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Old 5 Sep 19, 01:17 PM  
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vickitoria10
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Mobile Back Sunday, here’s my highs and lows. Travelling with a 6 and 2yr old. Any Qs just ask!

Highs, Lows and Observations

We got back sunday morning from a lovely 2 weeks with the mouse. Stayed at All Star Sports with DH, DS (6) and DD (2). Had a busy week, back to work and school so here’s my thoughts.

Highs
Just being there, love the feel of being in a Disney bubble and driving in the USA with all the different sights and sounds.
Character interactions - we had some lovely interactions this time, playing peekaboo with both Mickey and Daisy, the characters really seemed to spend the time to make the moment special which was lovely.
Weather-yes it was hot and humid (it’s August) but we were pleased that we only had one evening spoilt by rain, we were at the front of the Slinky queue when they closed it at 5pm and it never reopened.Fantasmic was also cancelled. There was also a reasonable amount of cloud cover which made things bearable, along with running from one building with AC to the next!
Doncaster and Sanford airports- fantastic new route from TUI. Both airports so easy and stress free, made it much easier than going through MAN and MCO.
Crowds-it was fairly quiet, we certainly didn’t notice that it was any busier than 2 years ago. We fastpassed slinky and did TSM standby and only waited 25mins. Same with Soarin, had 25min standby whilst we had Test Track fastpass. Didn’t wait more than 15mins for any characters except for Tinkerbell. We didn’t meet Woody and Bo Peep as that was a long queue in the sun.
MNSSHP - loads of candy and what a fantastic new castle/firework show they have produced. The projections are fantastic and fireworks as good as ever, easily the best show of the holiday.
DS trying rides he refused to go on last time despite meeting the height requirement. He loved Everest, Space Mountain, Mission Space, not so keen on ToT but he gave it a try!
Pixie Dust - my flip flops broke just as we went through the gates at Epcot, so headed straight to mousegears thinking I was going to be charged a fortune to get something to replace them. I found some Minnie flip flops for $10 so was quite happy with that, when I got to the till I asked if they could cut the tags off as I needed to wear them due to my shoes breaking and the assistant asked for my names and said that Mickey was really sad that my shoes had broken and he’d like to buy me them so I didn’t need to pay! Was a lovely gesture!
Orlando City Soccer - we went to the match against Atlanta. It was a great experience and really is family friendly. Baby change/family restrooms/free stuff for kids etc, completely different atmosphere to the UK, it was an enjoyable evening out.
All star sports - just what we needed, a place to sleep. We opted out of mousekeeping so I bought a dooney & bourke bag with the gift card (plus a bit extra). We asked for anything if we needed it and it was no problem. Certainly better than last time when we had mousekeeping and came back to the room twice to find no towels and 1 bed with no sheets! It’s ready for its upgrade but it’s a value resort and good if you want value but also to stay on Disney! We got the room request we asked for too.
Waterparks - we love a waterpark day and the new misadventure falls ride was great. We loved doing this and teamboat springs as a family.


Lows/observations
Tantrums - We knew travelling with a 6 and 2 yr old was going to be hard. We thought it would be the 2yr old causing problems because of not understanding things like her brother going on rides she couldn’t. But it was the 6yr old! He was so demanding and at times just down right rude. We changed his fast passes to ones for his sister due to his behaviour so we did frozen rather than test track. Met the princesses rather than splash etc. We’d done all the rides at least once anyway so tried to make a point of him losing out! We had serious words with him but it’s so hard on holiday cos you want to have fun too! We have drawn a line under it and he lost his xbox access since we got home, but if he carries on at home it’s going to be serious repercussions! Heat and tiredness certainly added to it so we took breaks and took things slowly which had always been the plan. It was just embarrassing at times!
American customer service - not just Disney just in general, everything is soo slow! The queue in Walmart wasn’t even long and it took forever! We waited 15mins to pay in Tommy Hilfiger and we were at the front of the queue, 3 people were dealing with one customer returning things and they couldn’t put anyone else on the till logged on for cash sales as one of the people helping was logged on it! We had an issue with a magic band on day 3 and was taken to one side to sort it all done very efficiently, however on the last day we were behind a family who had an issue that weren’t taken to one side, we were told we simply had to wait, we couldn’t use the second terminal at the gate and we couldn’t use the other side as that would be cutting in line! We must have been waiting 10mins, it was ridiculous, all they needed to do was stand them to one side to let everyone else through! Quick service food isn’t that quick either! We used mobile ordering at times and this was a little better but certainly not quick!
Toy Story Land - I love this area of Hollywood Studios for the theming and the rides, however it is stiflingly hot! There really is very little shade and the umbrellas aren’t great. I saw 2 people requiring medical assistance in the space of 100yds here and didn’t see any anywhere else. I’m surprised they didn’t build a big toy story shop in the land (al’s toy barn...would have been easy!), this would have just given some much needed air con, as well as a restaurant, they could have made that indoor too, the only place to escape the heat was inside TSM. Woody and Bo Peep had some of the longest character queues that we saw, the queue was under some of the umbrellas but there was no way we could have waited in the heat. Kids were happy just to be able to see them tho.
Plane home - kids were a nightmare, fighting, throwing things, kicking the seat, crying etc all the things you hope they aren’t going to do. The 6yr old fell asleep an hour before landing, 2yr old 45mins before landing. They were tired out but we literally tried everything, they’ve been on so many flights before and understand about night flights and bed times etc and have always been so good and we’ve always had positive comments from people around us so it was a bit of a surprise. They both just got the devil in them. It really helped when the woman behind said really loudly, I’ll never complain about our kids behaviour again after this, I don’t know why people take such young children on long flights. (Her kids were probably 12 and 14) I didn’t say anything back cos I was so upset about their behaviour and her comment that I just sat there and cried. It was a one off and we did everything we could, even the cabin crew commented on how much we were trying to calm them down, she said to us we get this a lot on this route, 2 weeks of excitement and tiredness coming to a head on the flight home, just ride it out she said. It just wasn’t a very nice end to the holiday!

Overall though we had a fantastic 2 weeks with some amazing memories made! You just can’t beat a family holiday to Disney and with kids each age brings different experiences and challenges! I’d take that flight home again in a heartbeat for the memories that were made with our children! We’re now stuck to school hols, previously we’ve been every 2 years, it’s looking like 3 this time, we love exploring other areas too and the cost of an August trip is a lot. We’re planning a road trip with DLP and want to explore Holland, Belgium, Lake Garda in the next couple of years. As well as a trip to Majorca with my parents. Thinking 2022 for our return when hopefully Spaceship Earth is completed (we had a symbolic last ride on Friday night!) and we’ll get to experience all the new things they’re doing at the minute for the 50th Anniversary!
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Old 5 Sep 19, 01:58 PM  
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Rabel
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Thank you for writing this, it sounds like you had a lovely time (despite little things).

My 2 year old also had a massive temper tantrum on the flight home, not helped by the turbulence. You have my sympathies.
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Old 5 Sep 19, 04:19 PM  
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Eccle
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It sounds like a great trip overall. My sympathies on the flight, I have been lucky that we haven’t experienced a major plane meltdown from any of ours yet, but I dread it happening and can understand it

I agree on the lack of shade in TSL. We managed to do Woody and Bo and rope drop and Jessie and Buzz late at night with minimal queuing, but there were definitely huge waits a lot of the time
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Old 5 Sep 19, 04:31 PM  
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vowels
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Poor you, both children having a meltdown and a sanctimonious witch passing judgement. Bet your children weren't as insufferable as her!

Glad you gad a wonderful holiday.
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Old 5 Sep 19, 04:44 PM  
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kempydee
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Absolutely agree about Toy Story land - we also skipped the meet and great with Woody and Bo due to the lack of shade.

Also we thought it would be our 4yr old having the melt downs - but it was our 11yr old (turned 12 while out here) that caused all the arguments.
We’ve been delayed by 3 days due to Dorian, so hopefully our flight home tomorrow morning will be tantrum free!
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Old 5 Sep 19, 06:02 PM  
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ClaireNJ
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Glad to hear you had a fab holiday, sorry it was ruined by your flight home, by kids & another passenger, we’ve all been there with tantrums
I also think the Supermarket queues go at a snails pace
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Old 5 Sep 19, 10:08 PM  
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joanna23
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Sounds like a wonderful trip. Don’t be sad about rude, smug lady on the plane. Some people just have very short memories of their children ever being small.
DS was 2 weeks off turning 2 on our return flight last week and he did similar on journey. He promptly passed out just as I needed the toilet. Aargh xx
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Old 5 Sep 19, 10:45 PM  
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louiseybobs
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We are taking our very intelligent 6 year old boy next month and I say intelligent because sometimes I think he's too smart for his own good and wonder if that can let them down sometimes. (He's was at year 2 reading level in reception etc) and our James plays Xbox too so I feel like I'm going to be writing the same thing when we get home! It's so hard isn't it because you say to yourself it's not worth the argument but at the same time they can't get away with everything... Eeek I'm nervous now haha James has been at age 1 and age 3 and I think every age has its own challenges he was a pain those times too 🤣
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Old 5 Sep 19, 11:02 PM  
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vickitoria10
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Originally Posted by louiseybobs View Post
We are taking our very intelligent 6 year old boy next month and I say intelligent because sometimes I think he's too smart for his own good and wonder if that can let them down sometimes. (He's was at year 2 reading level in reception etc) and our James plays Xbox too so I feel like I'm going to be writing the same thing when we get home! It's so hard isn't it because you say to yourself it's not worth the argument but at the same time they can't get away with everything... Eeek I'm nervous now haha James has been at age 1 and age 3 and I think every age has its own challenges he was a pain those times too 🤣
This is all so true! Our son is very bright too and is so inquisitive with the engineering side of everything, he was so interested in how the rides work and the rails they run on etc but we had to keep saying don’t lean over, keep your hands in etc cos obviously it’s not safe, rather than pointing out the animatronics he was looking at how the track moved etc on frozen ever after!

We said the same about not letting him get away with things, it’s so difficult on holiday cos you all want a good time but you also have to have boundaries and then the tantrums start! They’re both hard work at home so they weren’t going to be any different on holiday, we knew that. In a park you can change the situation, unfortunately you can’t really do that on a plane!

We really did have a magical time and I look through the photos and videos now and smile, there were many times I had such a warm fuzzy feeling inside that you only get when you’re happy and content. It was my sons 3rd time and daughters 2nd, they also go on about 6 other plane journeys a year so overall we were probably due a bad one, I think that was why it was a surprise cos they are normally so good!
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Old 5 Sep 19, 11:31 PM  
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It was my 3.5 year old that was a pain in the backside most of the holiday. Made the almost 5yr old look like an angel. Our littlest is like that at home too though so we were expecting it but I still got rather embarrassed when we are stuck in a shelter from the rain in magic kingdom and she’s absolutely kicking off.
I’m hoping next year she will be better behaved but she is a stubborn little thing and likes her own way. She also has ocd issues i think as she can’t stand things not being a certain way.

You can only do so much on a flight. I never understood why people couldn’t control their kids before I had mine. Now I have them I understand it perfectly. Kids are like whirlwinds and sometimes nothing can stop them
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