The Lessons Learned Trip Report Oct 4-9, 2009 About This Page:

[CollinsFamily]

Yay! Glad to see you finishing this! At least your meal was good!

[jagmom08]

Well, since we are 9 months out from this trip and I didn’t keep detailed notes and took less pictures than I would have liked, this might be a bit light on the details. Sorry!
So, we left DHS and headed back to the hotel. We had planned on doing naps every day, because dd was definitely going to need one and ds would resist but it was in his best interest. So, we got back to our room and got everyone settled down. It took awhile for ds to get settled down, but eventually I think we all napped a little.
After our nap, we decided to head to DTD. At this point, being the melodramatic person that I can be on a trip, I was ready to just throw in the towel and head home. I have to say, in hindsight, I should have just planned some really light first 2 days to let everyone get their bearings and then things probably would have gone a little smoother.
We decided to take the boat to DTD since the parking there can be so crazy. If I remember right, the kids liked riding the boat, but I could be wrong. I know they didn’t enjoy waiting for the boat, because it took awhile for one to come that was going to DTD and not the other Port Orleans resort. Ds also decided that he had to go potty and just pulled down his pants and watered the grass right there. So, I sure the people in line with us thought we were great parents. Lol
The rest of the time at DTD is a blur. I know from my Passporter, the kids had supper at McDonalds. We were on the dining plan, so we paid out of pocket for this. I do remember that neither one was cooperative. As a parent, and maybe not a very good one, I ask myself, “Why do I even order food for my kids?” It seems like they never want to eat it. I imagine the heat had a lot to do with it. It was very hot and humid for our whole trip. I also remember being upset again here. I am sure I shed some more tears and asked myself why I decided this trip was a good idea. I apologize to the other patrons of Mickey D’s as I wasn’t at my best. (I know, I really sound like a Debby Downer-please bear with me!)
Dh was doing his best to calm me down and help me get back into vacation mode. He suggested doing a little shopping, but after the day we had, I just wasn’t in the mood. So, we headed back to the hotel to hit the pool. At some point, we also went to the Sassagoula Food Court at POFQ for dh and I to get some supper. I did enjoy the food there and we did eat here quite a bit. They had a good selection and I don’t remember having anything that wasn’t good. I know for sure this night I had a Club Wrap and I think either dh or myself had the Quesadilla. We might have got that for the kids though.
On a brighter note, my kids loved, loved, loved the pool. If we would have came to WDW and only went to the pool, they would have been in heaven. Ds kept saying, “Let’s go to the waterpark!”
After checking out the pool the first night, ds was in love with the waterslide. The only bad thing was we didn’t feel comfortable sending him down alone. Dd liked to just walk around the pool deck, so one of us had to stay with her. Dh solved that “problem” by purchasing a pair of floaties for ds to wear. Probably the best $3 we ever spent. He got ds some Nemo floaties from the hotel gift shop.
With his floaties, ds could do the waterslide all by himself. So, dh and I took turns walking around with dd, while ds went down the slide as many times as he could. Dh or I waited at the bottom to catch him and help him get back out of the pool.
Even though it was a rough day, it ended pretty good with some pool time.
Thanks to my trusty Passporter, I do have a note that the funniest thing that happened today was…Jack at the Mickey ears off of a Rice Krispie bar and said, “Mickey’s not happy anymore!”
Lesson learned: When you are having a bad day, hit the pool!

[Colexis Mom]

Sorry for the rough day, but sounds like it ended up on a good point at the pool! More please!

[MaryEL8775]

The pool is one of my favorite reasons for loving POFQ. So I am sure everyone enjoyed it.

[KMB733]

Great update! Glad everyone enjoyed the pool.

[mcc0313]

Sorry that it was a rough day, glad that some pool fun ended the day on a happy note.

[jagmom08]

Dh and the kids on the boat to DTD

[Colexis Mom]

Great pic!

[jagmom08]

Day 2 Taking It Easy

Based on our experience the day before, the plan was to not have a plan. Or at least, minimal plans. We would not be trying for rope drop. We would not be using Tour Guide Mike plans. We would get up whenever we woke up and then go to MK.

My kids are usually early risers so I figured we would get there somewhat early anyway. We had a hot breakfast at Sassagoula Food Court around 8 a.m. The day before we tried to just eat cereal and stuff from our room. This didn’t work very well. It seems that my family would prefer a hot breakfast while on vacation. So, on future trips I am just going to plan for eating breakfast in the food court and not do the Garden Grocer.

Lesson Learned: Skip Garden Grocer and just plan to eat out.

We headed over to MK and took the ferry again. This was primarily due to the use of strollers. I think one of things that made the kids more crabby was the constant in and out of the stroller routine. So being able to roll them right into the ferry and off was a huge plus for us.

I think we may have hit the baby care center first thing. Dd wears pull-ups and she probably needed to be changed. That is a definite negative at all the parks-no diaper changing stations in the restrooms. Sometimes its just not convenient to run all the way back to a babycare station to change your child. Ds spent some more time playing in the fountain outside of there. That kid sure loves water.

We walked into Cinderella’s castle, which ds really liked. I am not sure why, since you just look at the mosaics, but I’ll take it.


We had lunch at Pinnochios Pizza. We got quite a bit a food for it being a counter service place. Other than that, I can’t remember much. I don’t remember thinking any of the food we had was bad, so I would say it was probably good.

After a more leisurely morning, I felt comfortable breaking out my camera a bit more, so I do have more pictures of today.

After lunch, and I know there was a bathroom break in there, we headed over to do some rides. Our first ride was “It’s a Small World.” This was not on my list of things to do, but the line was short, so we gave it a shot. Lo and behold, my kids really liked it. So, after disembarking we hopped right back in line and went again. It wasn’t as fun the second time around, but hey, no one cried so we were making progress.

Our next stop was Pooh’s Playful Spot. On a side note, I was sad to hear that this is gone now. This was one of the highlights for ds and dd. Probably because they just got to run around and not ride in strollers.

Ds was in heaven as he soon discovered the water spouts.

Despite the 90+ degree heat and humidity, he probably ran from one end of Pooh’s to the other about 50 times. Dd was content to sit in the Playhouse with dh.

2 funny stories that happened in Pooh’s Playful Spot. Dh witnessed both of them.


The first was a little girl that had a portable potty that she used there. Dh said it had some kind of pad that soaked up things. After the girl used it, she ran around with no undies on. Now, I know that I shouldn’t even comment after ds “watered” the grass at POFQ boat dock, but to be fair, he pulls his pants up right after he is done. This little girl ran around completely naked. Ack, wasn’t her mom worried about germs? Maybe this was a foreshadowing of what was to come for us. More on that later.


The second funny thing happened while dh was sitting in the playhouse with dd. Another man was sitting in there with his child and he says to my dh (said with British accent), “I can’t believe I came all the way to Disney World to sit in a tree house!” It was so funny when dh told me, because we had that same thought many times over the course of our trip. That was mainly when the things the kids enjoyed the most had nothing to do with WDW, such as feeding the ducks at DHS and playing in fountains in various locations.


Lesson Learned: Most of the time, it’s the simple things that the kids enjoy the most.

[jagmom08]

Unfortunately the successes of the morning were about the take a turn for the worse. Before we went to Pooh’s Playful Spot, we got fastpasses for Peter Pan. So, our window opened up and we headed over there. I rode with ds and Guy rode with dd. I didn’t know it until we got off, but dd was scared of the whole ride and was crying. I felt like the worst mother in the world again. I had not planned on doing Snow White because I knew that a lot of kids got scared of the queen, but I didn’t think Peter Pan was scary.
Dh and dd waiting to get on the ride.

Determined not to have a repeat of yesterday, I tried to keep a positive attitude and continue on. Our next stop was the Winnie the Pooh ride. Dd did not enjoy this ride either. So, now I really felt awful because I hadn’t noticed in either case that she was petrified.


Not wanting to continue in this vein, we decided to head back to the hotel or something and salvage part of the day. We were supposed to have dinner at the Plaza but I didn’t want to hang around MK. As we were leaving the park, I called and canceled my dining reservations in the park for this night and the next. We were scheduled to go to Epcot the next day, but based on the previous 2 days, I didn’t think there would be enough things to occupy my kids. So, we totally skipped going to Epcot.


Instead of our original plans, I got reservations for Wolfgang Puck at DTD. We decided to drive over since it was early. I figured we wouldn’t have an issue with parking because of that and I was right.


We were early for our ADR, so we just sat down by this big fountain outside. There was another family there with a little girl that was playing in the water, so ds had to get in on the act. Before long he was stripped down to his pullup and running amuck. Remember when I mentioned the naked girl at Pooh’s Playful Spot? Well, soon ds’ pullup could not hold any more water and was hanging off ds’ little behind. That was about the time we made ds get out of the fountain, much to his chagrin. So, yes, we are those people, who let our child cavort half naked in fountains. It was hot, what can I say?


We made our way back to the Wolfgang’s. If I remember right it was a pretty early dinner reservations, so there weren’t many people in there us. That was probably good, because ds and dd didn’t really enjoy this place. I thought the food was fine and everything, but they didn’t like the sit down part. I don’t have any pictures from the afternoon, so no food pics and the receipts don’t even say what we had.

We walked around a little after dinner, but soon headed back to the hotel to hit the pool.

Lesson Learned: Don’t be afraid to change plans if things aren’t working the way you thought they would.

[Colexis Mom]

More great updates! Sorry things are not going according to plan but sounds like you are being very flexible!

[CollinsFamily]

I'm glad you're the flexible sort. Not many people can spend months and months of planning just to have it all run amok at the last second. You seem have done really well in the heat with 2 cranky kids. I hope I do as well on our trip next month.

[KMB733]

Great update!!! Sorry DD was scared on the rides, but at least the day wasn't all bad.

[MayraLR]

Just discovered your TR. Sorry for your rough couple of days. Hope everything got better.

[mcc0313]

Glad that the early part of the day at MK went so well. I often laugh at what truly makes a kid happy. My daughter used to be so facinated with the wrapping and the boxes she never used to notice what gift was inside, this went on for years (I kind of miss that stage ) Glad that you are being flexible, I think with every trip you will find that the kids become interested in different things, it is great when you can just make some changes and make a not so great trip become a perfect one.