2014 Disney World Trip

Jennifer and I were able to take the kids to Disney World this past week - it started two Saturdays ago when we took them to see Disney On Ice here in Houston.  We waited until after the show to tell them we were taking them to Disney World.

It was quite anti-climactic.  Those TV commercials make it look so much more rewarding.

Regardless, they did actually get more excited in the week leading up to the trip.  We got them watching a handful of Disney movies they hadn't seen (Little Mermaid, Jungle Book, Mary Poppins, Cinderella, Peter Pan - Bekah looooved Mary Poppins).

I spent a ridiculous amount of time researching and painstakingly planning the trip - from ride times to location within the park, and scheduling our FastPass+.  There was very little sleep in the nights leading up to the trip (combined with me going in early to work to get "ahead" for the time I'd be missing).

***NOTE: ALL PHOTOS FROM TRIP CAN BE FOUND HERE***

Finally, Sunday came and we were up before 4am to get everyone ready and out the door for our 8am flight.

The kids were great on the flight and when we landed we hopped on Disney's Magical Express Bus that took us right to our hotel, the Disney Coranado Springs.  At check-in, you no longer get a key but a Magic Band which is a rubber bracelet that unlocks your door, scans as your ticket for the park, scans with your meal plan, and can be tied to a credit card so you don't have to carry any keys or wallet with you.

We ate lunch in the hotel at Pepper Market, where Bekah promptly passed out.  When she awoke we took the bus to the Animal Kingdom park.  We wanted to start the trip off right so we had a FastPass+ we had to redeem from 2:05 to 3:05 to meet Mickey and Minnie and get that out of the way so we didn't need to worry about trying to squeeze that in at Magic Kingdom....but we missed our time....thankfully it was just a 5 minute wait. 

The kids were awkward, as were the characters as they attempted to use the pink and green Sharpies the kids were sticking in their white gloves.  The photographer loved Benjamin's t-shirt and it turned out she was from Fulshear.

When we walked out we found a great spot for Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade and some teenagers let Benjamin and Bekah stand in front of them right at the ropes, which was nice.  The kids LOVED the parade and got to see a bunch of characters (Baloo, Rafiki, Chip & Dale, Goofy, Minnie, Mickey, Donald, Pluto, etc) - and being right at the ropes, the characters all seemed to zero in on them too.

One of the things that I had read in my studies was that Disney offers a lot of the "press-a-penny" booths so we decided that we would take advantage of those and let the kids get all their Disney mementos from them....we can get 10 different ones for the same price as a bottle of water.

After the parade we had a FastPass+ for the Kilimanjaro Safari, which was the main reason we took the half day in Animal Kindom.

Following the Safari, about 45 min before our dinner reservations, we discovered that our reservations were not IN Animal Kingdom, but rather, at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which is a hotel.  We happened to be at the furthest point from the buses but Momma led the charge and we were out of the park in less than 10 minutes - I'm not sure how Benjamin kept up, but he did.

The bus dropped us off at  main building at Animal Kingdom Lodge but we then discovered that the restaurant, Boma, was at another building which required a shuttle bus.  As we were waiting for this shuttle, Bekah decided to take up photography with her little plastic princess camera.  She had us all laughing with her charisma and enthusiasm.

Somehow we made it just in time for our reservation, and we were glad we did because it was easily the best Disney meal we'd ever had.

From dinner we took the shuttle to the bus to Animal Kingdom where we took another bus back to our hotel.  The kids found that Tinkerbell (me) had brought them a Disney book to our room for a bedtime story as a reward for being so good during the day.  We turned the lights out sometime around 11pm - which is record late for the little ones.

Monday morning, the kids woke us up well before our alarms were set.  This was not good.

We grabbed breakfast and went to Downtown Disney, which is basically a bunch of stores and restaurants all on one strip.

Benjamin was in complete awe in the Lego store - he was a kid in a candy store.  Honest to God, that photo was not posed.  He was literally in awe.

There was a life size Buzz & Woody made out of Lego, the Incredible Hulk, Snow White, the Seven Dwarfs, a knight on a horse battling a dragon, and a full blown Loch Ness Monster.  Benjamin insisted on photos with each and every one of them.

We ate lunch at T-Rex, which is a Landry Restaurant and is essentially a Rainforest Cafe but with dinosaurs.  While at lunch Bekah yawned so I asked, "Are you tired?"  Her response?  "In my mouth."

After lunch we grabbed some Ghirardelli's and Benjamin took a ride on a little train.

We then went into some stores in search of some Frozen dolls for Bekah.  There was nothing.  In fact, outside of DVDs, there was almost no Frozen merchandise to be found in all of the Disney World empire.  All of the employees we spoke to said they had seen nothing like it in the history of Disney - to get something you literally had to be there when they put the product on the shelf.

In fact, you could only speak the words "Frozen", "Anna", or "Elsa" in hushed voices for fear of either a mob or of another parent stabbing you for stirring their children's attention to the fact that there was nothing.

We went straight from Downtown Disney over to the Disney Hollywood Studios park. 

Our first FastPass+ was for Disney Junior - Live on Stage!, which is a live show.  So Jennifer took the kids in for that while I did some recon work.  My first order of business was to figure out the meet & greet with Princess Sofia, which was not available for FastPass+.  She is one of Bekah's favorite characters (she is from a Disney tv show of the same name).  After I figured that part out I scouted out the rest of the park for wait times and locations.

I somehow timed it perfectly for Sofia, as I got into the line and was second from the front when Jennifer showed back up with the kids.

Bekah was tickled pink to meet Sofia.

We had some time before our next FastPass+ so we went and watched the Muppets 3D movie.  Bekah bucked all fashion trends as only she could.

From there Benjamin got to meet Lightning McQueen and Mater.

And then ran into an Army soldier from Toy Story.

We then caught our FastPasss+ for Toy Story Midway Mania, which I think all four of us enjoyed. 

In the Magic of Disney Animation building they had a bunch of characters available so we met Minnie again - Bekah was (again) very excited.

We had dinner reservations at Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano, but Bekah couldn't stay awake and passed out in Jennifer's arms - we had to request a booth, rather than a table, so she could lay down.

We headed back to the hotel following dinner and we went down to the pool for an hour or so.  Benjamin discovered the joy of water slides so he did that about 30 times.

By the time we all got back to the room and read the next book that Tinkerbell had left, we were just about ready to completely crash but Jennifer and I had discovered that the FastPass system changed - it actually changed on Monday - and Disney went away from the FastPass (which you could get one at a time at each ride) to solely using the FastPass+ (which is done in advance).  That explained why there was no longer a FastPass for meeting Buzz and Woody in Hollywood Studios like I thought there was supposed to be.

I called the help desk and found out that we had to use all three of our FastPass+ before we could get another one - but we had our spread out throughout the day so we adjusted all of them so they would all be early in the day so we could get others in the afternoon.  All my careful planning in advance just went right out the window.

Then we crashed.

Tuesday was the big day - Magic Kingdom!  Of course, the one day we want to be up and out the door early, the kids decide to sleep late.

Just the week prior to our trip, the characters Anna and Elsa from Frozen had been moved from Epcot to Magic Kingdom (the lines had been 5 hours long to meet them) but the FastPass+ sold out in thirty minutes all the way through the end of June.  The only way to meet them was to get there first and that was our plan.

We were at the gates of Magic Kingdom by 8am with an hour of time to kill before the ropes opened.  When the bell went off and they said "GO" I sprinted ahead - literally. 

There I was, running at full speed down Main Street while all the elderly employees who worked in the shops were out mopping the sidewalks and washing the windows. 

I had my route mapped out in advance but when I tried to go around the castle to the left it was roped off so I turned around and went to the right of the castle and it was roped off.  The guy holding the rope said the only way through was to go through the castle so I backtracked and got through the castle to the Merry-go-round before running into another rope.  This rope, however, was the real deal.  Everyone kind of bunched up at this rope (I was certainly not the only one with the same plan) but I was still very close to the front.

They made an announcement that when they open the rope anyone pushing or running would be pulled from the line and that you had to have your children with you.

Wait, what? 

I had specifically quizzed the man at the concierge desk in our hotel about tactics and rules and was told that only one member of the group had to stand in the line.

I frantically started looking back to see if I could see Jennifer coming up with the kids, and somehow I did pick her out in the mass of humanity.....however, she did not see me signaling to her.  When they opened the rope, I had to backtrack about 40 yards to get her and by the time we got to the line the employees were warning of a 3 to 3-1/2 hour wait from that point.  This was on a non-holiday Wednesday.  Good luck once school lets out for Summer.

There was no way we were waiting that long, nor would we have been able to with the kids in line.  I was crushed - I really thought I was going to be able to pull it out for the kids.  It is the first big Disney movie for them - especially Bekah, who had watched Frozen at least 25 times before we went. 

That was my only real complaint about the entire trip - if the lines are that crazy, why on earth don't they resolve the problem with multiple locations?  Let the kids get to meet them.  They don't even have to be in the same park - they could have them set up in each of the four parks.  Shoot, there are 5 or 6 different Mickey locations and multiple locations for a number of other characters.

One of the best pieces of advice I've ever received has been "Set the expectation" so we had wisely made no promises nor did we even mention to the kids that meeting Anna and Elsa was even a possibility so there wasn't any disappointment on their part - but it sure would have been awesome to surprise them with it.

We went ahead and hopped on the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel while we were standing right there and then went and got into line for the new Enchanted Tales with Belle (from Beauty and the Beast).  It was an option for the FastPass+ but there weren't any available times until after 8pm so we just stood in line. Thankfully, it was early enough that the wait was only about 20 minutes.  I was glad we were able to do this one because it was one of the really popular attractions that I was unsure we'd be able to wait in a lengthy line for with the kids.

I thought it was one of the coolest experiences of the trip - they take you through Belle's father's cottage and then you walk through a magic mirror into the Beast's castle where a lifesize, talking chest of drawers starts talking.  Basically, they get the kids prepared to put on a performance for Belle and any kid that wanted to participate could have a part.

Bekah was very eager to take part and was very excited that she got to be a spoon or a salt shaker or something (she is the blur in that picture).

Then they took us into another room where the parents could sit down and the talking candlestick introduces Belle who dances around the room with the kids as they perform for her.  Then she takes a picture with each of them and gives them a souvenir.  It was very well done and much more memorable than just standing in line for a 10 second meeting with the character.

I obviously took a bunch of pictures throughout this experience so you can see them all in the PhotoBucket slideshow

Next on our list of things to do was to get Benjamin over to the Tomorrowland Speedway to ride the go-cars.  Bekah was actually tall enough to ride as well so I rode with her and let her drive while Jennifer rode with Benjamin behind the wheel.

Next up was Dumbo the Flying Elephant, one of those classic Disney rides that everyone has to do.  They've actually added a second one so they can cycle through more park-goers.

Then we went back to to the Speedway for a second round - we switched it up so Jennifer rode with Bekah and I rode with Benjamin.

We ate lunch at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe and Bekah fell asleep so Benjamin and I rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh while Jennifer stayed with Bekah. 

We then did "it's a small world", which I think is kind of creepy but is another of those Disney classics

We were able to get our only family photo of the trip in front of Cinderella's castle and then we headed over to Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid, which is another of the new rides in the new Fantasyland.

Bekah had to wave bye-bye to Ariel as the ride was ending.

Our day was winding down as Bekah was fading fast - we had hoped to stay for the big Move it!  Shake it!  Celebrate it!  Street Party because the parade was the only other place you could see the Frozen characters - but it wasn't to be.  Benjamin chose to go back to the hotel to swim some more so that's what we did.

We ate dinner at the hotel at Pepper Market again and we were all packed and asleep by 9:30pm.

We got up on Wednesday morning said our goodbyes to Disney World and had a wonderfully uneventful travel back home.

It was a wonderful trip and the kids are at a great age for us to be able to do things like this.  We're all looking forward to the next opportunity.