"How do you look so relaxed at Disney World" - Our May AoA adventure

[annegirl]

It is good to know about the Frozen shortage at DW. I think I may have to do some birthday shopping for our little girl that is turning 5 on our vacation beforehand. I am pretty sure she will want some.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

It is good to know about the Frozen shortage at DW. I think I may have to do some birthday shopping for our little girl that is turning 5 on our vacation beforehand. I am pretty sure she will want some.

I'm not trying to be a negative nelly, and hopefully things are better where you live, but there is not much frozen stuff anywhere, at any store. I tried to find an elsa doll (a little 6 inch one I saw online) before easter, but couldn't find her anywhere. not in stores, not online, not at disneystore.com, not at any store in another state where my mom checked for us, not anywhere. the frozen section at every place I've looked (target, walmart, sears, toys r us, etc) is pretty empty. you can still sometimes find an anna doll (usually the baby anna) and I saw an anna Barbie and some elsa musical wands at target the other day, but that's about it. i'd start looking now for any surprises you want on your trip since it might take quite awhile to find anything.....

I should say that if it's something you REALLY want, there are things on ebay, of course, but you'll pay like 3x as much for them on there.

 

[missangelalexis]

Following along and enjoying so far!

 

[MeeskaMomma]

Joining along! I love how you pack with the ribbons The shirts you made are adorable, too.

Welcome :: glad to have you along! Thank you on the ribbon and. I should clarify I only made the patch shirt a friend made the other two, but still cute right?

Joining in! We stayed at AoA a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it! Stayed in the Nemo suites. DD has since been lobbying to go back again to AoA and try a different suite. Looking forward to the rest of your trip report!

Thank you! We love AoA! Especially the cars section. I actually like their pool better because it is quieter.

we always stop at that mickey in the airport for a picture too! it's like a little welcome to Disney before actually getting to Disney! i'm so excited to see all your AoA pictures! I just think it looks so awesome, but I've promised my friend that we won't stay there or visit because we're all going together in 2017 and staying there. we want to experience it all together, but I do LOVE looking at pictures of it! and I think all your pics look great. I take all my pictures with my phone now, but I have seen some great ones that people who actually know how to use a camera have gotten. I was on an elsa quest before easter, but have given up on that. hoping that by the time we get there in September there might be something in the parks, but not counting on it. can't wait to hear how your search goes....

I am kicking myself that I did not take more pictures of AoA. I even brought a new fish eye lens with a plan to get some great shots but were so busy (and exhausted) I never made around the resort with my camera! More iPhone pics to come though!

The frozen craze is nuts! do you think Disney was unprepared for how big this movie got or they are holding back inventory on purpose?

I caught up on some of your PTR and wrote you a long message about how much I love the dresses you made, the Olaf and Sven costumes etc and let's pretend there were several witty remarks I can no liger recall but it didn't post! Grrrr that is especially frustrating when you type it on a phone! Any who looking forward to more and May steel your Olaf and Sven costume idea for our local Halloween

It is good to know about the Frozen shortage at DW. I think I may have to do some birthday shopping for our little girl that is turning 5 on our vacation beforehand. I am pretty sure she will want some.

Keep a sharp eye out! I know some people that have had luck with toys r us and jc penny.

 

[cadek]

Joining in... I can't wait to see more pictures. I really need to take the time to practice with more settings on my DSLR. I have books to read on it, but reading is different than actually doing it, and remembering!

 

[MeeskaMomma]

Joining in... I can't wait to see more pictures. I really need to take the time to practice with more settings on my DSLR. I have books to read on it, but reading is different than actually doing it, and remembering!

Welcome! I am excited to get to my good pictures I am pretty proud of how some of then turned out. I was a bit overwhelmed by my dslr settings en I first got. My favorite book on the subject so far is "Stunning Digital Photography" by Tony Northrup, I have also had a lot of help from other photographers in their online group. I still have a lot to learn but I have learned a lot from that group.

 

[arrical8]

Following along!

 

[MeeskaMomma]

Following along!

Hooray! ::

 

[STLMickeyMom]

The frozen craze is nuts! do you think Disney was unprepared for how big this movie got or they are holding back inventory on purpose?

I caught up on some of your PTR and wrote you a long message about how much I love the dresses you made, the Olaf and Sven costumes etc and let's pretend there were several witty remarks I can no liger recall but it didn't post! Grrrr that is especially frustrating when you type it on a phone! Any who looking forward to more and May steel your Olaf and Sven costume idea for our local Halloween

Well, when I was on my Elsa search, I finally asked the manager at toys r us about it. He told me that they can't get product in because the manufacturer can't keep up. He said that they 1) underestimated how popular the movie would be and 2) underestimated how popular Elsa would be. They thought Anna would be more popular. That's why you can find some Anna things but never Elsa stuff. I'm hoping that is truly the case because I would be awfully disappointed in Disney if they were just trying to create a demand for something that is crazy popular anyway.

Lol! That's happened to me before--so annoying! Steal away--most of the ideas I get from Pinterest anyway.

 

[esquared221]

Joining as well DS is a HUGE Cars fan (so am I) and I really want to stay at AoA! We visited on our last trip and took tons of pics

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Fun updates! Looks like great start! I was on a quest for a Frozen doll for Easter. I talked Charlotte into an Anna doll but, Anna came with a small Olaf and I swear she plays with that as much as the doll. I wish I would have gotten her the pull a part Olaf plush I saw at Walmart a few weeks ago.

Every time I see your pics I want to stay at AoA! Can't wait to read more

 

[megan1129]

I am staying at AoA in August, so I very much look forward to the more of your report. I am obsessed with your itinerary! What did you use to create it?

 

[MeeskaMomma]

Well, when I was on my Elsa search, I finally asked the manager at toys r us about it. He told me that they can't get product in because the manufacturer can't keep up. He said that they 1) underestimated how popular the movie would be and 2) underestimated how popular Elsa would be. They thought Anna would be more popular. That's why you can find some Anna things but never Elsa stuff. I'm hoping that is truly the case because I would be awfully disappointed in Disney if they were just trying to create a demand for something that is crazy popular anyway. Lol! That's happened to me before--so annoying! Steal away--most of the ideas I get from Pinterest anyway.

That's is what we were thinking. I have a friend who was at Disneyland before the movie came out and she said they saw process Anna everywhere because know one knew who she was. I suppose things are different now. I overheard someone say there was a 6 hour wait to meet princess Anna and Elsa! I hope they were exaggerating!

Joining as well DS is a HUGE Cars fan (so am I) and I really want to stay at AoA! We visited on our last trip and took tons of pics

Welcome! We love it AoA! I wish I took more trips this visit. There are a lot on my last tr.

Fun updates! Looks like great start! I was on a quest for a Frozen doll for Easter. I talked Charlotte into an Anna doll but, Anna came with a small Olaf and I swear she plays with that as much as the doll. I wish I would have gotten her the pull a part Olaf plush I saw at Walmart a few weeks ago. Every time I see your pics I want to stay at AoA! Can't wait to read more

Oh man a pull apart Olaf sounds awesome! I will be on the look out for that. I was on the look out for a princess Elsa doe my friend. No such luck.

I am staying at AoA in August, so I very much look forward to the more of your report. I am obsessed with your itinerary! What did you use to create it?

Hooray! We love AoA! Glad you like the itinerary I am a little obsessed with it to. I just used Excel to create it... Unless you are talking about the content...lots of research went into that. I explain it all in my PTR (link in signature) I also have some other fun spreadsheets we used...if you are into spreadsheets

 

[esquared221]

That's is what we were thinking. I have a friend who was at Disneyland before the movie came out and she said they saw process Anna everywhere because know one knew who she was. I suppose things are different now. I overheard someone say there was a 6 hour wait to meet princess Anna and Elsa! I hope they were exaggerating!

When we were there last week the stand by line was up to 5 hours!

 

[dvc at last !]

Love your TR and impressed with your organizing the clothes and your spreadsheet, too !

(Planning is part of the fun ! )

Beautiful family - waiting for more ...

 

[megan1129]

Hooray! We love AoA! Glad you like the itinerary I am a little obsessed with it to. I just used Excel to create it... Unless you are talking about the content...lots of research went into that. I explain it all in my PTR (link in signature) I also have some other fun spreadsheets we used...if you are into spreadsheets

Awesome! Thank you. I am definitely going to have fun with spreadsheets now!

 

[Luv0fDisney]

I'm just joining in. Can't wait for the next Chapters... Is there a back story on the eye patch? I'm just curious. I hope he had a lot of fun...
We just got home from a May trip as well.. We stayed at Pop. Just booked our November trip on Saturday.

 

[MeeskaMomma]

When we were there last week the stand by line was up to 5 hours!

That is crazy! Every time we walked past a princess line Mr. Incredible would say "and it's a win for having a boy!" I can't imagine spending half your day in a princess line!

Love your TR and impressed with your organizing the clothes and your spreadsheet, too ! (Planning is part of the fun ! ) Beautiful family - waiting for more ...

Than you! The planning is sooo fun!

I'm just joining in. Can't wait for the next Chapters... Is there a back story on the eye patch? I'm just curious. I hope he had a lot of fun... We just got home from a May trip as well.. We stayed at Pop. Just booked our November trip on Saturday.

:: There is a bit of a story. Goose was born with congenital cataracts, and an underdeveloped optic nerve. With the help of a couple of surgeries, a high powered contact lens and bifocals he can see but his vision is much stronger in his right eye. As a result brain will try to turn off his bad eye which makes his vision even worse. To combat this we are on a strict every other day patch schedule. He is super great about it, we have patched like this since he was 6 months. Kids that know him are used to the patch, and I forget he is wearing it most the time I am so used to it, but when we go somewhere new he tends to get a lot of stairs. I try to make it as fun as possible. Kids have to patch for lots of reasons, but most only patch a couple of hours a day so they can do it at home, we are on such an extreme schedule it is not really practical to do it only at home. I just wish people were more used to seeing it, it really isn't a big deal, but you wouldn't believe the comments I get. Twice I have been asked if I tattooed his faced...that is insane. I wrote to a Disney once because I think it would be great to have character in one of their shoes who patches. I don't mean any kind dramatic episode about it or anything, just a character, a small character even, who you occasionally see in an eye patch. It would make it less startling for kids to see it our in the world. Some little kids are out ride scared of him with his patch, kids have ran from the "robot kid" and he gets called a pirate a lot. He takes it all in stride. When he sees kids staring he just smiles real big and waves. What a champ!

 

[MeeskaMomma]

We were all up and ready with no problem.


(This picture is so cute it warrants another show)

We brought the same bag for Tinckerbell toys we used last year, I just let Goose add stickers. I was surprised because he completely remembered it. He looked for the bag right when he woke up and said "presents!" This year we got a set of figures from planes and gave him one a day. I wanted to get him frozen figures too, but they were always sold out!

We said hi to "PitPit", Luigi, Flo, Ramone, Doc, and "Police Car" on the way to the bus. Goose LOVES the bus.


It's here It's here!

And we made it rope drop a bit earlier this year.


That yellow plane was this morning's Tinker Bell Toy.

Thank goodness we made it early because I forgot to put sunscreen in the park bag. Luckily there is that little store to the side. I tried the magic band for the first time, and man it was super easy to pay with. We charged everything to the room so we could pay it off with our gift cards first. It is a bit dangerous how easy that is.

Goose used to hate wearing sunscreen until I started calling it "tickle spray". Now he loves it. He will say "hooray hooray tickle spray time!" and then "your turn for tickle spray!...Dad's turn for tickle spray!" Thanks to him we usually don't forget our sun protection.

Then it was time for the opening show!





After rope drop we made our way straight to Peter Pan. The stroller parking was moved this year, it was just past Peter Pan not just before. John saw the boats and said "I want to ride the boat!" It was so fun saying, guess what, that is what we are doing. It also helped we beat the line.

After Peter Pan we rode Small World, which of course had no line. John was excited to ride that boat too.


(Notice we are still in our ear hat)

















Then we used our Little Mermaid Fast Pass. There wasn't much of a line, but it was nice having the fast pass and going straight on.

Next we made our way to the Barnstormer. Luckily no line!




He looks a little uncertain at this point.

That is quite a roller coaster for the little guys, but Goose loved it!!!! He said "woea up the hill!" Then had a big grin on his face the whole time!

Then we rode dumbo with no line!





I have a lot more dumbo pictures later. I love this ride!

Then we hung out on the splash pad.



Then we went into the gift shop by there to look for Frozen stuff. The CM at Art of Animation said they do have Frozen stuff in the parks but it sells out within 45 minutes of park opening. So we thought we might get lucky. We didn't see anything! I asked a CM and she said Sir Mickey's and one other I can't remember had t-shirts but that is probably all would find. That was a bit disappointing.

We hung around there until it was time for our Winnie the Pooh FP. That is still one of my favorite rides! I like the bouncing. We walked right on to Winnie the Pooh. John didn't really know who Winnie the Pooh was before our trip because he was never interested in watching it, but now he watches it all the time. They are such sweet stories.

After the ride Goose and I decided to hang out in the gift shop while Mr. Incredible went to get the stroller, which was still at the parking by Peter Pan. Goose picked up some stuffed baby Mickey and Minnie toys and carried them around a bit. When he started pulling more stuff off the shelf I decided it was time to clean up, and I was a bit worried Goose would disagree. Instead Goose just started singing his clean up song, put the toys back where he found them and then straightened the rows. The CM was really amused by this. I jokingly said, "oh he is holding out for the Olaf we promised him, but it sounds like I wont be able to come through on that." Then she whispered "I think Sir Mickey's just got a shipment of Olaf's in".

What! I thanked her, grabbed Goose and rushed out the door, and walked towards...towards... after I got out side I realized I didn't know where Sir Mickey's was. So I stopped to text Mr. Incredible and look at the map. As I slowed down I realized it probably wasn't run there urgent, but I was so excited!

Mr. Incredible walked up about then and knew exactly where to go, it was just around the corner! We got there and the CMs were stocking the shelves with Olafs about as fast as people were taking them off. I did see people with many Olafs in there arm. We let Goose choose his Olaf, and carry it up to the counter. Since this seemed to be one of the only gift shops that had Frozen gear we looked around for other things. There wasn't a lot of variety, but we did find a great sketch of Sven and Olaf! We bought it right away.



Those are Goose's favorites! We debated buying Olaf's for friends, but decided we would just take the one so other kids in the park could find there Olaf.

After our Olaf triumph, which ended up being much less of a quest than I thought it would, we had just enough time for the Laugh Floor before lunch. This is such a wonderfully cheesy show. Goose chuckled the whole time!





Goose carried his Olaf around with him through lunch, and tons of people asked where we found him. I gladly told them where, but to go fast. Mr. Incredible had the clever idea that after lunch we should go back to Sir Mickey's and get another Olaf, and give it to the next random person that asks about Olaf. I thought this was a magical idea! Unfortunately, by the time we made it back they were gone. So if you find Olafs, get two!

All in all it was a great morning and I was amazed at how smoothly the itinerary went. We fit even more in this year than last year, and I thought that would be impossible!

Next up! Lunch at the Plaza, and our afternoon rides. We had a VERY exciting lunch!

 

[esquared221]

We discovered the Frozen stuff at Sir Mickeys as well. I had already gotten DD the Elsa shirt when we had gone to Downtown Disney earlier in the week so we didn't get anything else. I love Olaf but DD is a gigantic Elsa fan and DS is indifferent. Glad to see you were able to get your hands on one for your DS!I just wish they had more stuff available for us adult Frozen fans!