Bear Hugs & Piggy Kisses - Baby's 1st Trip ~ Updated 12/6: Aulani TR Started!!!

[Dugette]

I definately think our first trip with DS is going to be an interesting one as well. Not the same as the other ones. Which isn't a bad thing, I can't wait to show him our "happy" place, it's just going to be different from now on. And a lot more hectic

Exactly! We went into the trip prepared for it to be different and it was even more so than we'd thought. But we had a great time!

Have you guys ever done any pin trading? I'm thinking about starting this as a family tradition & want to start with his first trip even though he will be a little young. I think it would be fun to trade a few & then buy one or two to commemorate the trip.

We've never tried that. I don't think my frazzled brain could handle keeping track of one more thing! I did just see mention of it in amazingact21's TR, though, so maybe she would know more (they just took their infant son on his first trip). It does seem like it would be fun for the whole family.

Yes, eandesmom, Captain_Oblivious, podsnel & lurkyloo. All very helpful TRs!

Yes, thanks, working my way through some of those right now!

Sounds and looks like Dug had a great time at the MK that night! Geez, he got so much accomplished, in what seemed like so little time. Good for him! Love his sad/angry/upset PP picture!

Yeah, he really did a lot in a short time. That picture is so silly...guess that's what happens after 1am in the MK!

Hope your mornings got easier each day of the trip. That's how I felt too. Until the second day when it turned into a routine.

The first morning was by far the roughest. We became old pros pretty quickly after that.

Too bad about GFC, but your breakfast sandwiches look delicious! And coffee saves me every morning too

I always love the Disney croissant sandwiches! It's no steak & eggs, but it'll do.

The CM just annoyed me, can't imagine how annoyed you felt!

The whole thing was so awkward. We were expecting to be enveloped in the Disney Magic and, instead, it was like a strange battle. We were really surprised at some of the non-Disney-like CM behavior we experienced on this trip. Luckily, there were still some great ones too.

Not toddler-friendly, for sure. It's a very bumpy ride with a lot of stopping and getting out to look around. In fact, there might even be an age limit, I'm not sure. But if you are willing to split up, it's worth it if one or both of you are Lost fans! On our tour, it was just me and DH along with two other people, and I was the only really big Lost fan in the group, so I was in heaven with all of the photo ops while everyone else was just kind of meh about the whole thing.

Sounds pretty cool...thanks!

On to the updates...sorry night one was so rough getting Izzy to sleep! That's what I dread about sleeping in hotel rooms with DS...there's no getting away from him to give him the signal that the fight is over and he should just give up and go to sleep. At least now I can tell him what to do and he actually understands. Doesn't mean it isn't a struggle, but I can't wonder if he knows what I am trying to get him to do!

Yeah, that sharing a room thing is tough. The pack 'n' play was right by the bed too, so I was always worried about waking her up when I rolled over and such. Those DVC 1-bedrooms are tempting, but no way can I justify the $$$ needed. Luckily, she got better as the trip went on.

It's so hard to know everything you need with a toddler when it comes to packing up for the parks! It was so good that first trip with DS that we were able to go to a park in the evening on our arrival day, because we got our first hit of EVERYTHING we had forgotten to take with us!! So we were much better packed for our first full park day. It's a task, that's for sure!

I really thought I was prepared going into things, but clearly - not so much. It's very different than when it was just the two of us and we were able to get by with just a few things in our pockets. We had to be loaded down and strategically arranged.

Love the photos of you & Izzy in front of the castle. That would be a lot like me and Paxton trying to re-create Imagineer5's photos too!! Now that you mention it, Aria seems SO well behaved to get that same photo on all their trips!!! I know Paxton is definitely the type of kid that isn't going to do something just because you want him to, especially when there's so much going on around him!

Yeah, those train tracks were just way too interesting to her. Castle, what castle? But, train tracks in the road to walk back-and-forth, back-and-forth over? Almost as awesome as an empty closet! I think we may have gotten something better on a later day's attempt, but I'm not sure.

I'm finally following along! I am more of a lurker but love your trip reports. My little one is now 20 months and I'm trying to talk the hubby into a trip to the mouse this November or December. I figure if I save up and pay for it myself how can he say no. lol!

Glad you're here! I love to hear that people enjoy reading these! I hope you can talk your hubby into a trip! Be sure to hit on the under-3-is-free thing. Maybe slowly build up a stash of (discounted) gift cards to pay for it? And you can't go wrong with either of those times...you get either Food & Wine or the holidays!

 

[lilmape]

Where do you typically find the discounted gift cards? I know sams club always has a small discount.

 

[amazingact21]

Why can't babies sleep at Disney? Is there some unwritten baby law that prevents them from crashing and burning in Pack & Plays?
I'm sorry Izzy did not give you a restful night; I hope the nighttime routine improved over the course of your stay.

Looks like Dug had fun on his night in MK. It's amazing how much stuff you can do when you're by yourself and not pushing a stroller around.



Oh man, sounds like a hectic first park morning! But, hey, getting to the park just after the Opening Ceremony is pretty darn good, in my opinion. Nothing to hand your head about there.

 

[Imagineer5]

HAHA!! So happy to read both updates. First, Dug sure sounds like he had a fantastic late night in the MK!! Sorry your first night was not so great though she did fall asleep eventually. I'm interested to hear whether you are now considering the 1BR, as I know you've previously remarked how you do NOT want to do DVC and then just asked about renting points... hehehe

First morning - oh man sorry to hear about your crazy time just getting out to the park. Was the GFC ressie before the CC-guarantee was required?

Can't believe how the woman at the front treated you guys. I never experienced a less-than-magical CM on this last trip, but I do hate when that happens. Interested to hear whether you needed to remedy it.

Love you tried to take a pic of you and Izzy walking up to the castle!! It usually takes some cajoling on Aria's part to walk AWAY from the stroller but I.MUST.DO.IT every time now that I make it happen

Can't wait so see some ride & character interactions for miss Izzy!!

 

[Dugette]

Where do you typically find the discounted gift cards? I know sams club always has a small discount.

I get them at Target. The 5% Red Card discount and 5% Pharmacy Rewards discounts can both be used on them. I also can use the Team Member Discount, as I work for a Target-owned company. Also, I use the "Shopkick" app that gives you points for walking into stores and/or scanning products - I select Target gift cards as the reward for that and then I use them to buy Disney gift cards.

I know that I've seen people on the DIS Budget Board talking about other places to get them too. And some people do things like using coupons/discounts to try to come in far enough under their grocery budget in order to buy a Disney gift card with the savings each time.

Why can't babies sleep at Disney? Is there some unwritten baby law that prevents them from crashing and burning in Pack & Plays?
I'm sorry Izzy did not give you a restful night; I hope the nighttime routine improved over the course of your stay.

Yes, it did get better, thankfully. I think we just wore her out. They probably all receive a memo at check-in that instructs them not to sleep before midnight on their first night.

Looks like Dug had fun on his night in MK. It's amazing how much stuff you can do when you're by yourself and not pushing a stroller around.

Oh man, sounds like a hectic first park morning! But, hey, getting to the park just after the Opening Ceremony is pretty darn good, in my opinion. Nothing to hand your head about there.

Yeah, he had a great time being stroller-free. And I guess we did okay getting to the MK, all things considered.

HAHA!! So happy to read both updates. First, Dug sure sounds like he had a fantastic late night in the MK!! Sorry your first night was not so great though she did fall asleep eventually. I'm interested to hear whether you are now considering the 1BR, as I know you've previously remarked how you do NOT want to do DVC and then just asked about renting points... hehehe

Regarding DVC, what we do NOT want to do is actually buy into DVC. I've run numbers every which way and it just doesn't make any sense for the way we stay/pay at WDW. Not to mention that we don't have that kind of cash laying around. And, in most cases, point rental doesn't really even make sense for us because we get such good deals with discounts that we are already getting great deals - our Poly stay this trip was in the $200's/night. It's hard to come out ahead. BUT - Aulani is different. There is no way that we could get the price down to match the DVC rental rate, even with the best of Disney discounts and paying with the most discounted gift cards. And AKL value units are the others I'd consider because they rival Pop for a Studio or a good deal on a Deluxe for a 1-bedroom. So, 1-bedroom would be a fair amount, but might be worth considering. Also, I think that Boardwalk is a good DVC value and renting points from an owner during Food & Wine would be tempting also. Renting is nice because any resort can be your home resort with an 11-month booking window, as long as you find someone that owns there to work with. Well, that's probably more than you wanted to know, but there's my random DVC ramblings.

First morning - oh man sorry to hear about your crazy time just getting out to the park. Was the GFC ressie before the CC-guarantee was required?

When we made our ADRs, only a handful of places had the CC guarantee. I'm behind on my Disney news, but I think I heard they all do now? Yeah, we didn't have any problem canceling it.

Can't believe how the woman at the front treated you guys. I never experienced a less-than-magical CM on this last trip, but I do hate when that happens. Interested to hear whether you needed to remedy it.

In all of our Disney trips, we really never had much in the way of non-magical CMs, but something was different this trip. The one we go to in order to fix this (and take care of some other things) was actually worse. And she worked at MK Guest Services! All I'll say about that for now is - if you really don't like helping guests with problems, maybe don't work at Guest Services.

Love you tried to take a pic of you and Izzy walking up to the castle!! It usually takes some cajoling on Aria's part to walk AWAY from the stroller but I.MUST.DO.IT every time now that I make it happen

Can't wait so see some ride & character interactions for miss Izzy!!

You always have such cute pictures there that we had to try it! I think we may have gotten some better ones later, but I'm not sure - we're still working our way through all the pictures. Yes, it's taking us a while to get to rides and characters, isn't it?

 

[Dugette]

You may have noticed in that last picture that the horse-drawn trolley was coming up behind us:



Since it stopped by us, I pointed out the horsie to Izzy. She liked it.

What she liked more, though, was the freedom to toddle around the Hub. It was still early and not terribly crowded, so I let her wander and explore a bit. Her favorite thing was walking across the train track over and over. At times, she led me around by the hand:



See who was watching? As we were wandering back-and-forth in front of them, I could hear the Dapper Dans commenting on how cute Izzy was. At one point, when she looked their way, they waved and said hi to her. I wish they had sung to her, though – she would have loved that! Still cute anyway, though.

Mommy, this way!:



She liked the flowers:





And another look back at the Dapper Dans:



As much fun as it was to spend precious early morning park time roaming the Hub aimlessly, we had to get back to New Fantasyland to use our first Fast Pass+. I remember Dug asking if I wanted to go around or through the castle. Um, baby’s first trip – she’s gotta go through the castle! Here we go:



She was impressed by the mosaic work inside:



First thing we did, before New Fantasyland, was stop by Peter Pan and grab some paper Fast Passes for later that morning. We also were able to see that It’s a Small World was indeed closed for refurbishment, as planned. It would have to wait until the end of our trip.

For now, we were off to New Fantasyland:



Look who was roaming around:



Pretty nice:



We’ll be back here for lunch:



But I want to ride it NOW:



I was really holding out hope that, however unlikely it seemed, maybe they would be doing a soft opening of the Mine Train Ride during our visit. It was not to be. Guess we’ll just have to go back to WDW sometime, huh?

Cool fountain:



So, our Fast Pass for Under the Sea was for 9:10-10:10am and we were in that time frame and in the right place:



Only problem was there was a Cast Member standing in front of the empty entrance area for Under the Sea. So, for our first Fast Pass+ as a family and Izzy’s first ride at WDW…it was down. Ha. That’s the way we roll, though – we’re not new to breaking all the rides! We asked the Cast Member how this would work with our FP+. He said that it would allow us to ride any time later that day.

It was already getting warm by this time and we were thirsty. We decided to pop into Gaston’s Tavern to get out of the sun and try LeFou’s Brew. Dug and Izzy went inside to find a table while I waited in line:



The line was long and slow, as only one register was open. While I was in line, they opened a second. By the time we left, all 3 were up and running. I guess this is a popular place in the morning, as it now has the cinnamon rolls of Main Street Bakery fame. We were not that hungry, though, since we’d already had breakfast.

When I got up to the register, I ordered a LeFou’s Brew in a non-souvenir cup. We’d share this. I also ordered a fruit cup so that Izzy would have something to snack on. Then, remembering it was warm out, I asked for two glasses of ice water. The Cast Member was not rude like the one at the gate, but just not very friendly or interested in being there or creating magical moments, etc. She didn’t talk to me at all. And she only gave me one glass of ice water. I had to ask for the second one again. She seemed annoyed and still didn’t say a word to me. But, she did get it. So, there I was with 3 glasses and one fruit cup to carry. I’m pretty sure I saw that they had those multi-drink holders, but nothing was offered to me and I didn’t dare ask her for anything else. Somehow, I managed to stack everything just right that I made it back to our table without incident. Just barely. Of course, I had to go back up again to get napkins and straws from the area by the door.

I guess this was the view from our table:





We were right by Gaston’s chair, so that required some photos:







Here are the drinks:



We enjoyed the Brew. Nothing amazing, but enjoyable. Izzy liked the tastes we gave her too. We all shared the fruit cup and that was refreshing.

After Izzy finished, she amused herself with my iPhone. I don’t know how she manages to do the things she does on it. Here you can see that she opened the Target app and was apparently gearing up to Manage My Account and/or buy things:



Dangerous to let the kid play with that! As a side note, my phone is locked now, but before I did that she opened the DIS app and went to town a couple times. So, if you ever saw anything super strange on here from me, it’s all her! (I don’t think she managed to do anything, other than look at threads, etc.)

After we felt sufficiently refreshed, we headed out and saw the tavern owner himself, flirting with the local ladies:



Up next: First ride and first character meet – both Ariel!

 

[JillianLeigh]

Aw, baby's first DIS!!

I love how you're really just letting Izzy explore around Main Street! Can't wait to do that with Luther in November (we're officially booked as of Thursday!!)

I hope your interactions with CMs improve as your vacation goes on.

That picture of Dug in Gaston's chair is absolutely priceless.

 

[reelmom]

I miss those carefree days with little ones. My 2 are 10 and 11 and want to go, go,go. As I get older, I want to slow down in the parks like we did when they were babies.

 

[Leshaface]

Agh that stinks that you couldn't get on your first official WDW ride! What is going on with the CM's that morning at the MK?! None of them took their happy pill that day I guess The brew is refreshing on a warm day for sure!

 

[AprilRenee]

I Can't BELIEVE I've missed so much! I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for you to start a new report and it never showed that you updated your old report. Finally today i was like "what the heck...I'm gonna go look at her old reports to see if I just missed it!" and sure enough, I did...
But I'm here now and i'm gonna go get caught up!

 

[Dugette]

Aw, baby's first DIS!!

I found it amusing that she was very deliberate in selecting the DIS app too. Guess she knows where to find the good stuff.

I love how you're really just letting Izzy explore around Main Street! Can't wait to do that with Luther in November (we're officially booked as of Thursday!!)

Yes, having a fairly new walker really makes you slow down in places you would have previously just passed through. There will be more of this.

And for booking your trip!!! So exciting! Where are you staying?

I hope your interactions with CMs improve as your vacation goes on.

Yeah, it at least gets back to normal and we do encounter a couple particularly good ones.

That picture of Dug in Gaston's chair is absolutely priceless.

Thanks, he was having too much fun!

I miss those carefree days with little ones. My 2 are 10 and 11 and want to go, go,go. As I get older, I want to slow down in the parks like we did when they were babies.

I'm sure it's worlds different now. Maybe, once they get a bit older still, they can go, go, go while you take it slow? I do believe it, though. I remember when I was there in 1990 (I was 13 and my brother was 10, I believe), he and I went on Space Mountain 6 times straight - just running back through the empty-ish queue over and over. My dad couldn't keep up with that and had to sit some rides out.

Agh that stinks that you couldn't get on your first official WDW ride! What is going on with the CM's that morning at the MK?! None of them took their happy pill that day I guess The brew is refreshing on a warm day for sure!

Yeah, nothing like walking up to a much-anticipated ride and being turned away! We will get on it soon, but the early delay actually messed up our day as a whole. Oh, well.

It was so weird to encounter so many non-magical CMs. We've been on a lot of WDW trips, so we knew this wasn't the norm, so it seemed really odd to run across more than one. I think the one coming up later is at least tied with the gate person, if not beating her in the least-magical CM category.

Yeah, that brew hit the spot that morning!

I Can't BELIEVE I've missed so much! I kept waiting and waiting and waiting for you to start a new report and it never showed that you updated your old report. Finally today i was like "what the heck...I'm gonna go look at her old reports to see if I just missed it!" and sure enough, I did...
But I'm here now and i'm gonna go get caught up!

Yay, you're here! I actually was thinking of you the other day. There are a few people, you included, that I expected to see around here and haven't. I just figured they haven't been on the DIS much lately. But then I saw you post somewhere or other last week and I figured that, if I didn't see you soon, I'd send you a PM or something...so, glad you found me!

And you really haven't missed much...there's several updates, sure, but we haven't even gotten on a ride yet! Too busy playing in closets and crossing train tracks, you know.

I'd been thinking about putting up another post on my PTR to direct people here, but I didn't want to be too, I don't know, "come play with me?!"-ish But, now I'm thinking it can't hurt in case anyone else is twiddling their thumbs waiting for this report to start...

 

[AprilRenee]

Ok this might be a really long reply, I just kept this window open to write replies as I read the whole thread so far! LOL

I can't believe Izzy still fit in her baby seat at 15 months!! Caden was too tall for his at 9 months! LOL

Awww your walk to your room made me get a little choked up I'm so happy you have your little toddler now! They're just so wonderful aren't they!?

Love the closet pics...Caden's favorite hotel toy is the phone. He was in HEAVEN!!!

Ugh! Your first night is how our night in nashville went the first time I had caden in a hotel. It was terrible!! I hope it gets better!! (On the bright side, having a suite in chicago was perfect...he went right to sleep without a peep both nights we were there! )

ok you gotta download some baby apps for Izzy when she plays with your phone. I just made my last page be "caden's page" and he would swipe over to it and go to town. Caden's favorites at that age were the fisher price ones. Just search "fisher price" and you'll find a TON of free baby ones. They're great!
Now his favorites are "Bug Builder" "endless reader" (He's learned several letters just from playing that game!!) and the "watch disney jr" app (he can open it, get to the shows, choose the show he wants and choose the episode he wants.. it's kinda scary lol)

Yeah, maybe you should put another post. I was so bummed out today when I realized that I had missed so many posts. But i"m all caught up now! :-D So....post again!!

 

[AprilRenee]

And yes, I've gotten more active recently cause we're finally only 1 yr away from our trip and being on the DIS doesn't make me sad any more (cause our trip was so far away) I'm starting to plan and get excited...actually I'm gonna work on the beginnings of a PTR right now.

 

[Dugette]

Ok this might be a really long reply, I just kept this window open to write replies as I read the whole thread so far! LOL

I have done that many-a-time! I don't trust my memory otherwise!

I can't believe Izzy still fit in her baby seat at 15 months!! Caden was too tall for his at 9 months! LOL

Yeah, she's still pretty little. We just had her (belated) 15-month check-up the other day and she was like 30.5 inches, I think, and still just under 22 pounds! She might actually still fit in her infant seat, but we're using the convertibles now anyway.

Awww your walk to your room made me get a little choked up I'm so happy you have your little toddler now! They're just so wonderful aren't they!?

Sure are! That was such a nice "moment" on that walk. Really just appreciating dreams coming true, in more ways than one.

Love the closet pics...Caden's favorite hotel toy is the phone. He was in HEAVEN!!!

Huh, now that you say that, I'm surprised Izzy never played with the phone. She loves phones. All phones. Uses other sort-of-phone-shaped items as phones. And carries on pretend conversations on them. So cute.

Ugh! Your first night is how our night in nashville went the first time I had caden in a hotel. It was terrible!! I hope it gets better!! (On the bright side, having a suite in chicago was perfect...he went right to sleep without a peep both nights we were there! )

I'd wondered how your Chicago trip was. Glad he slept so well! Yay for a suite!

ok you gotta download some baby apps for Izzy when she plays with your phone. I just made my last page be "caden's page" and he would swipe over to it and go to town. Caden's favorites at that age were the fisher price ones. Just search "fisher price" and you'll find a TON of free baby ones. They're great!
Now his favorites are "Bug Builder" "endless reader" (He's learned several letters just from playing that game!!) and the "watch disney jr" app (he can open it, get to the shows, choose the show he wants and choose the episode he wants.. it's kinda scary lol)

Thank you for all the suggestions! We'll have to check those out!

Yeah, maybe you should put another post. I was so bummed out today when I realized that I had missed so many posts. But i"m all caught up now! :-D So....post again!!

Posted that and also just wrote up a new post for this, so will put up next!

And yes, I've gotten more active recently cause we're finally only 1 yr away from our trip and being on the DIS doesn't make me sad any more (cause our trip was so far away) I'm starting to plan and get excited...actually I'm gonna work on the beginnings of a PTR right now.

Yay!!! I was wondering when you'd start that PTR...can't wait!

 

[Dugette]

Refreshed from our snack break, we decided to see if Under the Sea was operating yet. And, sure enough, it was back up and running! We parked the stroller in the designated area nearby. Our first stroller parking experience! We had to decide what to leave vs. what to take. We pretty much just left everything. We had brought a little backpack so that we could put valuables in it and bring them with us, but it turned out that the only valuables we had were already in our pockets, so no need. In case it helps anyone: we had our diaper bag hanging from the handles of the stroller and left it there. It had your average diaper bag stuff, plus Mickey Bullseye (stuffed animal I brought) and her snack cup (w/lid, so no Disney squirrels would be snacking). We also had the bottle cooler with her sippy of milk hanging from the handle. In the zippered pocket on back of the stroller, we had the Ergo carrier (which just fit in there and was not obvious). In the small basket below the stroller, we had a little Minnie Mouse bag with spare clothes for Izzy and I think I had a sweater stuffed under there for me. Something like that. We left the stroller with those things the whole time and never had an issue at all. I believe we also left our waters from Gaston’s in the cup holders and had the leis on the handle to identify it later, in case it was relocated. We did bring a rain cover along for the stroller, but never even needed to bring it into a park with us, since the weather was perfect!

Anyway, we were here:





Sure enough, our Magic Bands/FP+ worked just fine, even though it was after the window. So, apparently, broken rides=all day Fast Pass window.

We wanted to enjoy the queue and take everything in, but it’s hard to do so in the Fast Pass line, when there are people just trying to get to the ride. I think we let some people go by so we could take pics on the way in:







So pretty! They did a really nice job with the queue area. And the ride!

We apparently didn’t take any pictures of Izzy on her first ride, but it was fun for all of us! We all settled into our seashell and were just looking around with great interest. Us, because it was our first time on a new ride and Izzy because it was a whole new world for her! She was really fascinated by each new scene. Instead of squirming, she was just sitting still in awe of her surroundings. So fun!

I had hoped we’d get back to ride this again later in the trip, but it was not to be. Definitely worth another ride!

To keep with the theme, we headed here next:



We waited maybe 15 minutes in the standby line:



Soon enough, we were meeting Ariel herself! I wasn’t sure how Izzy would react, so I brought her up and set her down next to Ariel to see how she’d do. She seemed okay with it. Enough so that I could walk away and let her get some one-on-one time before our family photos with her. The pictures from our camera (iPhone):





And the PhotoPass pictures:







It was interesting to see how the PhotoPass photographers get toddlers to look at the camera. Almost all of them we encountered made crazy noises and such to get her to look. It worked sometimes. Just one of those things you never think about when you’re a couple without kids.

After a reasonably successful character meet, we were off to redeem our paper Fast Passes for Peter Pan:



We breezed through the line very quickly and had no problems. Izzy was already trying to fly…she wanted to get into those boats ASAP, so I had to amuse her until we were there:



I had been worried about this ride before the trip. She can be very squirmy and hard to hold onto at times and I was worried about keeping her in the ship. My worries were for nothing, though. She was once again fascinated by all the things to look at (even though I don’t think she could see everything with her short stature) and sat quite still, just looking around, the whole time. Yay, another successful ride!

After we got out of our boat, it was about time for our Fast Pass+ lunch ADR at Be Our Guest!! On our way:



So, a quick review of our Fast Pass+ selections for the day. Under the Sea was supposed to be 9:10-10:10am, but we went on sometime later, after it opened. Be Our Guest was 10:40-11:10am and we got there around 11am, I believe. The problem was that we also had an Enchanted Tales with Belle FP+ for 10:20-11:20am and we hadn’t been able to use it, due to the Under the Sea delay. So, Dug had that on his mind and knew he’d need to get on the My Disney Experience App to change things before that 11:20 window closed. This was his priority for when we were seated.

At any rate, we were SOOOOOOOOO glad that we’d gotten the FP+ for Be Our Guest!!!! It was worth staying up late to book it the night our window opened! Look at this line:



Can you see it goes around the corner and then it’s quite long? And this was early!

We, however, just moseyed up to this window and waited for the person ahead of us to finish asking questions about getting in there:



We were on their list and they sent us right down the left side of the queue area, strolling happily by all the people standing in the endless line. We stopped to take some pictures along the way:





Izzy found something that she needed to try:



We soon arrived at the entrance:



We were admitted quickly and made our way into the short line alongside these guys (that talk!):



This first room was where you order:



There are kiosks with Cast Members manning them. We told ours that we had pre-ordered with the Fast Pass+, but it wasn’t pulling up for us. She just had us re-order, so we entered everything in and went on our way. I had read about how they give you a rose and it allows them to find you with your food, but that was not the case. They gave us nothing and, when we asked, explained that they would locate us via the Magic Bands. Wow, that’s precise to be able to find the exact table!

We went in and wandered around to check out the place. When we went to look into the room with the rose on display, the Cast Members pretty much told us to just go sit at our table and walk around afterwards. They seemed to think that our food was on its way and they wouldn’t know where to find us, since we were moving. We wandered a bit more anyway and finally grabbed a table in the corner of the ballroom by these decorations:



I set up Izzy’s high chair at the end of the table, but then a Cast Member came and told us to move her inside, as they didn’t want to hit her with a food-delivery cart. So, that was a little annoying to have to move her, especially since the tables were close so she was right up to the table on the side of us, but oh well. There was a solo diner there, by the way.

Up next: The dining room presents…our lunch!

 

[AprilRenee]

Oh boy!! Can't wait to see more of your lunch!! And I'm glad she was so good on the rides!

And PTR has begun! http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3224380 FINALLY! lol

 

[amazingact21]

Aw, Izzy's first Disney rides! Good choices for your first day. Can't beat The Little Mermaid and Peter Pan's Flight!


I'm sure the Be Our Guest Fastpass came in handy. Nothing like skipping the lines and going straight to your meal.

 

[Jennifer48]

So well behaved on the rides for her first trip, I hope that continues!

 

[khertz]

What a bummer about your first ride being down! But it's good that at least you were able to get on it later, along with Peter Pan. Those are two great first rides for a little one! Her pictures with Ariel are just precious

After we felt sufficiently refreshed, we headed out and saw the tavern owner himself, flirting with the local ladies:

I definitely found this Gaston on Instagram and follow him now. I love looking for Disney CM's on there, they post such great pictures!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Just found your TR following along! We stayed at the Poly last July, it was beyond words, amazing! Gotta love that monorail access. Your DD is so cute and doing so well for such a little one. It certainly is different getting ready for the parks with a little one. I felt like I missed so much this time when we went with DD for the first time. But, at the same time I felt like I saw things I never slowed down to see before. I can not wait to hear more about your trip.