Magic, Memories, and......Medics?- A March Trip Report

[vicky33006]

Hello to everyone!!!

I never thought I would get around to writing this trip report, but since I am currently planning our next trip to the World.....well it seemed like it would be a god idea to write all of this down! It was an eventful trip, some parts of it in a not so good way, but I don't want to forget a minute of it.

So I hope you'll follow along and see some of the magical memories we made, some of the arguments we had, and even why on earth we needed an ambulance!

So...let me introduce you to our crew. First is....me! My name is Vicky. I am a single mom of one amazing little boy (you'll meet him in a minute). I am currently a full time college student but will have my BA in Early Childhood Education complete this fall! I love little kids, and I made my career as a preschool teacher before I decided to head back to school. I cannot wait to finish my degree!

Being a single mom can sometimes make it tough to afford a trip like this, so this was only my second trip ever to WDW, and this was planned to be the first for my DS and my sister! We planned a Spring Break trip, and we planned for crowds. So....here's a pic of my little guy and me...



So....next on to my little boy. His name is A.J. which is short for Andre Jared. I know I'm biased since he's my son...but this kid is AMAZING! I can't say enough awesome things about him! Anyway, this was going to be his first trip ever to WDW. He had asked me time and time again if we would ever possibly be able to go...and I always explained that it was very expensive and I just didn't know if I could afford it until Christmas morning when he had a very big surprise waiting for him



He was so excited!!! He couldn't believe we were going. We still had a while to get to March for our trip, but he was so happy to plan with me!

At the time of the trip he was six years old and just about to turn seven. I had some surprises planned to celebrate his birthday in WDW. DS's favorite Disney movie is....Wreck It Ralph!

Next, is my beautiful sister Carolyn. She also had never been to WDW before. I wasn't sure she was as into the trip as I was since I was practically OBSESSING over it...but when I saw she change her iPhone wallpaper to a picture of Cinderella's castle, I knew I had her! She works hard as a cook and has a wonderful BF who does NOT share our love of all things Disney , so we left him home.

"

So I hope a few of you will join along on this trip report. There was laughter, tears of joy, tears of sadness, and even tears of terror...but then there was more laughter and magic!! Next post...Whose Idea was it to Take such an Early Flight?

 

[vicky33006]

March 10th had finally, finally arrived!!!!! So exciting! Someone (possibly the person writing this thread) thought a 7AM flight would be a great idea! Well, after a sleepless night this might not have been such a great choice. DS simply couldn't sleep before we left. I think he finally fell asleep somewhere around 2:30AM. In my frustration I told him the next time I take him to WDW I''m not telling him until the day of! He didn't like that too much.

So right at 4:15AM my sister and her BF (the non-Disney lover) pulled up to bring us to the airport. Despite being pretty exhausted we were all very excited, which I can say with certainty that my sister's BF enjoyed VERY much

We arrived at the airport which is about 45 minutes from our house. I forgot to mention we live in western MA. Forgive me...this is my first ever trip report!

The airport was BUSY! We headed to curbside check-in and then we waited...and waited...and waited some more. Because I'm clearly sometimes a little....well..forgetful, I didn't anticipate us waiting outside for this length of time and DS froze his little bum off while we waited. OOPS!

We finally got inside and then we........waited! Love airports. Our adrenaline was just beginning to wear off since we had all had next to no sleep, but we found our energy again when it was time to board the plane!

DS was so excited! It was his first ever plane ride!



The plane ride was semi uneventful. We had a layover at BWI which wasn't a whole lot of fun, but we kept on going. We also learned that DS is not a fan of flying. He seems to think that his ears hurt a whole bunch while flying. It was bad enough that he started to cry as we were landing in Orlando. Poor kiddo....and poor us as we realized what we had to look forward to on the flight back...

Don't worry...the next post will have more pics! I promise! Next post: POR!!!!!

 

[vicky33006]

So after heading to WDW on ME (I really thought I took some pics...who knows?) we finally got to our resort: POR!!!! I could go on and on for days. This resort is amazing! I admit I had only been to WDW once before and stayed at POP, so my experience is limited, but I was blown away. We all were. Right from check-in we were in love.



I had put in a few room requests and really had no idea whether they would be honored. First, I had asked to be put in a mansion room. The themes of the Alligator Bayou rooms just didn't appeal to us, so this was our first request. Next I had requested to be as close to the food court as possible. Thanks to the DIS, I knew that POR is large, and I was dreaming of being close enough that we didn't have to walk for miles each time we wanted to re-fill our mugs. Well.....our requests were granted!!! Disney is just so...magical! I mean, how lucky could we get? We were able to stay in this beautiful resort AND they granted my requests? I was so happy!!!

Here are some pics of this beautiful resort and our room. Our room was in the first building just over the bridge. The location was simply perfect!





I just had to take some pics along the way! DS immediately wanted to jump in the pool, but we had plans!









Next post: DHS and Wreck It Ralph

 

[vicky33006]

So after settling in at POR, we knew we wanted to head over to DHS. I was so so excited for my DS and my sister to experience their first park. Th weather was beautiful and the crowds didn't look too bad. I didn't plan to try and ride any headliners since we arrived at the park so late. I knew there was one very important thing we had to get done though...we just had to meet Wreck It Ralph!!!

This was going to be DS's real first Disney experience and I had hoped it would be special...well you can always count on Disney!



Look at that smile Wreck It Ralph went totally crazy when he saw DS's shirt! He tried to wreck the whole building! It was great....and DS loved it so much! We all figured if this was what Disney had to offer, well we were in for an amazing week!!!



After meeting up with Wreck It Ralph and Venellope we headed over to the Animation Academy. This was just the cutest thing ever! We got to draw pictures of Pooh and I can't look at those pictures without smiling. I love DS's and can't wait for a return trip to see what he does next time.

Our ADR was fast approaching and I was looking forward to it. Our lack of sleep was starting to get to us and so we really didn't want to try and ride anything. We decided to head over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground so Auntie and Mom could relax a little while DS played. This was cute, but there were people everywhere! Considering the park itself wasn't bad, there seemed to be an unusually high ratio of people in the playground. DS enjoyed it though, and my sister and I enjoyed a tiny bit of downtime in what we knew would be a very busy week.

So....it was nearly time for our ADR at....Sci-Fi. I was so excited about this place! It just looked so neat when I was researching all things Disney. I have to admit, when we walked in...it just looked so cool. DS was immediately mesmerized by the screen in the front. My sister was happy to have found a nice cool place to relax and eat. I just wanted to look around.



We ordered. I know I had a burger and a shake. I can't remember what my sister and DS had...but everyone was a bit underwhelmed. The service was very, very slow and while the server was very nice I think we were all just exhausted. DS did enjoy the shake though..



Before we left I snuck a cute pic of my sister and DS. Everyone is smiling through the exhaustion!



After dinner it was pretty clear we needed some rest. We headed back to POR and decided to call it a night. We slept well and were rested up for RD at MK!!!

Next post: Day 2- MK

 

[AgentB]

I'm in! I can't wait to hear all about your trip!

 

[bohemian21]

Where in western MA are you? I live just south of the CT border in East Windsor, and I work in East Longmeadow.

 

[vicky33006]

I'm in! I can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Welcome!!! So glad you're here!!! Hope you enjoy it!

Where in western MA are you? I live just south of the CT border in East Windsor, and I work in East Longmeadow.

Wow! Small world . I live in Westfield, MA. Very very close to East Longmeadow. Welcome!

 

[Pre]

I'm in! Your DS is adorable!

 

[vicky33006]

So we were up early to get ready for RD at MK!!!! I was so excited! I couldn't wait for DS and my sister to see the castle and Main Street. We woke up well rested and feeling much better. After some donuts in the room we headed out. We slightly underestimated the amount of time it would take to use the transportation and we got to MK a tiny bit after RD, but that didn't stop us!!! We had a good plan for the morning and we headed over to BTMRR first thing. Both my sister and DS loved this!



As soon as we got off the ride, my sister commented that she could already see how much fun we were going to have at MK. She also thanked me for all my planning! Such a nice thing to say...

We were able to meet some of the best characters!





We got on everything we wanted! It was great. I fell in love with the Ariel ride, DS loved Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor, and my sister really enjoyed Space Mountain, but DS was a different story... I would never normally show this picture because I don't love the way I look, but DS's face is so priceless I just have to:



Ha ha. So...he decided not to go on that again! We had lunch at Cosmic Ray's and really enjoyed that. After that we headed over to Dumbo to ride. The line was very long, but we wanted to try out the play area.



DS liked this a lot, but it seemed like we were waiting so long that we decided to exit before we even rode! DS had been dreaming of the pool since we arrived at POR, so he wanted to do that. My sister was tired and was wanting to talk to her BF for a while so we headed back to the resort to relax and swim.

The swim was just what we needed. After that we got ready for our ADR at Hoop Dee Doo!!! We were excited to have a fun and relaxing night. We really enjoyed the boat ride over to the campground..



This was a blast!!! We had so much fun and the food was YUMMY! Such a cute show! DS also enjoyed his light up drink.



DS laughed through the whole show while my sister and I enjoyed a little Sangria



I just love that smile!

DS is a little shy though so he wasn't as excited as I hoped when the characters came to the table! I love his face in this one



After a great time at HDDR we headed back to POR to rest up for a whole day at DHS!

Next post: Day 3- Rainy Day at DHS

 

[vicky33006]

I'm in! Your DS is adorable!

Welcome and Thank you!!!! I think so, but I realize I'm a little biased on the subject

 

[vicky33006]

So it was another early morning for us. I knew how important it was for us to get to DHS for RD so I tried to get everyone moving. We did pretty well and made it out of the resort pretty early. Again though, I underestimated how long it would take to get to DHS and we just missed RD.

It was OK though so we just headed over to TSMM to get a FP. Once that was done, we decided to head over to the Backlot Tour. We didn't let the rain get us down.



We all really enjoyed the Backlot Tour. We also headed over to Star Tours...and loved it! DS was all too excited to create his own light saber after that and we all had fun browsing around the Star Wars shop. I was so glad that I did my research on the DIS and knew that we didn't have to lug around the light saber and had it sent back to the resort!

We were able to meet some of DS's favorite characters...



And some of my favorites!!!



Then we rode TSMM. I can't even tell you how much we all loved this. I know people think it doesn't deserve all the hype, but we really, really loved it. Such a blast!!! DS even used some of his money later to buy his own Buzz gun with targets. He played "Toy Story Mania" in the resort every night for the rest of the trip

We decided on Pizza Planet for lunch. This one was really for my sister as she is a pizza lover. Well, she told me pretty quickly that this was not her idea of pizza!!! Ha ha. They did have some delicious St. Patrick's Day cupcakes though!



The rain had let by the time we were done with lunch, so that brought our spirits up quite a bit. We went over to meet two more characters that DS just loves:



Unfortunately, DS had found Phineas and Ferb on Netflix and has seen every episode too many times to count...so I'm still watching it everyday!

So we spent the afternoon watching the parade (loved it!), checking our Lights, Motors, Action! (A definite fave for DS), and American Idol. I was surprised how much DS laughed through this one...



We had an ADR at Mama Melrose for the F! package. This was not a favorite for our group. We had a server who was slightly rude (She mentioned she wasn't feeling well so I'm sure that contributed). I thought the food was pretty good, but my sister and DS just weren't impressed Again though...they had a great cupcake!!!



We shopped some of the afternoon away. We followed the Touringplans app which told us that RnRR still had FPs left, but that was wayyyy off. So we missed out on that ride. We weren't interested in ToT since we are all a bunch of chickens

Then we headed over to F! We all really loved this! This was my first time seeing it so we all had that first experience this time. Lots of fun!



After F! we headed back to the resort. Even though the rain had stopped half way through the day, we all still felt kind of icky. It was nice to get back and get some rest.

Now... I know what you're thinking...what's so bad about this trip? It's been pretty great so far. You are very right! Day 4 is the very start of things beginning to fall apart....

Next post: Day 4- A Surprise, MK...and Some Tears..

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Joining in Vicky and welcome to trip reporting!

I always enjoy reading about people's first trip (and second too ) That makes you the veteran.

What a wonderful way to surprise your little man on Christmas morning.

What a perfect first meet and greet with Wreck It Ralph. As I was reading I was hoping he got that meet, and what do you know... first thing.

Great start and already heading into day 4!

 

[disneygirl520]

I'm in! DS is adorable. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[vicky33006]

Joining in Vicky and welcome to trip reporting!

I always enjoy reading about people's first trip (and second too ) That makes you the veteran.

What a wonderful way to surprise your little man on Christmas morning.

What a perfect first meet and greet with Wreck It Ralph. As I was reading I was hoping he got that meet, and what do you know... first thing.

Great start and already heading into day 4!

Welcome!!! And thank you!!! The trip report will slow down some as the second part of the trip was very....eventful!!!

I'm in! DS is adorable. Can't wait to hear more.

Welcome and thank you so much!!!

 

[vicky33006]

So we started out our fourth day with plans to sleep in....and that's exactly what we did! We slept until about nine which is unheard of on vacation for us. So we all had slept in and woke up very well rested. We knew we had a fun night planned, but we were excited just to spend some time at POR relaxing.

We had some very late breakfast in the room and had decided that we would head to the food court for lunch before swimming for a bit. My sister was really missing her BF at this point, and she was feeling a little less than magical. They were FaceTiming each other and DS was very ready to get moving. My sister's BF told her he had about a 45 minute drive in front of him and then would FaceTime her again. Since she was just missing him so much she of course agreed to this, and when I told her we would meet her at the pool she got upset with me.

I was coming from a place where I felt like it was fine that she wanted to talk to him, but thought it would be good to take DS swimming. She felt like we simply didn't want to spend time with her. Let me say this, I love my sister so much!!!!....but I guess we could simply never live together. To avoid further argument DS and I stayed in the room and we all left later for lunch and swimming. All in all it was a very small disagreement, but it set us up for a future situation on this trip..

After some swimming and fun, we went back to the room to get ready for dinner. At this point, both my sister and I were sort of tiptoeing around each other for fear of causing another argument.

We all got ready and headed out for Chef Mickey's!!! This was exciting. I had a birthday surprise planned for DS and so I was anxious to go to this dinner. Our ADR was for 5 and we were seated almost immediately after they took our picture:



Right at the podium they told me they had my surprise ready, so I was relieved immediately. We started on dinner and the characters started to come around. I have to say that I was actually really impressed with this dinner. I know this one isn't a fave here on the DIS, but we actually liked the food and the character interaction. I was relieved to have finally found a food that my sister seemed to like!!



The characters were really a blast and I have to say that this was some of the best character interaction that we experienced during the trip (second only to Garden Grill). When dinner was done, our server came to ask us if it was OK it she brought out my surprise....and DS's eyes lit up!!!



It was a Wreck It Ralph cake!!! He loved it!



This was just one of the standard cakes that I ordered with the Wreck It Ralph picture on it. I had considered ordering a more fancy fondant covered cake, but I was worried we wouldn't have the appetite for it and that a bunch of it would be wasted. I'm glad about this since each of us had a little less than a piece of it. As far as a review on the cake, I give it an A+ for presentation and a B for flavor. It was actually really good, but the Wreck It Ralph picture part of it wasn't very good. We packed up the rest of the cake and headed off to MK for a night of MSEP and Wishes!!!

So we jumped on the monorail and met the cutest little family. We enjoyed talking with them quite a bit. Then we got to MK! I was beyond excited for my sister and DS to see my absolute favorite part of a Disney vacation: Wishes.

Things just didn't go the way that I planned at all...

Next Post: Day 4- Part 2

 

[vicky33006]

So we had gotten to MK and had a giant box of cake with us! We decided to rent a locker and thought all of our problems would be solved. Well, the cake box wasn't fitting in the locker. My sister and I looked at each other and just laughed. For some reason it was so funny to us that the cake just wouldn't fit. So we did the only thing we could think to do...we tipped the box sideways and stuffed it in the locker. We figured we would deal with that later.

So after the cake was safely stowed away, we wanted to try and ride BTMRR again. As we were walking we found three FPs for BTMRR just sitting on a bench!!! We couldn't believe our luck! They were just sitting there and there were exactly three. It was like someone put them there for us. So, we rode BTMRR twice since we were able to get our own FPs as well. We also did Philharmagic which we really loved. We walked around MK for a bit and just enjoyed ourselves and the atmosphere when we suddenly realized we really needed to find a place to sit and watch MSEP. So....we were a little late on this. We found a spot that offered a good view, but that view was obstructed when people lined up to walk through the walkway. Anyway, we waited through the parade. My sister just wasn't impressed. She was missing her BF again and was very tired.



After the parade, I explained that we needed to find a place to watch Wishes so I led the way. While I was leading the way, my sister and DS were talking. Suddenly, they stopped me and my sister explained that they were too tired to watch Wishes.

I looked at DS and then just said OK. I led them out of MK and we were back at POR within a reasonable time. I was feeling particularly sad for some reason. I couldn't put my finger on why at the time. Once we got back to the resort, my sister called her BF and just started telling him how much she wasn't liking everything so far. I can't even explain it except to say that I must have been overly sensitive, but I started to cry. I guess this simply had to do with her seemingly hating everything...and I knew how much I had planned this trip. I even planned a number of things that I thought my sister specifically would enjoy.

You see, this had been going on all week. My sister missed her BF from the moment we got on the plane. She was really having a tough time being away from him so she was having a hard time enjoying the magic of Disney. She didn't like most of the restaurants I had planned, she hated the lines, and she was just generally unimpressed with a lot of things. I know I shouldn't have taken it personally, but after the amount of planning I put into the trip it almost felt personal.

Also, I was beginning to be very concerned with how my sister's complaints were affecting DS. He seemed to love everything, but I did hear him repeat things my sister was saying about various parts of the trip. Also, as far as I could see he was excited about Wishes before talking with my sister...but I can't say that for sure. Anyway, I was for sure, for sure overly sensitive. I was worried we wouldn't be back at WDW any time soon and I just didn't want complaints through the whole trip.

For my sister's part she felt very badly about the whole thing. She seemed to realize what she was doing and apologized. She didn't mean to cause any problems for the trip...she just was having a hard time being away from home as well.

The cake...well the cake didn't make it. We grabbed it when we were heading out of MK. When we opened the box back at POR the cake was completely squished. This probably would have been hysterical if the mood in the room wasn't so somber....but we all fell asleep and were ready for day 5 in Epcot!!

Sorry for the lack of pics...I guess I just didn't get a bunch at MK.

Next Post- Day 5- Epcot..a few more tears, and Perry Missions!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Aww I know EXACTLY how you felt. You may consider it overly senstitive but I sure don't. I understand that feeling completely. Whenever I'm in a group I'm generally the planner so I try to focus on making sure everyone else has a great
time. You just want everything to be perfect and for everyone to feel the same way about all things Disney. When it doesn't happen it's disappointing.

Honestly I probably wouldn't have handled everything near as well as you seem to have.

 

[Pre]

Next post: Day 3- Rainy Day at DHS

Wow you are on an updating roll!!!

This is such a cute picture! It's a mini buzz! I had to look to find your DS! Did Buzz "Say" anything?

I also adore the Wreck-IT-Ralph Pictures with matching shirt.

 

[vicky33006]

Aww I know EXACTLY how you felt. You may consider it overly senstitive but I sure don't. I understand that feeling completely. Whenever I'm in a group I'm generally the planner so I try to focus on making sure everyone else has a great
time. You just want everything to be perfect and for everyone to feel the same way about all things Disney. When it doesn't happen it's disappointing.

Honestly I probably wouldn't have handled everything near as well as you seem to have.

I'm so glad someone understands!!! I think not everyone "gets" how much planning goes into these trips.

And thank you for saying I handled it well, but unfortunately, I had a whole new day to...not handle it so well.

Wow you are on an updating roll!!!

This is such a cute picture! It's a mini buzz! I had to look to find your DS! Did Buzz "Say" anything?

I also adore the Wreck-IT-Ralph Pictures with matching shirt.

Thank you!!! And Buzz was so cute with the shirt. He kept trying to push all of DS's buttons. DS was giggling so hard and when the buttons didn't do anything, Buzz kept trying to shrug his shoulders. Sooo cute!

I love the Wreck It Ralph pics too. They're some of my favorites since it was DS's real first Disney experience.

 

[vicky33006]

Day 5 was scheduled to be our Epcot day. We were up early for RD. I was just still not in the right spirit for everything after all the disagreements with my sister. So, when we couldn't get moving out the door in the morning, I didn't bug anyone about missing RD. So...we got to Epcot quite a bit after it had opened. It was not really a problem though because we went straight to Soarin for FPs and then went over to Test Track to ride standby.

My sister was really trying hard to be more enthusiastic. She didn't complain even one time. I could see she was really trying. I was still sad, but was trying to get back all that Disney magic. We rode Test Track, which DS LOVED! After that we still had some time before our Soarin FP but we were hungry. We headed over to Sunshine Seasons for some more breakfast. I think we were getting sick of what we kept in the room.

We did take a few pics along the way..



When we got to Sunshine Seasons we got our food and sat down. My sister asked where we were eating that night. Now...I'm positive when she asked she didn't mean it in any sort of negative way, but something about the way she asked made me think she didn't want to eat there (Garden Grill) since we had already discussed the plans. I answered her that we had an ADR at Garden Grill, but I told her we didn't have to go if she didn't want to...

Well, that was it. I don't even know how it happened. She got mad... The freaking tears started leaking out of my eyes again and before I knew it she had left DS and me at Epcot. She went back to POR. DS and I rode Soarin using the FPs, but our hearts just weren't into it. We headed back to POR as well.

Well...I'm not even a little bit proud of myself for this, but I guess every single thing that had ever happened between my sister and me (who haven't fought since we were children) came out of both of us. We were mean and nasty to each other...and I'm now ashamed of myself. I don't even know how our emotions went so crazy. What I do know is, even though she said some equally awful things to me, I still feel guilty when I think of the way that we argued with each other that day.

Anyway, I had decided to get a completely new room at POR for DS and me for the rest of the trip because it seemed like this absolutely ridiculous fight had gotten way out of hand. POR had rooms available, but before I paid.... I thought better of it and decided to text her and apologize. I immediately got a text to apologize in return. We went back to our room, hugged it out...and decided to stop the insanity. BTW...for anyone wondering what poor DS was dong during this, he was mostly amused watching Stacy on TV while we argued outside the door, but he still knew what happened and I felt awful about that too.

I just have to say that I love my sister more than anything in the world, and I know she feels the same about me. What happened here, I don't really know. I didn't want to put this in the trip report, but it's what happened so it felt wrong to leave it out.

Anyway....that's the end of my whining about that...I promise!!!!! We both put it behind us and decided to stop even thinking about it. After a much needed short nap for all of us, we headed back to Epcot to make our ADR at Garden Grill!

We definitely got back some of that lost magic at Epcot. When I visited years ago, Epcot was by far my least favorite park, but this time I think it was my favorite.

So before our ADR we rode Mission Space. We thought this was pretty great. We rode the more mild version though, and it still made us a bit queasy so we thought that was enough for us.

Then we headed over to Garden Grill for our ADR there. This was great. Character interaction was so awesome.



Dale kissed my sister's hand. Chip stole DS's drink and ran away with it. This dinner provided some much, much needed laughs. It's a repeat for next trip for sure. The food was wonderful as well, but the characters really sealed this one for us.

At the end of the meal they brought out two surprises for DS for his birthday!





This was awesome! He loved it tons.

After that we were able to do Turtle Talk with Crush and the Seas with Nemo. Those were both great, especially Crush. After that, we headed over to the World Showcase. DS had been looking forward to Perry missions ever since we started planning for this trip.



We did the mission in Japan. DS loved this more than any other experience in all of WDW. I can't say enough about this. It also gave my sister a chance to do some shopping and she really enjoyed that. After the mission we took pictures of one of my favorites: Lotso!



After all of that, we needed our rest and went back to POR. I had wanted everyone to see Illuminations, but after all of the events of the day I decided not to sweat the small stuff. We all ended the day with smiles and that was so much better than what could have been. We didn't need to watch Illuminations. Disney had found a way to bring back the magic to our trip.

Whew...this was a long update!!! While I was posting this, I noticed for the first time that I don't think DS looked that well that night. I never noticed that before when looking at these Epcot pics, but I see it now. I'll leave you with that as a bit of a hint of what was to come..

Next Post- Introducing Some New Members of our Crew!