was very sweet and I was happy that Edward got chosen to be Beast! He is a good roarer and roared faster and louder than anyone there.







After Belle, we still had time to wait for our fast pass window to meet Rapunzel (I changed this fast pass after we already rode Buzz earlier in the day - if you are keeping track, we went from planning Space Mountain to Buzz to Rapunzel for that fast pass use on day 1.) We rode Little Mermaid as a walk on and came out of there just as Wishes was ending.

Rapunzel was very charmed by Edward who told her "Frying Pans, Who Knew?" and she asked to see his smolder.







Snow White was very sweet and a little too flirtatious with my husband, who she came across the room to see and compliment him on his beard. But she complimented me on wearing red, so I put the claws away quickly. But I wouldn't take a family picture with her.





After leaving Princess Fairytale hall, we tried our hand at removing the sword and then called it a night around 9pm.






The boat ride did not have much of a wait back to Wilderness Lodge and soon enough we were back to our room where we found these tied to the bunkbeds.



I asked a cast member if they could do this while we were on our way to Magic Kingdom earlier that afternoon. Edward was happy though and that was all of the pixie dust I needed.

It was a very magical day.

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm here! So glad you decided to do a TR after all, I always enjoy your posts and can't wait to hear all about this trip! Edward has grown so much!

Glad you at least were able to get your bunkbed request and eventually the balloons. And I don't blame you for wanting to head straight to MK!

The window cleaner at Cosmic Rays did an awesome job, I'm sure I would've been fascinated too

How awesome that Edward got chosen to be the Beast! The pics of the interaction came out great.

I'm glad you had a great first day (despite Snow making moves on DH )

 

[Step]

Popping in to read.Can't wait for more.

 

[pld5]

I'm here! So glad you decided to do a TR after all, I always enjoy your posts and can't wait to hear all about this trip! Edward has grown so much!

Glad you at least were able to get your bunkbed request and eventually the balloons. And I don't blame you for wanting to head straight to MK!

The window cleaner at Cosmic Rays did an awesome job, I'm sure I would've been fascinated too

How awesome that Edward got chosen to be the Beast! The pics of the interaction came out great.

I'm glad you had a great first day (despite Snow making moves on DH )

I'm so glad you are here Missangelalexis! I'm enjoying doing this report and I'm glad you asked whether I would do one. It's neat to see the differences in Edward from last year to this.

He did tell me after meeting Belle that he got a little nervous because she was so pretty.

Popping in to read.Can't wait for more.

Welcome! I hope to update some more tonight!

 

[pld5]

Wednesday, February 26th, our dear boy turned 8!



We brought a few presents for him (Pokemon cards, one 3DS game and a game for his Xbox) and a light up Happy Birthday necklace.





After a breakfast of cereal and fruit (and coffee for the adults) at the Old Faithful Club Lounge, we kept our promise to Edward and went to the pool. But not before some pictures of our walk there.










Edward loves the slide.






We swam for almost an hour and had the pool almost to ourselves that morning. The temperatures were in the low 70's at this point.






The geyser went off ( a good way to tell how long you've been in the pool -it goes off every hour).










We then went back to the room and got ready to go to Epcot. Edward had a very happy birthday morning!

 

[missangelalexis]

Great birthday morning for Edward! Awesome that you got the pool to yourselves, that slide looks really fun.

 

[pld5]

So it has been a long time since I have added to this report. I'll blame it on uncooperative computer and lack of time but here goes. The memories won't be as fresh 5 months later but luckily I try to document a lot of my memories in photographs......

When I last left off, we had celebrated Edward's birthday by swimming at the Wilderness Lodge pool and pretty much had the place to ourselves. Edward had requested that we spend his actual birthday day at Epcot so off to the bus stop we went.



Looking back through other trip reports, it always seems to sneak a little rain on us when we head to Epcot.

We get to Epcot and of course have to do a photopass shot in front of Spaceship Earth. Paul and I commented that we actually enjoyed the fastpass plus because it allowed us the opportunity to walk into the park as a family and not send one of us off to grab a fast pass.





That being said, we of course already had a fast pass plus for Soarin' and headed straight for the Land.



We still had time before our fast pass window so we grabbed lunch at Sunshine Seasons and then rode on Living with the Land before the big show.



Edward became a fan of chicken legs on this trip. So much more grown up and probably tastier than chicken nuggets.




Waiting at the boarding station.



Ready to go!





He loved it as usual and we all became better fans of Fast Pass Plus because we had a relaxing morning at our resort before getting to ride one of our favorites!

After leaving The Land, we decided to check out Figment. We have been trying to find this building for years and have always just walked right by.

The ride was cute, but the ride operator noticed Edward's Sonic shirt and commented on it and told him about a new series coming out to look for, so Edward felt really awesome and important.

Afterwards we played in the Imagination courtyard (I honestly can't remember its name) and had a fun time playing with Figment.







Here is a very blurry picture, but I think it captures Edward's joy.



Up next, will we be able to ride Test Track if it continues to rain?

 

[pld5]

Did we get to ride Test Track?



It turns out the answer is no. We headed over towards Mission Space and Test Track from Journey to Imagination and got quite wet along the way. Test Track closed during the heavy rain so we decided to try Mission Space.

It turns out that Edward LOVED Mission Space and was not that disappointed about missing Test Track. Paul rode Mission Space a second time and Edward and I waited out the rain storm inside play area and gift shop. The rain seemed to go a long time but we finally made a run for it to check out the cars in the Test Track exit area. We had that place to ourselves for a while but decided it was time to move around the World Showcase. It was about 4 now and we had a 5 or 6pm dinner reservation (see I told you I can't remember exact details 5 months later )

The rain did let up and we were able to make our way.



We stopped in Norway to look at sweaters and got a peek at Anna and Elsa in the gift shop. The line to meet them was insane so I was happy with our teeny tiny peek. I'm sure if Edward had been a Paige or Amelia, we would have waited the 5 hours to meet them......

We stopped in Germany for a much needed beer and pretzel after the rain drowned some of our spirits.



Edward met a friend but he was NOT sharing his pretzel.




I got some caramel at Karamel Kuche. But, I think they made my chocolate covered caramel smaller in the year since I had them last!





Then we got to the real reason that Edward wanted to go to Epcot on his birthday.

 

[pld5]

We had a great birthday dinner in 2013 at Teppan Edo for Edward so decided to do it again.



We were in a bigger room that seemed more noisy to me than last year, but the show and food more than made up for that.






Our chef introduced himself as Bob from Pensacola, Japan. He had a great, dry sense of humor that we all appreciated.



Edward asked for an onion volcano and he said he would make the tallest volcano onion he has ever seen.



I am getting hungry looking at these pictures. This meal is excellent.


Edward had vegetables which looked really good.



Paul had shrimp and I had steak which were both excellent.

Edward got a hat. And a birthday wish in Japanese.





Then we went to the department store downstairs and spent a small fortune on Pokémon cards and books.

And had to try on a Sonic hat.

 

[pld5]

After shopping at the Japan Pavilion, we decided to call it a night and started making our way around the World Showcase to get back to the bus.

But we had to stop for a picture on the bridge from France.



And Paul had to stop for a beer in England. And Edward needed a bathroom break.

And I had a meltdown because I was tired.

So Paul came running to find me to take me to the back of one of the shops in England because he knew I would want to see........



We got some of the best smiles and laughter on the trip in this little visit with Tigger and Pooh.










When we left, the rain seems to have started again so we did what any Disney loving family with photopass card would do. We posed for a picture.



And then we went to Club Cool before going to the bus.





We didn't have too long to wait for the bus and soon enough we were back at the room where we were greeted by some plushies and towels.




And a glass of wine from the Old Faithful Club to decompress (for me, not Edward). I've not been at Disney in a long time with such hard rain, and I have to say that it did "damper" our spirits on this day. Paul and I have camped in thunderstorms and have been prepared and could handle it , but I was not happy at all about this weather and felt unprepared for it emotionally. I guess we have been blessed with such mild weather on our previous trips that I didn't believe it would happen. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

Up next, Hollywood Studios on Day 3!

 

[pld5]

After a rainy birthday celebration, we woke up nice and refreshed to head to Hollywood Studios for an early ADR.

Well, maybe not so refreshed.....




We took a cab ride to Hollywood Studios for a 8am ADR at Hollywood Studios.

Still not looking too refreshed.....



I love an Empty DHS.



I don't think I intentionally picked our outfits to match the Sorceror's hat, but we do look very nice, don't we? I actually remember picking the outfits because it was a bit chilly that morning.



They don't have photopass photographers out that early, but a kind cast member agreed to take our picture as a family. And for the record, I did not pick out my husband's shorts and long underwear......



Our Breakfast ADR was at Hollywood and Vine, and while Edward is a little old for the characters, we found this ADR helpful to get to Jedi Training Signups the previous year. The characters come immediately though so it is worth it if your child likes Disney Jr. The omelette station at the buffet was worth it for the adults.

With Sofia the First.



With Handy Manny.





Edward and I finished our breakfast and headed outside around 8:40 to wait to be released to sign up for Jedi Training. We were the only ones outside of the restaurant and it took another 5 minutes or so to be released.



We rounded the bend and saw the Sounds Dangerous building for sign ups and there was no crowds around it so I wondered if they had moved the location?



Then we saw this!



We were the first ones to sign up!



We received our ticket for the 1st show and told to stick around rather than report later to get ready. While waiting it was amazing to watch the crowd pile up and stretch outside of the door.



A cast member distributed robes.



Edward practiced karate stances.



Then a cast member lead them over to the Jedi Training Stage to the left of the Star Tours entrance.





The padawans waiting in the staging area.



And then it started to rain. Jedi Training is on an outdoor stage and won't be performed if it rains (Apparently Darth Vader is too sensitive to the elements). But as a consolation prize, they lead all of the padawans inside a back entrance to Star Tours, have them pose with Darth Vader and the storm troopers and give them certificates anyway. Since Edward got to battle Vader the previous year, I was wholly satisfied with this solution because it was a different experience for us. Had this been the first year trying it, I'm sure we would have been disappointed, but it is nice that Disney realizes that the meet and greet with Darth is an alternative.





And thankfully they give you a photopass card because clearly I was not a skilled photographer in the lighting situation.



After they collected our robes and distributed a certificate, we decided to ride Star Tours. This was Edward's first time because we forgot his sea bands the previous year.



He loved it and I think he and Paul rode it twice more. I couldn't handle it again right away but I did ride it again later in the day.

We then got some photo ops on the speeder outside.







From here, I think we went to see the Muppets and then decided to pay a little visit to Phineas and Ferb.

 

[pld5]

Phineas and Ferb were not at their usual location because of the rain, but inside a building that I'm told is being used for this summer's Frozen show. It was empty and we were 3 of about 15 people there, including P&F.







After that, we went to ride Star Tours again with our fast pass. And got a little sneak at others doing Jedi Training at the next show. I'm so grateful that Edward was not disappointed in not getting to be on stage again.



We then went to see Indiana Jones. And oddly enough I only took one picture? We did this on standby and timing was close for our TSM fastpass. It was Paul's idea and I was a little tense about whether we would make our window. He has no idea sometimes of how much planning goes into this, but I forgive him because he does enjoy it all once there.



We made it to our TSM fastpass window with 5 minutes to spare.



I think it was close to noon now and we got some popcorn and a beer and just sat for a bit. I liked the composition of this picture.



From here, we used our last fastpass to do the Little mermaid show, and then went to Animation Academy and got to draw Tigger!





We also waited to meet Ralph and Vannelope while Paul headed back to get something at the Muppet gift shop.



On our way out to catch the bus for the resort, we got our requisite photopass picture with the hat.



And saw Stitch.



And made it back to our resort to see this.



Mousekeeping is so creative. But sadly they all had to move out of our way so that we could get a rest before HDDR that evening.



Yes, Paul crawled in the top bunk to take a nap while Edward pretended to nap with me.

 

[missangelalexis]

Glad to see you back!

Despite the rain, it seems like Edward had a fun birthday! Dinner looked awesome, and glad you got some fun interaction with Pooh & Tigger

How cool being the first ones to sign up for Jedi Training and getting a different experience out of it.

I love how your mousekeeper keeps setting up the stuffies, so cute!

 

[pld5]

Glad to see you back!

Despite the rain, it seems like Edward had a fun birthday! Dinner looked awesome, and glad you got some fun interaction with Pooh & Tigger

How cool being the first ones to sign up for Jedi Training and getting a different experience out of it.

I love how your mousekeeper keeps setting up the stuffies, so cute!

Good to see you again! Thank you for reading.

Hope to update later on our Hoop Dee Doo experience, but suffice it to say, we loved it enough that we are planning to do it again next February!