We’ll go to WDW after P turns 5..and we did. Our Trip Report.

[Shannon W]

So, we are back from our trip. Again thanks to everyone on the boards who gave us advice and Josh for his crowd calendars, park recommendations and tour plans.

Our family: For this trip report I’ll call my husband D, my 8 year old daughter S8 (or just S) and my just turned 5 years old son P5 (or just P). The kids had been asking to go to WDW for a couple of years and we decided we would go after P turned 5. D had never been to WDW; I went to MK and Epcot in 1987 on a high school marching band trip. Our trip was 5 nights and 4.5 days.

One major decision for us was whether or not to up-age S8 to a Disney adult to get her on the adult DDP rather than the children’s DDP. Since we did the free dining promotion, the extra cost upfront was only ~ $25. We did and, in the end, I think this ended up being worth it. I’m going to try to make a several comments about meals and this decision because kid’s meal portion size and quality was a major concern of mine going into this trip.

Getting there:
We flew out of Pittsburgh at 7:30 PM on Friday night (3/2). D worked a full day, S8 had school and then choir and P5 went to daycare all day. I worked until 1:30 and then came home and finished packing, picked S8 up. Due to our usual slowness/ lateness/ last minute packing and bad Pittsburgh traffic, we really cut it close with the flight but we made it. Non-stop uneventful flight to MCO and no problems with ME. We went to bed around midnight.

In order to save some money, we spent our first night at CSR –we wanted to stay onsite but the Value Resorts were pretty much out of the question because D hates to pay money to sleep in a double bed. The room at CSR was nice but it was in the Ranchos section and was a long walk from the lobby. The ceiling fan and the sliding panel doors separating the sink area from the rest of the room were nice touches. We had free internet there, which was a bit of a surprise. The pool and playground areas looked nice but we did not use them.

DAY 1: NOT THE GREATEST AND SOME COSTLY MEALS.
I expected the kids to sleep longer, but both were awake by 8AM.

We got moving pretty slowly and were hungry. We needed to check in at BC and get our KTTW cards with our DDP credits but we didn’t know how long that would take, so we decided to eat at Pepper Market at CSR first. This was a good buffet with a calm atmosphere. We were paying OOP so it ended up being pricey. S8 enjoyed the Mickey-shaped waffles. P kept asking when we were going to the REAL Disney World.

After breakfast, D took a taxi to BC to check in. I took the kids on the long walk back to the room, got our stuff together, called Bell Services to come pick up the bags and transfer them to BC (no problems with this). D was able to go up to our room at BC and also get our refillable mugs. We were pleased that we got both our requests at BC – a room with a daybed and a full balcony. We met up again at AK a little before noon.

I was FPV for KS and D took the kids on Triceratops Spin.

Kids spent a few minutes in an educational area on dinos before going to the Boneyard playground for a while. D got a beer. I hung out in the Boneyard keeping an eye on the kids. D wasn’t allowed to bring the beer into the boneyard.

Then, we decided we needed to rent a stroller before continuing and we got ice cream bars.

KS with FP

Late lunch at Pizzafari. P5 got kids pizza with grapes and cookie, S8 got adult pizza with grapes substituted for salad and a chocolate mousse dessert. I got Caesar salad with chicken and chocolate mousse; D got a sandwich, chips and chocolate mousse. The food was fine. The kid’s meal pizza was very small (maybe 4 inches in diameter). The regular pizza was probably 6 inches in diameter. P asked why S’s pizza was big and his was small, so we ended up giving them each half of the adult pizza and half of the kid’s pizza and that worked out well. I offered P my mousse but he wanted his cookie.

Just as we were finishing with lunch at Pizzafari the afternoon parade was about to come by, so we watched the parade and that was fun.

D went and did the single rider line for EE while I took the kids to character greetings for Goofy and Pluto because P wanted to meet Pluto as one of his WDW goals. This one was described as Canine Pals -which I guess should settle all arguments as to whether or not Goofy is a dog. Then we did character greetings for Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore while we waited for D to be done with EE.

Although I would have liked to stay longer and seen a show or ridden Dinosaur, we decided to go back to BC at around 5PM. This day was predicted to be the warmest day of our trip (and it was) and we wanted to make sure the kids got a chance to go swimming. We enjoyed swimming at Stormalong Bay for about 2 hours.

Stormalong Bay was a fun pool, but had some inconvenient barriers between the different sections due to some construction. When we were done swimming at around 8 or 8:30 PM, D really wanted a burger for dinner. Hurricane Hannahs had stopped serving food for the night. We didn’t think B&C was appropriate in our swimsuits and bathrobe cover-ups. Nothing on the BC Marketplace CS menu sounded good to us. We ended up paying OOP for room service hamburgers and kid’s meal hot dogs. The cost ended up being about the same as CS meal + tip+$3 service fee. Kids were tired, grumpy and whiny waiting for the food to come. The food was tasty though. Bedtime was around 10:30.

End of day 1. It got better…

[aclassofherown]

Great details so far! I'm very interested to see how your trip progresses, and I love the kids meal info.

[pfalcioni]

I'm in, can't wait to hear "the rest of the story!"

[CJUERS]

I love trip reports!! Can you add some pictures? Can't wait for more though. Thanks!

[LizD]

:popcorn: Can't wait to read more about your experiences with dining! (Especially in regards to your older child. My 8 y/o likes good food too!)

[magic1106]

We had the same problem at OKW as their CS closed earlier than expected, luckily we had some food in the room so we didn't starve. Why does it seem like the Deluxe resorts have less options than the Value?

[featherface]

following along, interesting about the dining upgrade.

[Shannon W]

Day 2: PRETTY DARN GOOD.

On day 2 (Sunday 3/4), we went to HS.

We were planning a RD start but after keeping the kids up late traveling on Friday night and up late waiting for room service on Saturday night, I just didn’t have the heart to wake them to get to HS by 8:30AM for the non-RD opening at 8:45. Instead, I got ready, went to BC Marketplace and bought a box of donuts, some bananas, and juice (~$13.00 total) and got coffee in my resort mug. As soon as the kids woke up, we ate, got dressed, and left. We arrived at HS at about 9:30AM.

D was FPV for TSMM; I took the kids to sign up for JTA. We got the 1:30 JTA show and 1:10PM return time FPs for TSMM – but no worries because FP forgiveness was still in effect.

First, we did Star Tours. I loved this ride and the queue details. S was the rider whose picture they showed for the possible spy/smuggler onboard. I wanted to ride again and S was willing but P did not want to, so we moved on.

Next, we did the Phineas and Ferb meet-and-greet. I thought this was the best meet-and-greet of the trip. The director was pretending to make a video and the kids got to pretend to play instruments to a Phineas and Ferb song while we waited. S8 was using the Disney Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters for autographs but Phineas and Ferb weren’t in it, so I had made her a sheet with their pictures and blurbs about the show and each character that I had copied from the Disney Channel website. One blurb said that Ferb was the brains behind the boys’ inventions. Well, Ferb made a big deal about that - showing it to everybody and pretending to nail the sheet to the tree- and Phineas disagreed and pretended to cross it out . S was giggling like crazy. Definitely worth it.

We watched the Muppet 3D movie (despite P’s protests that he had already seen the Muppet Movie) and then went to lunch. On the way to lunch, we saw a few minutes of the JTA show. When Darth Vader came out, P5 quickly decided that he was NOT doing JTA.

We had an 11:15 ADR at 50’sPTC and were seated within 5 min. Our server played her role, making D set the table because “it isn’t going to set itself” and fussing at the lady next to us for not putting her napkin in her lap. I got the pork loin, D got the fish of the day. I enjoyed the pork. I didn’t think D’s fish looked like anything special, but he said it was good. He did have potato envy (mine were mashed and his were roasted). The veggies on the side were good too. S and P both got chicken nuggets. His was the kid’s meal (4 nuggets and fries) and hers was an adult-sized portion (10 nuggets and fries). I thought the nuggets looked pretty pathetic (like Tyson out of the bag but less golden) but the kids liked them. The kids meal would not have been enough for S; she ate 8 of her 10 nuggets (score one for our decision to up-aged her on the DDP). P ate all 4 of his but did not want S’s last 2. We all enjoyed our desserts. S and I both got brownie sundaes. I offered mine to P, but he was very happy with his kid’s sundae which came with the toppings on the side.

P5 and D went to see the Indiana Jones stunt show, S8 and I watched some of the Disney Channel Rocks street show before reporting for JTA at 1PM. They tell you to report back ½ hour before your JTA show, but then you just wait until about 10 min before the show for the CMs to line the kids up, walk them out, and give them robes. You could probably report 15 min before show time and be okay – definitely no need to be early. When the kids were lining up, a family with 2 kids arrived and asked how to get their kids into the show. The CM told them to get in line with the other kids – our show had 4 no-shows (including P) and only 1 alternate. Score for them!

S really enjoyed doing the JTA show and we enjoyed watching her. She said that ST and JTA were the best parts of the day at HS; P said IJSS and watching S in JTA were the best parts of the day.

After JTA, we did TSMM with the FPs (this was at about 2:30 – not more than a ½ hour after our FP window) and the GMR. We covered P5’s eyes for the alien part of GMR; it scared S8 a little bit.

We let the kids play at HISTK playground for a while even though it was crowded. While they played, we looked online at TS restaurant availability for dinner and called to get a 7:25PM ADR for Captain’s Grille in the YC. Playing at the HISTK playground seemed to re-energize P5; both kids had fun there.

After HISTK, we headed toward the front of HS and got a snack. At about 5:15PM, D left HS and took a taxi to 6 PM mass at Mary, Queen of the Universe. I stayed in HS with the kids and after a bathroom stop, caught the last Disney Junior show of the day. Since both S8 and P5 are very familiar with the shows (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins, and Jake and the Never Land Pirates), they enjoyed this show. I thought having puppets instead of actors was a little lame but they seemed to have the same voices as the TV characters, which I can see would be good for little kids.

We took the boat back to BC/YC and arrived at the boat stop 30-40 min before our dining reservation. The YC is directly across from the boat stop and we really had no reason to go back to our room at BC, so we just hung out in the YC lobby for a while. S watched cartoons. P played with some Star Wars figures he had purchased at HS. It was relaxing. D was able to share a taxi back to YC with some people staying at the Swan Hotel (the taxi was ~$20 each way).

Dinner at Captain’s Grille: The food was good here. They have a fixed price meal (that you can use the DDP for) where you pick an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert out of 3 or 4 choices for each thing. D and I each got this with clam chowder, crab cakes, and dessert (gelato for me and turtle cheesecake for him). Nothing on the adult menu looked good to S8, so we ordered her a kid’s Cheese Pizza with carrots and celery and apples. This was a 6 inch pizza with a thin crust (a good size kid’s meal, suitable for an 8-year old). This was going to be paid for OOP. P ordered the kid’s cheeseburger and chicken noodle soup. Both kids got the kid’s desserts. They had 3 good Sam Adams Beers on tap.

I would LOVE to be able to tell you that this was a relaxing, mostly unplanned ending to a good day, BUT it wasn’t. Except for our clam chowder (for D and I) and the bread basket, it took over an hour to get our food. The kids were hungry and tired. “No, wait until your food comes” ultimately turned into “OK, go ahead and eat your 4th piece of bread” The manager told us there had been a problem in the kitchen (the printer that prints out the orders for cooking ran out of paper and after they realized it was out and refilled it, they were flooded with orders). She offered to comp our desserts (not useful since we were on DDP) but instead comped S’s kid’s meal when we asked.

On the way back to our room at BC, we stopped in at the Sandcastle Club for the kids to take a look.

Tomorrow is Epcot and Date Night with the kids to the Sandcastle Club.

[Shannon W]

Day 3: EPCOT AND DATE NIGHT – THE BEST DAY.

We weren’t planning to get up early or try to make RD here. So we took it easy; let the kids wake up on their own, and got breakfast sandwiches and muffins from BC Marketplace.

We called and canceled our ADR for dinner for 2 at Flying Fish Café and replaced it a dinner ADR at Restaurant Marrakesh. After last night at Captain’s Grille, we didn’t really want seafood and we didn’t really want leisurely dining. We had to pay the cancel fee, which was annoying, but I think we still saved money in switching from a Signature, 2 DDP-credit restaurant to a regular restaurant. Does anyone know if the cancel fee applies only when canceling on the same day or if it has to be more than 24 hours in advance? I’m just wondering if the fee would have been changed if we had canceled before bed the previous night.

When we were leaving for Epcot, P asked if we were going to the room with all the toys (Sandcastle Club) yet.

We got to Epcot at about 10:30 and rented a stroller.

I have an embarrassing confession – we took the boat to and from Epcot with the kids. We didn’t realize just how close Epcot was to BC (seriously – I think it was shorter than that walk from the lobby of CSR to our room in the Ranchos section of CSR that first night) and we didn’t want to deal with the kids complaining. When we went back for dinner, we walked as saw how foolish we were to take the boat.

D was FPV for Soarin’. I took the kids toward Living Seas with Nemo and we ended up doing a piggy bank game in Innoventions to pass the time until D caught up. We all did Living Seas with Nemo; S and I did Turtle Talk with Crush while D took P to the bathroom. (Just a note : the cell phone service was really bad here and we had trouble catching up with each other. Based on a comment a CM made, I think this is a common problem in this pavillion). We all did Journey into the Imagination and I was FPV for TT while D and the kids hung out in the exhibits after Journey into the Imagination. On Nemo and Imagination, the kids wanted to ride together and I got to ride snuggled up next to D.

We got lunch at the Cantina de San Angel. It was tasty. S and D got nachos, I got chicken tacos and P got a kid’s Chicken Tenders meal with grapes. D got churros for dessert. S and I got popsicles and I gave mine to P. The kid’s meal came with tortilla chips and 2 nice-size chicken tenders (these looked good). This kid’s meal would have been enough for S but she was very happy with her nachos. They made them without tomatoes and jalapenos for her. She only ate about half; it was a big order.

After lunch, we all did Soarin’ using the FPs.

I took S and we did 2 Kim Possible missions (Norway and China); D took P and did Mission Space (green) and let him play in the play area after Mission Space. Again, the playing seemed to re-charge him.

S8 specifically requested to do KP without P5, and it seemed like a reasonable request. She really enjoyed KP and it was fun watching her skip from place to place while covertly checking her phone so as not to blow her cover (a tourist from Pittsburgh).

We all met up to do TT before leaving the park. S8 loved it, P5 did not like the last part of the ride.

We checked the kid’s into Sandcastle Club at about 6:10PM (more about Sandcastle Club in a bit) and, after a brief stop in the room, headed back to Epcot for our 7PM ADR at Restaurant Marrakesh. The food was good. We each had the Royal Feast, which was a DDP credit + a $7.99 surcharge, and we shared a half carafe of house white wine. The Royal Feast came with a salad and a seafood pastry appetizer, lamb, chicken, couscous, and some Moroccan Pastries for dessert. We saw the belly dancer. After dinner we walked around the countries and rode Maelstrom (just for the heck of it); we did not stay for Illuminations (but should have).

Sandcastle Club: The kids were looking forward to this all day, but S was a little disappointed to discover we were going back to Epcot without her. When I made the reservation for Sandcastle Club via the Disney Dining number, the CM was not very helpful in answering my questions. She knew it was a 2 hour minimum but not much else (ie. Do they bill in increments smaller than 1 hour? If I tell them 4 hours and am back in 3, do I still have to pay for 4?) and she was unable to give me a direct # for Sandcastle Club. She also didn’t mention the dinner time at Sandcastle Club. So, we had a lot to cover when we dropped the kids off. After the 2 hour minimum, they bill by the half hour. It didn’t matter that I had predicted 4 hours, after 2 hours, I only had to pay for the time the kids were actually there.

The CM who checked us in was all business. They only serve dinner at 6:30 and 8, and she wasn’t sure she could get our kids the 6:30 dinner. We were not very happy about this, and she ended up making some calls and getting the early dinner. The kids were able to choose from 6 or 7 typical kid things. S has a nut allergy, so she needed to wear a special wristband and I had to leave her Epipen and Benadryl there. Interestingly, their standard protocol is Epipen, call 911, Benadryl, call parents, call manager (our protocol for S at school is Benadryl first, call parents, then Epipen and 911, if necessary). I wanted to leave some extra clothes for P because he sometimes has potty accidents when he is tired or playing video games, but the CM said that they couldn’t change him and if he had an accident, they would have to call us. I didn’t ask if he could change himself or if S could help him.

When we dropped them off, S and P were the only kids scheduled to be there; 1 other kid came later. There was another CM working who started playing chess with S. I was not worried about their safety, but I was a little worried that they wouldn’t have fun. SILLY ME! When we picked them up, neither S or P wanted to leave. The all-business CM had been replaced by another friendlier CM. S was playing restaurant with the one of the CMs and the other little girl staying there. We should have stayed for Illuminations. We bribed the kids out of Sandcastle club with the promise of dessert. P got a popsicle from BC Marketplace. D took S to get ice cream at B&C and was very impressed with the ice cream options available for a snack credit. Bedtime was about 10PM.

S said her favorite things about the day were lunch, TT and KP. P said his favorite thing was not TT.

THIS WAS MY FAVORITE DAY OF THE TRIP: When I went to WDW in high school, I visited Epcot on one of the first days with my first love. There was something nicely symmetrical about now visiting Epcot with my true, lifetime, husband of 15 years love.

[msmissy]

Cant wait to hear more!

[Shannon W]

@msmissy: thanks for the encouragement. I had kind of put a low priority on finishing this.

DAY 4: FINALLY THE MAGIC KINGDOM

Our last day in the parks (3/6) was our MK day. It was a recommended day with level 4 crowds predicted but it still felt crowded to me especially in Fantasyland.

We were planning a RD start but again it didn’t happen. We got there at ~10AM (an hour after RD). This was a little frustrating and caused me to ditch our original plan of starting in Fantasyland.

Here’s what we did: D was FPV for PP while I took the kids on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. I liked this one better than TSMM and wanted to go on it again but the kids didn’t want to. D took S on Stitch’s Great Escape while P and I met Buzz Lightyear and looked in some shops. S liked SGE; D thought it was silly. Next, all 4 of us went to Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. We liked it. After MILF, I was FPV for Pooh. D was going to take the kids on teacups but the line was too long (at least 30 min). S met Alice and the White Rabbit. Then, we all did PP with the FPs before lunch.

Lunch at CHH: D and I both got the Lobster rolls, which were tasty but a little small. S got the shrimp basket and P got the kids mac-n-cheese. Again, this was a good call with S8 and the adult DDP because she loves fried shrimp and would have been forced to get chicken nuggets on the kids menu (the choices were nuggets, tuna sandwich (doesn’t like), mac-n-cheese (doesn’t like) and PB&J Uncrustable (peanut allergy)). Though to be honest - if she was on the child’s DDP, we wouldn’t have eaten here. We got 3 chocolate cakes and 1 cookie (kid’s meal) for dessert. I ate the cookie so that P could have the same dessert as S. The lines at CCH seemed long but moved quickly and we had no problem finding seats upstairs. I would recommend CHH if you like the menu items. It was a good dining experience.

After lunch, we watched Mickey’s Philharmagic and rode Pooh with the FPs. D pulled a FP for himself for Space Mountain and then took the kids on TTA, while I was FPV for Princesses and Mickey Meet-n-Greets. The kids enjoyed TTA. We were planning to head to PotC at this point but when I was going to Town Square to get the FPs, I realized how crowded the center of the park was in preparation for the afternoon parade, so we stayed in Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. I took S on AO. D took P on teacups and Tomorrowland Speedway. D took S on teacups, while I took P on the Carousel.

P built his own lightsaber at a shop in TL (he had been eyeing it up earlier). I think S enjoyed helping him. We had it delivered to the front of the park so we didn’t have to carry it around. Delivery to our room wasn’t an option because we were leaving the next day.

Time for D to ride Space Mountain and almost time for our Mickey M&G with FPs. We stopped and watched most of a show at the castle on the way. Met Mickey and Minnie and then watched them take down the flag in Town Square to kill a few minutes before our 5:15 Tony’s dinner ADR.

Dinner at Tony’s: I was stressing about this one after reading so many negative reviews of Tony’s. Special thanks to all on the board for their thoughts on this. IMO, the food was fine and the service was good. We were seated and served quickly. I got the mushroom tortelloni , D got the Seafood Diavolo. P got the kid’s spaghetti and meatballs and S got the adult spaghetti and meatball. The kid’s pasta came with 1 medium-sized meatball and the adult one came with 2 larger meatballs. P ended up eating some of S’s meatballs. So again (like Pizzafari on day 1), it was good that we had one larger order. For dessert, P had the kid’s sundae, S had the Ice Cream Bomb, I had gelato and D had a chocolate cake. He said the cake at CHH at lunch was better. After dinner, it was time for our princess M&G. Dinner at Tony’s had fit perfectly into our day and I was really glad that we had stayed in the park.

Only S and I met the Princesses. P didn’t want to. D tried to interest him in a few things but all he wanted to do was get his lightsaber and go back to BC. So D took him back at around 7PM and S and I stayed in the park for the fireworks and more rides. We also met Chip and Dale in Town Square. I liked the light show on the castle before the fireworks but S was a little impatient with it (she was melting down a bit here). Once we found a good place in Liberty Square to watch the fireworks, we enjoyed Wishes.

After Wishes, we rode PofC and IASW with no waits and tried HM but left after the stretching room. I think earlier in the day she might have enjoyed it but got spooked at night. We also rode Aladdin’s Magic Carpets. S thought the spitting camels were hilarious. We left the park at about 10 PM.

So we didn’t really have a plan but between the 4 of us, we ended up doing almost all the rides in Fantasyland (except SW) and Tomorrowland (except the CoP). Our longest waits were probably 20-30 min; most were less. We met some characters and we had some decent meals. S and I “went for broke” with 12 hours in the park.

Next: The last morning and wrap up.

[aclassofherown]

That sounds like a fabulous day!!! I hope I am as lucky when we go in September.

[msmissy]

okay, so here's more encouragement! Cant leave us hanging!

[elaine.amj]

Sounds like a great trip!

[LizD]

Now I am really thinking of upgrading DS8 to an adult on the ddp! Really enjoying your TR!!

[Shannon W]

DAY 5: THE END
Our flight home left MCO at 4:30PM, so that put our ME departure from BC at ~1:30PM. We had a 9:25AM reservation for the character breakfast at CMC, but were able to switch it to 10:10AM (I forget if this was a night before or a morning of phone call).So we packed, let the kids watch TV and play DS, did 1 or 2 lightsaber battles with P, and then headed down. I packed swimsuits, goggles and hair brushes in a backpack. We dropped most of our bags at bell services and then checked in for breakfast. It took about 10 min to be seated.

The character breakfast at CMC was fine. Good breakfast buffet food. Not very much different from what we had the first morning at PM. Because S had gotten a kid’s meal one night and both kids had eaten at Sandcastle Club one night, we had 2 adult and 1 child DDP TS credits to use. We paid OOP (kid’s price) for S. The kids were only interested in getting Donald’s autograph because they already had Minnie’s and Goofy’s, but they posed nice for me to take pictures with all 3. I don’t know if I will give priority to going to a character meal again (well maybe the one with the stepsisters).

After breakfast, we went swimming for a little over an hour. It was a tad cool (probably about 70F) to swim but since we were headed back to PA where the pools won’t open until Memorial Day and won’t be warm until late June, we swam anyway. It didn’t bother the kids a bit.

We went to shower off in the health club at BC. This was kind of a must because of the sand at SAB. When we entered, the CM working there asked us to be quiet while we were showering because someone was getting a massage. This had me a little worried because we aren’t a quiet family. However, right when we started getting cleaned up, a fire alarm test started, which I’m pretty sure was way more disruptive than my kids! It did slow us down a bit because it kind of freaked S out. P and D were done first. They went and got the bags from the valet and loaded them on ME. S and I went straight from the locker room to ME.

On the ride back to the airport, they played advertisement videos on the bus. On the ME ride to WDW, I had been kind of disappointed that the monitors weren’t on (S would have liked to watch something) but in hindsight it was a good thing. I picked up a mug for me and candy for a co-worker in the airport Disney shop.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

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Jedi Training Academy was pretty awesome. The Force was with her. P says he will do JTA next time we go to WDW.

Will there be a next time? Probably in about 3 years. I think it would be ideal to go again when P is 8 and S is still young enough to go to the kid’s clubs for an evening. Hopefully, she won’t be too filled with tween angst to have fun. I think a Disney cruise and a southern California vacation that includes a day at Disneyland will be in the nearer future.

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Getting the Disney Junior Encyclopedia of Animated Characters for autographs was a good idea. S read it a lot before we took the trip and it gave her something to interact with the characters about. You could really have fun trying to get as many of the pages signed as possible, but I was glad that S and P didn’t have that goal for our 4.5 day trip.

Getting the adult DDP for S worked out well for us. On the way home, I caught P muttering about S being a kid, not being an adult. It must have bothered him to hear us tell the CMs at the restaurants that we had 3 adults and one kid.

I liked having the DDP to avoid sticker shock at the restaurants, though there was still a bit of that with the alcohol and tips. I wish we had been more on-the-ball the first day (when we paid OOP for 2 meals). We left without using 2 QS credits and 2 snack credits.

P played his Nintendo DS on most of the bus and boat rides and while waiting in the restaurants. S mostly read when during these times. I was glad we had these diversions. We did not use them at all when waiting in lines for rides - although P played Angry Birds on D's phone while waiting for the GMR in HS.

I was surprised at how quickly time passed when we were in the parks.

THE VERY VERY VERY VERY END.

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[jillyb]

Great trip! Thanks for sharing!

[**sandy**]

Thanks! Cute family photo~