The Lessons Learned Trip Report Oct 4-9, 2009
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jagmom08 · 06-15-2010, 10:49 AM

After throwing all my pre-trip plans out the window and jettisoning any plans of seeing any of the must-dos, we decided to do things a little different on day 3 and I was okay with that. I had planned on Epcot today, but after yesterday it didn’t seem like a good idea. So we though, let’s get away from the parks for the morning and see how things go.

We had breakfast at the Food Court again. I thought the breakfast were very good. Instead of getting a child’s meal, we just got big breakfast platters and then shared with the kids. I made my own breakfast sandwich from the biscuit, bacon and meat that came with the platter and the kids shared the pancakes.

Today was the day I got to try the famous beignets. All in all, I would say they didn’t live up to the hype. Its not that they tasted bad or anything, but they just didn’t have that “Wow” factor that I was expecting. It just tasted liked fried dough. Dh wasn’t even interested in trying them, but he’s kind of like that about food. Lol They were also quite messy.

After breakfast, we headed off in search of a Barnes and Noble so the kids could play with trains in the children’s section. Using our trusty GPS, we drove down to International Drive. After finding the address and getting parked and getting out of the car, we discovered that the Barnes and Noble had moved. Ack! Basically have to force the children back in the car as they were happy to get out and not thrilled about getting back in the car. Using the not-so-trusty GPS, we track down another Barnes and Noble. Having smartened up, we called this one and made sure it was open.

Barnes and Noble was pretty busy, I guess we weren’t the only people with the bright idea of taking the kids to play with trains. We didn’t stay very long because of that, but it was a nice change of pace for a bit.

Our next stop was Target. We needed more juice, pull-ups and something to help dd sleep. Her cough was keeping her and us up at night and we had to try something.

After Target, it was nearing lunch time. When canceling our Epcot ADR’s, I couldn’t really get anything else, but I remembered that Beaches and Cream is a Table Service but doesn’t really do ADR’s. I really liked the sound of it when I was researching, but didn’t think it would work with our schedule. In this case, our best laid plans going awry worked in our favor.

We had one small bump in the road. I had my Passporter with but decided I didn’t need to check exactly where the restaurant was. I thought I knew. I was wrong. Lol That never happens. Hee hee I thought it was at the Boardwalk but it was at the Beach Club. So we parked at the wrong end of the lagoon. Whoops. We were going to take one the boats over to the other side, but they didn’t come and they didn’t come, so we ended up walking around.

Beaches and Cream was awesome! I have it triple starred in my Passporter, so you know it had to be good. Lol Ds really liked it to since he got to have lemonade instead of milk for lunch and ice cream for dessert. A win-win in his book. J

We spent a little time in the lobby of the Beach Club after our lunch, just cooling off and watching some cartoons. Ds colored a little and that was fine until he decided to color places other than on paper. So we left. I have always wanted to stay at the Beach Club and after actually viewing it in person, I am doubly determined to make that happen someday.

This time there was a boat so we rode over to the Boardwalk to retrieve our car. We headed back to POFQ to take our afternoon nap.

After our nap, we decided to give the Parks another try, with a visit to MK again. We decided to be adventurous and take the bus this time. This was another highlight for the kids. Dd would point and excitedly yell, “Bus!” every time one pulled up.

Somewhere during the week, dd got attached to ds’ Woody toy. She wanted to carry it and take it everywhere. Ds was less than thrilled about this. So, we promised him we would get him another one and maybe even one that talked. So, when we got to the park, we set off on a mission to find a talking Woody toy. We checked the gift shops along Main Street and then headed to Tomorrow Land to see if there was anything by Buzz Lightyear. A one of the kiosks outside the ride, we asked a CM if they had one. He ran off to check somewhere, but no luck. So, we headed off with hopes of finding one in Toon Town. Ds kept saying, “Let’s go to Pooh’s house,” so we stopped and played at Pooh’s. This time, ds was stripped down to his pullup and ran around. He also decided that he wanted his picture taken by nearly everything at Pooh’s.

After prying ds away from Pooh’s, we headed over to Toon Town to track down the elusive Woody toy. We did find one at the big gift shop, but alas is does not talk and its about 2 feet tall. We also determined that it was nice to sit by the exit of the character meet n greets and cool off in the store. Also a good place to change our dd, since again, no diaper changing stations in the bathrooms.

After relaxing in the A/C, we were ready to experience more of the park. We toured the Mickey and Minnie houses, but declined to meet the big man himself. As we exited Mickey’s house, we walked by Goofy’s Barnstormer. Now, I knew dd wasn’t going on this ride, but I was pretty sure ds would love it. He can be a daredevil. I can’ t remember what the wait time said, but the line didn’t look too long, so I figured ds and I would try it. Well, word to the wise, the line snakes around quite a bit behind the barn, so don’t be fooled by a seemingly short line.

After working our way through the queue and telling ds about a 1000 times that we had to wait, we made on the ride. I was right, ds thoroughly enjoyed it and wanted to go again. However, I couldn’t take another wait, so we had to go.

While ds and I rode Barmstormer, dh had to go back in Minnie’s house. He told me later that while we were in Mickey’s he thought he remembered that Minnie’s didn’t have a bedroom and he had to go back and check. LOL

Sometime during the early evening, we had supper at Columbia Harbour House and that’s all I have to say about that. Lol-Only because I don’t remember much about it, not because it wasn’t good or anything. J

After Goofy’s Barnstormer, we made our way to the front of the park. I wanted to try and catch Spectromagic but I knew the kids wouldn’t want to sit and wait at the curb so we could have a good viewing spot. So, we got ice cream and went and sat in the Bakery. As the parade started, I took dd and tried to catch a glimpse of the parade. Sure enough, she did not want to sit there for even 5 minutes and just as I was resigned to leave, the parade started and I got to see about 2 minutes of it. I think ds and dd would have liked to sit and watch it once it got started, but the waiting part just wasn’t happening.

Also, I figured if we waited until the end of the parade to leave, the buses would be mobbed, so reluctantly we headed back. We waited a few minutes for a bus and off we went to the room for our nightly swim.

Lessons Learned: Don’t be fooled by a short looking line at Goofy’s Barnstormer!

jagmom08 · 06-15-2010, 10:50 AM

Thanks for the all the comments!

**KMB733** · 06-15-2010, 01:12 PM

Great update!

**Colexis Mom** · 06-15-2010, 03:01 PM

Sounds like a nice day!

**OhToodles!** · 06-15-2010, 03:42 PM

It sounds like the days are getting better. I'm surprised you found so many restrooms without baby changing. Maybe I've been lucky in past trips. I know they don't look like you're normal changing stations where it's mounted to the wall and you pull the part they lay on down - more like just more counter space really.

jagmom08 · 06-15-2010, 09:53 PM

Quote:

I know they don't look like you're normal changing stations where it's mounted to the wall and you pull the part they lay on down - more like just more counter space really.

Now that I think of it, I think dh did more of the diaper changing. So maybe he just didn't notice those counter areas?

mcc0313 · 06-16-2010, 12:09 AM

Great update, glad that you all had a nice relaxing day and that DS enjoyed Goofy's Barnstormer so much.

**OhToodles!** · 06-16-2010, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jagmom08

Now that I think of it, I think dh did more of the diaper changing. So maybe he just didn't notice those counter areas?

Or it could have been they didn't have them in the men's - I know that happened a couple of times when DH was going to change DS.

jagmom08 · 06-16-2010, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Or it could have been they didn't have them in the men's - I know that happened a couple of times when DH was going to change DS.

How sexist of them. lol

jagmom08 · 06-24-2010, 01:44 PM

Our vacation is almost over and we were just getting into a groove. Lol Seriously, after the first few days and thinking we shouldn’t have come, now I was feeling like things were going somewhat well and wished we had a few more days.

This morning we had a character breakfast at the Tusker House at Animal Kingdom. Since the bus had worked out so well the night before, we decided to do that again.

Off we headed to the bus stop around 7-7:15. Based on quickly we got on a bus to MK the night prior, I figured we would be there plenty early for our 8:00 a.m. ADR for Tusker House. Bus after bus comes, but none for AK. What is going on? Could there have been a bus right before we got to the bus station? After waiting awhile and discussing what we should do, ds announces he has to go to the bathroom. Great! Dh hurries off to the lobby to find the restroom while dd and I wait for the bus, hoping that they make it back in time.

As I can see them coming back to the bus stop, the bus for AK finally pulls up. I try to struggle my way onto the bus with 2 strollers, a purse, a dd, a backpack and a 2 foot Woody doll. As I start towards the bus, after 2 people get on (not me and my dd), the bus pulls away! I could not believe it! Here I am, struggling with my stuff to get on the bus and the bus leaves after a 30 second stop. Seriously, if there had been more people at the bus stop, the guy would have had to be there for longer, so why couldn’t he wait for me? I was incensed.

After hearing such great things about the Disney bus service, I just couldn’t believe that it happened. Now it is about 20 minutes before our ADR and we need to figure something out. After being left behind by the bus, we decide to just get the car and drive. Sure enough, as we are pulling out of the POFQ parking lot, we see another AK bus pulling in. Figures!

We were already in the car, so we hurried over to AK and I believe we made it to the Tusker House either on time or darn close to it. I was very happy with this character breakfast for many reasons. Reason #1,-We didn’t have to wait for our table. We pretty much got sat down right away.

Reason #2- The food was awesome! Everything I had was good and there was a huge selection. The Mealie Pap was my favorite thing and I had seconds of that. My only regret was that I didn’t have more room in my stomach for thirds.

Reason #3-The character interaction was great. I had little to no expectation that my kids would be into the characters, but ds was totally into it. He even ran right up to Donald, with no prompting from me and gave him a big hug! Dd wasn’t so into it, but dh held her and we managed to get some pictures.

Just an FYI, we did the Donald meet and greet after we ate. There was no line. I had read someone else’s trip report and they skipped Donald because the line was so long before they ate.

Reason #4-We were already in the park when it opened and got on one of the first Safari rides of the day.

After eating our fill at Tusker House, we headed over to the rope drop area for the safari. I believe the kids enjoyed seeing the animals. I don’t remember any tears or crying, anyway. Lol I know I liked it and I wished we would could have went again, but no one else was interested.

We leisurely wandered along the paths and stopped at a spot with drums that the kids could play. Dh even got into the act!

As we walked along, we stopped and took pictures of the Tree of Life. We also spotted a turtle and an alligator in the water.

We headed over to the Boneyard to let the kids play but when we got there, it was closed. But they had jump ropes and a coloring area manned by a CM. Ds and dd played for a little bit, and then we made our way to the Finding Nemo show.

We got into the theater and gave the kids some granola bars to eat while we waited for the show to start. As soon as the lights went down, dd started getting scared. I had hoped we would get to watch the show, but as soon as the shark part came on, ds also got scared and we left. Given the heat and humidity, I just gave up and we left the park.

I am not 100% sure what we did next. I think we went back to the hotel and ate lunch in the food court. We may have colored in the coloring area at the food court. I know at some point during our trip we did this and there was another little girl there. She was probably between 7-9. Ds was trying to be friendly and he asked her, “Where does your house live?” The little girl looked at me and said, “I don’t know him.” She didn’t want to say where she was from because ds was a stranger. Lol I didn’t really know what to say, but I told her, “He’s only 4, he doesn’t really know what he is asking.

After lunch, we probably took a nap in our room.

I know we yet again went to DTD, taking the boat again. We played a long time at the Lego Store, dh played too.

I know we ate supper at Earl of Sandwich and it was awesome! The sandwiches there are so good and very filling. I think on our next trip we will plan a very low key day on the first day and eat here for lunch or dinner.

When we got back to POFQ, we again hit the pool.

Lesson learned: Do more character breakfasts! It’s a great way to meet characters without having to stand in line, as they come to your table.

**KMB733** · 06-24-2010, 03:33 PM

Great update. Sorry that the AK bus left without you and you had to miss the Finding NEmo show. At least you had a great time at breakfast!

mcc0313 · 06-24-2010, 03:54 PM

Sorry about the bad experience with the bus, that would have upset me as well. Glad that you did not let it get to you and that you grabbed the car and ended up having a great breakfast with Donald and friends.

Sorry that the kids did not enjoy the Nemo Show, did you get a chance to see The Lion King Show? There is a lot of singing and circus type acts such as acrobats that the kids might have enjoyed.

Glad that you had a nice evening at DTD and in the pool. You lesson learned is so true, we have always taken advantage of the character meals, especially when it is hot it is a great way to get the interaction without dealing with the lines. Another great opporutnity with the characters is Rafiki's Planet Watch at AK - we usually hit this early in the day, like right after the first safari ride (we grab FPs for teh safari) and then take the train. We have always seen Pocahontas, Jiminy Cricket and I think Rafiki with no lines what so ever.