Don’t Know If She’s Elated or Gassy: Disney World with a Newborn, Feb 2020. Day TR UPDATE 9/18

[Verstehen]

Introductions

Hello everyone! Thanks for joining me on this very special trip report. This was my daughter’s first multi day stay, at only seven weeks old.

Am I crazy, you may wonder? Probably.

But we did it anyway. And while it wasn’t the most productive trip, it was very special!

Before we get started, let me introduce you to myself and my traveling companions, and give you some context as to how this trip came to be, and why we decided to move forward with it. I’m not in the business of telling others what they should or should not do, but I will say that had our circumstances not been what they were, I probably would have waited until she was a bit older. With that said, I hope that this report is useful to visitors considering trips with their own newborns!

Let’s get started.

I’m your host and the main planner for our family. My name is Rachel and I’m 32. I was born and raised in upstate New York but I now live in Orlando, Florida. I’ve lived in various parts of Florida for almost ten years now, but in 2016 my husband and I moved to the Orlando neighborhood of College Park, which is located on the north end of the city, near Winter Park and downtown Orlando. It’s about 30 minutes away from Disney with no traffic, and up to an hour during busier times. College Park was featured on an episode of the Dis Unplugged’s Moving to the Magic segment, and I definitely recommend checking it out if you’re interested in learning more about this historic and unique part of the city.

I’m an annual passholder and visit quite frequently, usually for day trips. I’ve been a Disney World fan since I was a kid, and Disney definitely factored into my decision to move to Florida (that, and not having to buy snow tires). I work full time from home as a marketing manager for a software company, though as of this writing I’m still on maternity leave.

Joining me on this trip is my father.

He still lives in New York, where he is a semi-retired dentist and a volunteer firefighter. Yes, he’s in way better shape than I am. He purchased DVC in 2016 after selling a vacation home he owned. He purchased a contract at the Polynesian, and last year he purchased additional points at the Riviera. He was looking for an investment that would allow him to take regular vacations without having to maintain a property of his own, and DVC turned out to be just what he was looking for. It also saves me from having to host him while he’s in town. He typically comes twice a year, in January or February, and in September or October. We usually do 5 or 6 nights and I will join him as a sort of staycation. He’s big into Disney food and loves spending time at the hotel pools.

Traveling with my dad was my younger sister, Rebekah.

She’s 27 and also lives in New York, near my dad. She has a disability which affects her physical health pretty severely but for the most part she is able to live independently. She joins my dad for the January/February trips, as the weather during that time of year is much easier for her to handle. She loves Olaf and pretty much anything to do with Frozen, and she loves eating at the Prime Time Café.

And for the first time ever, we were joined by my daughter, April.

April was born on January 11th of this year and completely changed our lives. I don’t know what else to say about her except that I’m so thrilled I can bring her to Disney and I can’t wait to see if she becomes a fan.

Also joining us for part of this trip as a special guest is my husband.

He is not a Disney fan and typically does not come on these staycations except for one non-park day. He considered coming for this trip, but since taking paternity leave he’s out of PTO days for now and didn’t want to leave our dog alone. It was hard for him to be away from April for so long, but I made sure to send lots of pictures and we did Facetime a few times.

Now that you know who we are, let me share how this trip came about.

We do a Disney trip twice a year, as I mentioned. I did propose cancelling this one after finding out I was pregnant and realizing the timing was not ideal. I also proposed moving it further back. But my dad convinced me to keep it where it was. He was afraid if we pushed it too far then the weather would not work for my sister, and he wanted her to have a chance to meet her niece. He also told me that if I didn’t end up joining them for the whole trip, that was okay. I had a few people suggest I just commute from my house to Disney every day, but honestly, sitting in that I-4 traffic twice a day sounded way worse than just staying in a hotel.

This was actually not April’s first time at Disney. My husband and I brought her to Hollywood Studios about a week and a half before this trip when we met up with some out of town friends and tried to get on Rise of the Resistance (we didn’t make it on sadly). But this was her first multi-day visit.

I had people tell me this would be the easiest trip I’d take with my daughter, and other people tell me the opposite. In the end, I decided, what the heck. Being local the stakes were pretty low. So I packed up my stuff and headed over to the Polynesian from February 26th to March 2nd. I figured if it sucked, I could always just go home.

Spoiler alert, it didn’t suck! It wasn’t the best trip ever, but it didn’t suck by a long shot.

To conclude this intro, I’d like to just mention some overall tips that we found made our trip easier, or things we wish we would have done:

• Babywearing. We ended up not even bringing the stroller some days because wearing her was so much more convenient. It made meals much easier, it made it easy to feed her, and it meant we didn’t have to constantly park the stroller. You definitely need to practice beforehand, and find the carrier that’s right for you and your baby. There are a lot of options. I personally loved the ring sling, and it was the only carrier we ended up using. I also brought my Tula structured carrier as a backup, but we didn’t end up using it.
• Use the baby care centers. The nursing room at the Magic Kingdom is amazing, and it’s so nice to have a place to change your baby other than the cold hard surfaces in the bathrooms.
• Be prepared for EVERYONE to ask how old your baby is. Everyone. Even Mickey Mouse.
• Don’t use Amazon for grocery delivery. This isn’t related to the baby, but we had a bad experience with them and I would not recommend them if you want to have groceries delivered to your hotel.

I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts of course, which I’ll share as the report goes on. But these were the big ones I wanted to get out of the way in advance.

Now with all that out of the way, I think it’s time to get this report started!

 

[piglet1979]

Use the baby care centers. The nursing room at the Magic Kingdom is amazing, and it’s so nice to have a place to change your baby other than the cold hard surfaces in the bathrooms.

I am joining in. I can't hear more about the trip. The first trip we went on with my daughter she was 4 and refused to use a toilet with an automatic flush. She is 12 and still hates them but will use them if she has too. But anyways the baby care centers were awesome. Except for EPCOT they do not have automatic flushes and and are the smaller ones for the kids. These centers are just awesome on so many levels.

 

[DisLiss]

I am so impressed because I'm pretty sure that when my kids were 7 weeks old I was still considering changing out of my pajamas to be a major life goal!

I do absolutely agree with you about the baby-wearing. When they are the right age for that it's so convenient! Looking forward to hearing more about your special trip.

 

[ryansstitch]

My heart is just so full seeing everyone's joy holding April. I love it! We didn't bring either of our girls to WDW overnight as a newborn, but we did bring my youngest to DL and DCA for day trips at 8 weeks. And my eldest came to WDW at 5 months. Everyone is different, but so far, babies at Disney is just so much fun. Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Joining in! Your daughter is adorable- congrats!

 

[ariane37]

I'm way past the having babies stage and onto the grandchildren stage ❤ but joining in for the fun! April is adorable We started vacationing with our boys before they were a year old but didn't go to Disney until the youngest 2 were 4 and 11 months; it had it's challenges but was a wonderful trip. We're taking our DGD in September for her first visit and she'll be 27 months, I was ready to take her much earlier but of course had to wait for the parents agreement lol.

I am so impressed because I'm pretty sure that when my kids were 7 weeks old I was still considering changing out of my pajamas to be a major life goal!

Same, especially with the first

 

[dwonderz]

Joining in! Love your title - and your daughter is SO cute!

 

[DLo]

Jumping over from your last TR . Looking forward to reading more about your adventures

 

[Verstehen]

I am joining in. I can't hear more about the trip. The first trip we went on with my daughter she was 4 and refused to use a toilet with an automatic flush. She is 12 and still hates them but will use them if she has too. But anyways the baby care centers were awesome. Except for EPCOT they do not have automatic flushes and and are the smaller ones for the kids. These centers are just awesome on so many levels.

Oh man! I wonder what she thinks of the last scene in the Carousel of Progress. Thanks for joining in!

I am so impressed because I'm pretty sure that when my kids were 7 weeks old I was still considering changing out of my pajamas to be a major life goal!

I do absolutely agree with you about the baby-wearing. When they are the right age for that it's so convenient! Looking forward to hearing more about your special trip.

Hey, sometimes that's still true for me, lol. Thanks for reading!

My heart is just so full seeing everyone's joy holding April. I love it! We didn't bring either of our girls to WDW overnight as a newborn, but we did bring my youngest to DL and DCA for day trips at 8 weeks. And my eldest came to WDW at 5 months. Everyone is different, but so far, babies at Disney is just so much fun. Glad to hear you enjoyed it!

Thank you!

Joining in! Your daughter is adorable- congrats!

Thanks so much!

I'm way past the having babies stage and onto the grandchildren stage ❤ but joining in for the fun! April is adorable We started vacationing with our boys before they were a year old but didn't go to Disney until the youngest 2 were 4 and 11 months; it had it's challenges but was a wonderful trip. We're taking our DGD in September for her first visit and she'll be 27 months, I was ready to take her much earlier but of course had to wait for the parents agreement lol.

Welcome! I'm sure every age comes with unique challenges and rewards. I can't wait to see what she's like at the next trip!

Joining in! Love your title - and your daughter is SO cute!

Thank you!

Jumping over from your last TR . Looking forward to reading more about your adventures

Awesome, welcome back!

 

[bravenyc]

I read your last trip report when you went with your dad and were pregnant and I can't wait to hear more about this trip with April - she is so adorable. Nothing is better than sharing your love of Disney with your child - and its never too early to start! Travel with a newborn is equal parts easy and challenging - I am glad it went well.

 

[Verstehen]

I read your last trip report when you went with your dad and were pregnant and I can't wait to hear more about this trip with April - she is so adorable. Nothing is better than sharing your love of Disney with your child - and its never too early to start! Travel with a newborn is equal parts easy and challenging - I am glad it went well.

Aw thanks! That's a really good way to describe it. Easier in some ways, harder in others. Irreplaceable all around.

 

[Verstehen]

Day 1: Wednesday, February 26. Part 1: Not Quite a Packing Ninja

Sadly, I didn’t wake up with that exciting, “I’m going to Disney!” feeling. There was too much to do still and I honestly hadn’t been looking forward to this trip a whole lot. I knew it would have its fun moments, but I also knew it would be very different from any other trip I’d had before.

I’d gone to bed around 3 the night before. Not the smartest move, but I was on newborn time. April woke me up around 5 to nurse, and then we both fell back asleep around 6. We snoozed again until about 8:45. Not the best night of sleep I’ve gotten with a newborn, but not the worst either!

My husband and I have been considering buying a house (though right now that’s mostly on hold), so one of the first things we did today was look at a house down the street that was for sale. He liked it. I didn’t love it. Shh, lol.

DH also agreed to judge a local teen short film contest, so the rest of the morning before he had to go to work at 2 was spent watching those. I did a lot of packing. I’d been working on getting everything ready for two weeks, but there was still so much to do last minute. I was also really ashamed at how my suitcases looked. Normally they look really neat and I know where everything is, but considering I now have a baby who rarely lets me put her down for more than a few minutes, I had to compromise on quality and just focus on getting everything in the suitcases.

Of course I took a picture of my shame so I could share it with y’all

My dad and sister’s flight was scheduled to land around 11. In trips past, since I work from home I would typically drive to the hotel nice and early, work from the lobby, and then from the room once they’ve arrived and we get our room assigned. Since I’m not currently working and have the baby to contend with, I decided not to go down to the hotel until they’d arrived. Around 11:45, I got a text from my dad that they were on the Magical Express bus, which is when I’d originally planned to start driving as it meant we would arrive around the same time. Unfortunately, biology had other plans.

I really wasn’t as mad as I looked, lol. At least not about that.

I finished nursing, and got the car packed. Check out my awesome (read: terrible) car packing job.

She looks ready to go lol

Honestly, one reason I’m so looking forward to our next overnight trip is so I have the chance to redeem myself and actually organize everything. At least I had a minimal number of bags.

I left the house around 12:45. And then I immediately turned around and went back to the house. Apparently, my sister had forgotten to bring a belt. So I was asked to bring one. Le sigh. Luckily DH hadn’t gone to work yet so he was able to come out and watch the baby while I ran to my closet to get a belt.

And then finally, FINALLY we were on our way. Again.

It was a pretty low key ride. April slept, and I mercifully didn’t hit much of any traffic. It was a quiet part of the day. At around 1:15, I was pulling up to the guard gate at the Polynesian.

Unfortunately, I got stuck here for a bit. Not sure why, but the car in front of me was taking forever. I remember being really frustrated but I can’t remember why. Maybe April was crying. Or I was hangry. Or both. Both are pretty common occurrences these days.

Anyway, a few minutes passed and I was finally let through. I pulled up to the lobby and my dad met me there. We loaded up a cart with mine and April’s stuff for bell services to hold until our room was ready, then I went to park the car and walked April and myself back to the lobby.

I have the Graco Click Connect stroller which I would highly recommend to anyone interested in a travel system. I also have the car seat and am looking into getting the jogging stroller. Very easy to use, the base was easy to install, and very sturdy. The stroller can be used either with the infant bassinet (which becomes a toddler seat once she’s older), or with the car seat. For now, I decided to use the bassinet. She doesn’t sleep well on her own so I’m trying to get her used to lying on her back more. Ask me how it’s going! (Not well)

At the lobby I sat with my sister while my dad waited at the front desk to take care of a few things. We mused on what to do but no one was willing to commit. I tend to keep arrival day unmoored from ADR’s and other solid plans because there are just too many unpredictable factors, like how tired will everyone be, when will our room be ready, etc. Plus usually on these days I’m working until the early evening. But since I was off work I was ready to do whatever. And I mean whatever.

While we argued about whose responsibility it was to decide our next move, I fed April and attempted to change her, realized I had no diapers in her diaper bag, went to bell services to grab some, and then actually changed her.

BTW, when I say I fed April, I do mean I nursed her in the lobby. I’m not saying this to brag or make a statement or anything, but I do want to mention that I nursed openly throughout this trip in case anyone reading this has any questions or concerns about how to feed a breastfed baby at Disney (as mentioned in my first post the baby care centers are great but not always convenient when your baby decides to be hungry clear across the park). I’m happy to share my experiences if asked, publicly or privately, but otherwise, from here on out I won’t make a big deal of it.

Anyway, dad and DS were both noncommittal, which was driving me crazy, and I was getting hungrier and hungrier, so I finally proposed we just have lunch and then decide what to do. So off we went to Captain Cook’s.

I do like this restaurant! Solid and unique quick service options. I had the pork fried rice, my sister had the vegetarian noodles, and my dad had the power salad. The two of them had already eaten on the plane, so they weren’t quite as ravenous as me.

Once I had some food to lubricate my brain, we started back up on the subject of where to go next. It was decided we head over to Hollywood Studios. We had fastpasses for some rides later in the trip, along with an ADR, but there were really only a couple of must-dos for us there, and theoretically we could get them all done this afternoon/evening, using DAS and taking advantage of the low mid-week crowds. It was predicted to rain, but to me, that was perfect. Let the rain drive away the weak-hearted, I say. Before I actually go out into the rain, I tend to be a very brave person.

So we finished eating and made our way to the bus stop for the first park of our trip: Hollywood Studios. The irony is when my DH and I went there a couple weeks earlier, I moaned that it didn’t seem right that HS was my daughter’s first Disney park. And yet here we were, going again.

Oh well. Let the vacation begin!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I'm not gonna lie- my packing s disorganized as anything on a good day so yours with a newborn looks great to me lol.

Captain Cooks is one of my favorite resort QS places to eat.

 

[Verstehen]

I'm not gonna lie- my packing s disorganized as anything on a good day so yours with a newborn looks great to me lol.

Captain Cooks is one of my favorite resort QS places to eat.

I'm definitely not the most organized person, but this was way worse than normal for me. But then again, I was packing for two with the second person making it hard for me to even pack for one, haha.

 

[rdkeim]

Yay - your trip is underway! I understand the struggle of getting ready to leave the house. It's hard enough without an infant. I'm anxious to see all the new things in HS but am expecting big crowds. Interested to hear how your day went!

 

[coralietg]

I'm excited to follow along with your report! Our first Disney trip, my youngest was 6 months old. The baby facilities were great, but as you mentioned they were sometimes pretty far away. I will say, I did not have a single negative comment while nursing at Disney, but I did have several positive!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Joining in! I took my son to Disney at 9 weeks old and my daughter when she was 8 weeks old, so I love reading about other people’s trips with little babies! We also found babywearing to be very helpful. And I also nursed throughout the parks. I was very discreet, since I’m just shy about that. But if there was a dark ride, show, or quiet bench off the beaten path, I’ve probably nursed there!

 

[Verstehen]

Yay - your trip is underway! I understand the struggle of getting ready to leave the house. It's hard enough without an infant. I'm anxious to see all the new things in HS but am expecting big crowds. Interested to hear how your day went!

I know, I already struggled with being on time for things before the baby. Now I'm just screwed

I'm excited to follow along with your report! Our first Disney trip, my youngest was 6 months old. The baby facilities were great, but as you mentioned they were sometimes pretty far away. I will say, I did not have a single negative comment while nursing at Disney, but I did have several positive!

That's awesome! I've heard of people getting negative comments or dirty looks sadly. But I can say that also never happened to me.

Joining in! I took my son to Disney at 9 weeks old and my daughter when she was 8 weeks old, so I love reading about other people’s trips with little babies! We also found babywearing to be very helpful. And I also nursed throughout the parks. I was very discreet, since I’m just shy about that. But if there was a dark ride, show, or quiet bench off the beaten path, I’ve probably nursed there!

Ha! I've thought about making a Facebook group for nursing at Disney since I've discovered it's a topic all unto itself. My big breastfeeding group I'm in gets questions about how to nurse at Disney pretty regularly.

 

[Verstehen]

Day 1, Part 2: “If it turns out we don’t have fun, I want to know who to blame.”

How’s everyone doing with the coronavirus situation? I’ll talk more about it later in the report but in current time, I’m hunkering down and trying not to be too sad about the parks closing and likely staying closed until after I go back to work. DH's job is still going on; he works for the news which I may have mentioned. They are putting measures in place to limit his and other employees' exposures to illness so that's good.

I stupidly signed up for the Star Wars half back when I was pregnant and thought I'd have time to train, and now I'm guessing it'll be cancelled though that hasn't been confirmed yet. It would be nice not to feel obligated to run it, but I know a lot of people have been looking forward to it. Plus, my dad was going to be in town that weekend for a conference so if it's cancelled, his conference will probably also be cancelled which means he won't come down.

Back to the report…

When I left off, we’d decided to go to Hollywood Studios for the late afternoon and evening. We got to the bus stop at about 3 pm. I looked at the bus times monitor but unfortunately, it wasn’t showing times and wouldn’t show them for the entirety of our trip. The app was the same way. We’d rented a scooter for my sister so taking my car to the park was out of the question. So we had no idea when we’d be able to get to HS.

One thing we did know was that it was predicted to rain, as I mentioned. Dad took a look at the radar and it was looking like we’d be about to get a downpour, which would go away for a couple of hours starting at 4, and then start back up again in the evening. We also got a text while we were waiting that our room was ready. We wondered a bit if we should stay at the Poly, at least for awhile. But we also weren’t too eager to sit around, especially since we were raring to go and April was sleeping, meaning she was at her easiest to handle.

Still, I felt a sort of foreboding about the evening. “Whose idea was this?” I asked. “Because if it turns out we don’t have fun, I want to know who to blame.”

Which wasn’t, I accept, very fair. But it sounded funny at the time. I think the punchline was, I’d be blaming myself.

The bus actually came relatively quickly, I think it was the first or second bus to come after we got to the bus stop. It rained a lot on the way, but for once I was glad that the bus stopped at the Grand Floridian first because it gave us more time to wait out the rain as it passed.

We arrived at the park around 3:40. We had some stress getting through security because my dad kept walking through the metal detector without emptying his coat pockets. Then we had to stop at the ticket window to activate the AP’s for my dad and sister. Then we stopped at Guest Services to set up DAS. Whew!

Based on the timestamps of my pictures, we got into the park a little after 4 pm. By this time, the rain had cleared up.

We went straight to Galaxy’s Edge and got both a DAS return time and rider swap for Millennium Falcon. It was to be about an hour wait, so we went over to Baseline Taphouse to get some libations while we waited.

I got the Blood Orange Cider, which is my go-to here, and my dad got his usual, whatever the darkest beer was on the menu. My sister elected to get nothing, and just hung out with us. April drank milk from the tap. She’s a cheap date.

While we were there, I kept checking the app for a Prime Time reservation, and one finally came up for 7:40 pm. We were a little concerned that the rain might be back in full force by then, but either way we needed to eat, and we likely wouldn’t be hungry before then anyway. I grabbed it, and cancelled the reservation we had there for later in the trip.

Soon it was time to return to Galaxy’s Edge, so we packed up our stuff and left. Around 6, my sister and I entered the Fastpass queue.

I don’t know why, but I really love the waiting area. It’s so different from any queue experience I’ve ever had. Sure, you’re still waiting and you’re still being herded around, but at least it’s different than the same old standing in a line.

I’d ridden this once before when my husband and I went a few weeks before this trip. I’d been a pilot, which I liked a lot. This time, my sister and I were both engineers, which meant we sat in the back and instead of looking at the screen, our jobs made us focus on the panel of buttons next to us. It’s definitely an easier job than pilot, but I don’t think it’s as fun or gives you as immersive of an experience. I don’t know what it’s like to be a gunner, though. Maybe next time!

We did well, though. Managed to get two of those containers. And I got a good personal score!

After we met my dad outside. He was sitting on the scooter with the baby, who I believe slept the whole time. He’s usually pretty wary of simulators as they give him motion sickness, but when he found out he could “drive” the ride, he was more willing to ride. I advised him to let the cast member know he wanted to be a pilot, otherwise he might not end up with a job that helped him.

While Rebekah and I waited for him, we went over to a bench-type thing across from the lightsaber shop as April seemed hungry. I fed her while we waited and watched some stormtroopers.

When Dad got done (he’d been a pilot and his team ALSO got two containers, despite the fact that his co-pilot was a small girl, which made him not realize that the ride is actually playable until I told him), we headed over to Toy Story Land via the back entrance and got a return time for Toy Story Mania. It wasn’t a long wait, I think about thirty minutes. So we went to the bathrooms near the front entrance to the land to freshen up, and then waited on a bench while we looked up ride tips.

If you read my September trip report, you might remember me talking about my dad and I doing this during the night we rode TSM five times in a row. And you might remember that he had a really hard time remembering the tips. So this time I made it clear: He was on his own. I wasn’t looking forward to riding TSM only to spend the time yelling instructions to him instead of enjoying it myself. I encouraged him to ride next to Rebekah instead, but she was not having it. She didn’t want her own ride experience to be tainted by his yelling, “WHAT DO I SHOOT?” So she chose to be the single rider.

Fair.

So by the time that argument was over, it was time to ride. We went back and rode, and unfortunately, I didn’t do my best work.

I didn’t even beat my dad! In fact this was one of my lowest scores yet. How shameful.

I wanted to wallow in my shame, and maybe ride again, but that wasn’t happening on this trip. Instead, it was time for dinner.

Up next…Prime Time, and the rest of the evening.

 

[Verstehen]

Day 1, Part 3: Prime Time for Fussing

We got to Prime Time at about 7:50 and checked in. The waiting area was mostly empty and we snapped some pictures while we waited for our party to be called.

We were seated in a room towards the back of the restaurant with a couple of other tables. Our waiter was cool, not the best or most immersive I’ve had, but I wasn’t in the best position to enjoy it anyway. :-/ April picked this meal time to wake up and be super fussy. Even feeding her didn’t seem to make her happy. So I felt a little rushed and exhausted. But that’s okay. I think she was more a bother to me than anyone else. I assumed at the time that everyone was staring and judging but now looking back, that’s probably not how it was. Besides, even if they were, oh well. She wasn’t that loud, just squirming a bunch in my arms.

I did manage to snag pics of what we ordered. I got pot roast, my sister got meatloaf, and my dad had fried chicken. I also got a cherry coke, which I always get here because it’s actually regular coke with cherry syrup, which is superior to a canned cherry coke. Fact.

If April hadn’t been fussy, I would have seriously considered pushing for dessert because the dessert options here are the best. But as it was, I was eager to get out and get back to the Poly. So sadly not the best restaurant experience I’ve had with April. She usually does good! But I’d asked a lot of her that day, and knew I’d be asking a lot of her throughout the trip, so that was okay. I think it’s good to bring babies to restaurants when possible so they get used to being there, and there’s no more acceptable place to bring babies to restaurants than at Disney.

By the time we finished our meal, the park had closed, and we made our way to the Polynesian bus stop. I think it was raining, but not too bad. All in all, this was the only day we experienced rain during this trip, and it had only been bad right when we got to the park.

I was worried about a long line for the bus, as there usually is at park close. But we arrived just as a bus was pulling away, which meant we might have to wait but at least there wasn’t a long line. But honestly, it wasn’t that bad. I think the bus pulled up pretty quickly, and not a lot of people came on the bus in total.

We got back to the Polynesian, and went to our room. We were in Tokelau, in room 2913 (which was easy to remember, because it’s similar to 2319.)

I’d requested we be on an upper floor, and technically we were, but I prefer to be on the third. To me the higher, the better. I like to hang out on the balcony without worrying about people looking at me. But I also didn’t realize how difficult it would be to get the scooter in and out of the tiny elevator, so maybe we should have requested the first floor. Oh well. Lesson learned.

I should also mention that for every trip prior to this, I’d used the Touring Plans room request tool to request specific rooms, none of which I’d ever gotten. We’d always been in Tokelau which is at least always the building I request, but the specific room was never honored. I’m not upset about it, but given the amount of time I spend selecting the rooms, with everything I had going on this time it just didn’t seem worth it. So instead I did regular online check in. Except I didn’t, because it wasn’t working on the app, so I had to call and have the agent do it. I requested a higher floor and to be in Tokelau, both of which I technically got, so I guess if you set your expectations low, you can’t be disappointed. Life hack!

We called bell services to have our bags and groceries that we’d ordered delivered. They advised it would be awhile, like 45 minutes. Not the most welcome news since I really wanted to get April and myself in pjs and get ready for bed.

Then we got a call from bell services. It turned out that when Amazon delivered the groceries, they were responsible for either putting the perishable items in the refrigerator, or labeling them correctly so that the Polynesian staff put them in the refrigerator. I don’t remember which, but I do know that neither happened, and the cottage cheese and yogurt that were part of our order were not refrigerated. Bell services didn’t really have a solution for us; I think they just wanted us to be forewarned and they also passed the buck to Amazon, according to my dad. Those items were requested by my sister, so she was the one who was most affected by the error, but of courses Dad and I were not thrilled. I was especially upset because I had ordered groceries specifically because I wanted one less thing to bring to property myself. Apparently, this is an ongoing issue with Amazon orders and that’s why Disney recommends Garden Grocer. I hadn’t gone with them because they didn’t have some of the items we wanted. But whether it’s truly Amazon’s fault or not, in the future I suppose I’ll go with Garden Grocer to avoid this issue cropping up again.

When the groceries did arrive, the cast member apologized profusely. We also had an issue with the cast member claiming the eggs I’d brought had not been refrigerated, which was more annoying because when I arrived I specifically said that the bag they were in needed to be refrigerated. I’d had to boil them myself and brought them to property. Apparently my dad also reiterated this after I went to park my car after I arrived. But even though he claimed they hadn’t been refrigerated, Dad noted that they felt cold, so we thought maybe it was a mistake on the cast member’s part. So we decided not to throw them out. They couldn’t have been replaced, since we didn’t have a way to boil eggs in our studio. I’m not sure what he did with the items from Amazon though, if he threw them out or kept them. Riveting stuff, I know. But this is a trip report, and I leave no detail behind.

Once that was done, I got myself and April ready for bed. Everyone fell asleep around 11, bracing for the big day ahead. I have in my notes that April only woke one time, which is awesome. I doubt it’s 100% true, as she likely woke up several times that I ignored or slept through because she is a baby and that’s how babies work. But only one significant time is great!

Up next…our first full day.