Highs ‘n lows & hints ‘n tips: Minnie Van, taking kids, rider switch & shrimp poo - kinda a mini TR

[alkel2730]

So jet lag sucks! It’s 2am and I have a wide awake disorientated nearly 3yr old on my hands, I’ve just misjudged my headboard and now I have whiplash and don’t entirely know what time zone I’m in so I thought what better to do than do my highs and lows and some general fresh in my mind tips that may help!

I’ll try and make this less novel like if I can (I failed, only read if you have a spare hour or are at work but I added photos that have a little resemblance to the text as a softener!) but I do love to waffle so bear with...

HIGHS

SARATOGA SPRINGS
I always do room requests in the vain hope that just one year they’ll be honoured and this year was no exception. It’s never happens, so I wasn’t overly surprised when I got a message from Saratoga saying my room was ready in a totally different area to what I had requested. I was tired and weary and had a crabby 2 and 4 year old on my hands and the room was ready early so I thought silver linings and all and I might as well go check it out before deciding if I like the location. I’d booked a standard studio with DDP for the first week at Saratoga and a standard studio DVC at Kidani Village for the second week.

The first unusual thing was that the studio in Saratoga we’d been given was in Congress Park which I was fairly certain was a preferred area. Weird. Anyway we unloaded all our unruly rabble from the Minnie Van we’d hired from the airport (more on that debacle later) at the entrance to our block and dragged everything up to the 4th floor where our room was. My hubby went in first and I lugged behind with the double stroller. My hubby opened the door and starts shouting “Oh my god! Get in here now!” I actually couldn’t as he’d left the suitcases at the door and I was behind with aforementioned grisly children and my stroller monstrosity. Men! (Sorry boys). So I’m there trying to manoover us around everything and squeeze us through the door like a giant game of mousetrap as hubby has now disappeared inside and I could no longer hear him - weird! I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to find when I eventually got inside so imagine my surprise to find we’d been royally upgraded! Not only did we not have a studio, no! Not only did we not have a one bed, no!... we actually had a dedicated two bed villa with side on Disney Springs view! It was MASSIVE. I kept losing the kids (more silver linings). I couldn’t believe it! We loved that villa. It was amazing to be able to put the kids to bed and then chill in the lounge (by chill I mean tidy the lounge enough so mousekeeping didn’t think we were keeping a heard of monkeys in there) and then do our washing. Also having room for the stroller in the entrance hallway (fancy pants) was such a godsend. Amazing random upgrade! We were sad to leave and it’s wrecked me for all future vaycays as I now demand this as a minimum to all my stays.

RAINFOREST CAFE
Special shout out to Rainforest cafe at AK. I just love it. The food is yummy, and we had the same server as last time who is truly amazing! The meals take a while (took 2hrs) and he could see the kids were getting restless so he kept bringing them stickers, colouring stuff and fresh drinks. He also boxed up all our desserts so we could go. There was only one downside... the plan that evening was to go to AK, eat at Rainforest and then go in the park but I’d underestimated the time it took fur a meal there and so by the time we got out it was closed. Boo.

VIRGIN TWILIGHT CHECK IN (Manchester).
We live around an hour from the airport so have always driven in the morning but with the introduction of twilight check in at Manchester we thought we’d maybe try staying over for the first time in forever. We thought worse case scenario and the kids don’t sleep then we can rest on the plane. Ha ha. We arrived at Manchester at around 7pm and went straight to the WEST parking at T2. I’d read online this was nearest and it was, just a walk down the temporary construction walkway to the check in desks. Very convenient. There was no queue at all at check in and the guy behind the desk was jolly and seemed genuinely pleased to see us. It was a super relaxed check in and took all of 5 mins. The car seats had to go in oversized luggage which was separate but also open so we went there straight after. Easy peasy. The parking cost £6. Which I know a lot of people are unhappy about but I think it was £3 for 30 mins so maybe if you have no car seats and you are fast walker you can do it in 30 mins end to end. Took us a little longer which is why it was £6. I personally felt it was worth it. The only slight grumble was that we had to get the pram tagged in the morning so still had to go to check in but you just go through upper class for that as you are already checked in. Turned out it was the same guy from the night before in the morning anyway. Told us they don’t let him leave and he sleeps behind the desk.

PREMIER INN
This was the first time we’d stayed at the Premier Inn so I was a little apprehensive. On the recommendations from dibbers I’d booked the NORTH premier as it had a full bath (not just a shower) and family rooms plus a Starbucks and was slightly further from motorway and newer. This was the perfect advice and location (although we did get lost finding it from the airport). The room was ideal - they even set up and added bedding to the travel cot (sort it out Disney) and set up my daughters bed too. Her bed looked like it was a sofa bed but I can’t be sure as we never made it up or dismantled it but it wasn’t high and one side was against the wall. I was worried about her falling out but there was a long cushion (like bed length) so I put that on the floor in case she rolled off and then put a pillow on the end. She was fine! The only downside was everything closed early so the Starbucks was closed by the time we got there and only the sit down restaurant was open. I’d not had any dinner and it was around 8pm by the time we got there so was hoping to grab a sarnie as we wanted to get the kids to bed. Luckily they’d eaten so had had a super healthy vending machine meal of a Bounty and crisps. The room was lovely and clean and had everything we needed. Ideal! And as a bonus BOTH kids slept through despite napping on the way over! I was shocked! Me on the other hand could not sleep at all, I don’t know why but I just couldn’t settle. You know when you feel uncomfortable in your own skin? I felt like that. I tossed and turned all night and saw every hour. Not cool. I don’t know if I was a bit apprehensive about travelling or something but I was just not tired at all. Oh well, could rest on the plane. Ha ha.

CATS
I don’t know if this was a high as such, but we saw 3 or 4 cats on this trip around Disney. I’ve never ever seen any before but we saw a few this time, around Saratoga and even one at MK - is that normal? They were domestic as they ran off quickly but weird, no? Told hubby they were there to control vermin. No idea if that’s true but sounded good. Dead knowledgeable, me.

THE SMALLS SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS - Pack ‘n play mattress
Bit of a weird one to put in a high but it may help someone! A lot of people ask about sleeping arrangement for little ones especially when they are between cot and bed like my son (still in a cot at home). As I mentioned my son is nearly 3. He is 99cm tall. He was fine in the Pack ‘n Play! We put it against the wall next to the TV and between the table in Kidani and next to the TV in Saratoga. This meant he couldn’t tip it, but I doubt he could anyway having seen him in it. He also wears a grobag so can’t get his leg out of it but he couldn’t anyway as we tried it to help others. The sides are too high. This also acted as the perfect storage space for soft toys and PJs for us all. We actually ordered a fold up mattress from Amazon before we arrived (and coat hangers incidentally) which was perfect! It was big and squashy and fit like a glove (if anyone needs the dimensions give me a shout) and it come with a travel bag so it came home in the car seat bag. Bonus. He slept through every night in the pack n play with the mattress no problems whatsoever. Unlike home...

My 4yr old slept in a big bed with two bed guards in Saratoga and in Kidani in the sofa bed which had built in bed guards, aka the arms. This worked perfectly for us.

7DMT
My sons first rollercoaster! Was a definite high as he loved it and we could ride as a family which was amazing! He laughed all the way round. Was so funny seeing him toddle up with his dummy and muslin, they kept measuring him as he looks so young. Was very cute.

FACE PAINT
Did you know all over Disney they have face painting booths? Nope? Neither did I until I travelled with a 4yr old obsessed with face painting. Having successfully dodged every booth for over a week we eventually caved and let her have her face painted. Cos you know, why not pay $20 for something that will slide off your child’s face in about 20 mins. I don’t like money anyway. Having only ever been accustomed to 5yr old party level face painting (which quite honestly I could do a better job of with my eyes closed), it turns out these face paints are on another level. They were awesome! Even better than the photos on their board - super sparkly and beautiful. Very expensive for what it is really but even so really lovely and my daughter was absolutely delighted to be Princess Kitty all day. Was worth the price tag to see her face and for all the comments she got for the rest of the day. We had a job on convincing her we couldn’t afford it as a daily thing and now somehow I apparently agreed to facepaint myself for the rest of eternity, but still worth every penny.

CHARACTERS
Ahh always a high and simply getting more magical as the kids get older. I don’t know what it is about them but they all seem to spot that my son needs a little more of a gentler approach and will instinctively get down to his level with slow gestures and let him approach them when he’s ready. They never force him to interact if he doesn’t want to and seem to understand he has additional needs . As mentioned my son has a speech delay but he can say ‘Mickey’ and the Mickey that we met at Chef Mickeys spent so much time just listening to him softly say Mickey. He got in really close and held my son gently as he whispered Mickey in his ear. I explained that he can’t say many words but he can say Mickey and Mickey was so amazing with him and cheered him on when he said his name. Made me cry. I am a softie under this hard exterior (I also clearly like to write ‘Mickey’ a lot).

As well as how they were with my son, my daughter just loves them and I never tire of seeing her face light up when they come to see her. It’s pure Disney magic at its finest.

EVENINGS
Due to the weather being the temperature of lava we ended up doing more evenings than we expected we would. Turned out these were an awesome idea as not only were they slightly cooler but the parks are visually stunning at night. It seems to me that with each new land they build it becomes more and more immersive and so we spent enjoyable evenings at all the parks and the bonus was they were quieter. Much easier on the kids too as they no longer had to screw their little faces up against the burning rays and hibernate under large stroller hoods, instead they could enjoy the atmosphere right along with us which was lovely. Our particular favourite at night was Toy Story Land, but more on that laters.

GUEST EXPERIENCE KIOSKS
This was the first year we used the DAS system. We weren’t sure if we were going to use it to be honest as we figured most things could be handled through fastpasses, but when we witnessed my son have his first on-the-floor-cut-his-knees sensory meltdown as he couldn’t go on Alien swirling saucers immediately, we realised this may help us manage things. We went and had a chat to guest services and explained about my sons hearing issues, speech delay, sensory issues and suspected autism and asked them if they felt the pass would be useful to us. They did and so we set up the DAS pass. One of the problems we had though was when my son saw a ride he wanted to go on, he didn’t understand why he couldn’t go straight on and coupled with his communication issues we weren’t able to explain this to him either. Queuing through long standby lines would not have been fun for anyone either not least the poor unfortunate souls (trying to see how many disney references I can get in here) in front and behind us. But then we discovered the brand new Guest Experience booths which were a little slice of pure genius. Essentially you could use these to set up the DAS pass without going near the ride. This meant we could set up a pass for later in the day and totally avoid the ride until our time came round. This was a godsend to us and our little boy and helped us manage his day a lot better than we had been previously able to. These were only in MK and HS so far but I’d highly recommend using these during your stay if you need to.

TRACKERS
I met the Trackers! We’d just left Hollywood Studios and my son was having a meltdown (spotting a theme here?) he was overly hot, tired and wanted to ride Alien swirling saucers until his head fell off but we had to go as we had a dinner reservation later. I was completely flustered as I’d carried him from Toy Story Land to the park entrance (did they move the entrance? Im sure it was double the distance) as he was refusing his pram and was throwing himself on the floor. Due to my flustered state I walked straight past the Trackers and didn’t even notice. I’d just managed to wrestle my son in the pram and was a hot sweaty red-cheeked stressed out mess and was trying to get us to the car ASAP. I was head down on a mission. It was my hubby who saw them and said to me “hey, it’s the Trackers!” Being the lovely people they are, they turned round and came back to meet us which I thought was super sweet. It was probably what I needed at that point to diffuse my mood and went from stressed out parent to blubbering fan girl. I recall asking Jenn how she was and saying congratulations to them, then reassuring them that most children aren’t like mine. 🤣 I then asked for the photo of which they kindly obliged...

A real highlight of my hols!

TOY STORY LAND
Well what can I say, the themeing here is out of this world. Everywhere you look there is something to see and I particularly loved the train track and lollystick benches. The whole land is one of pure imagination and immersive story telling. The rides are amazing and I’d say that we spent the most time in here out of anywhere. It’s bigger than I thought from the videos and pictures that I’ve seen too which was a welcome surprise. It’s just awesome. The only downside is... and it’s a big one... the lack of shade. Before I went I’d read about there being a lack of shade but I’d underestimated how bad this was in reality. We saw one person receiving oxygen it was that hot and exposed. There is umbrellas but honestly they do very little aside from reduce the glare, and they get full really fast - the heat in this land was relentless and with mainly outdoor queuing too (exception being Toy Story Mania) it’s very, very exposed. I cannot understand how they didn’t realise this, especially when very much aimed at kids, I really do think Disney need to sort this out with a large gift shop (aka that tent thing in storybook circus) or similar. I know they are building a TS restaurant but I don’t think that solves the problem. The toilets were cool and pretty fancy so I guess you could hang around in there if you want to be arrested. However despite the heat and lack of shade we still loved this land and absolutely loved Slinky and Aliens. My son particularly loved both these. Until he got his leg out of Slinky. That was fun. Thought the CM was going to faint. Regardless, Slinky Dog is now up there with one of my very favourite rides, it has a moment at the start where it gives you that belly tickle feeling, I love it!

One big big tip I have for this area is to go at night. Not only is it cooler but it’s beautiful when everything is lit up, but the big advantage is it is so much quieter! Miss the madding crowds and go last thing. TSM was almost a walk on, Slinky was very quiet and Aliens was so dead that we entered through the fastpass queue and were allowed to stay on for three goes - couldn’t see afterwards or stand up like but still pretty cool. Highly highly recommend evenings, so much quieter than Pandora and I suspect it’s because most people with little ones have headed out and a lot of the crowds have been absorbed by Fantasmic or the new animation show. Then you can top off the evening after TSL closes by heading to the starwars fireworks which are on half an hour later than the land closes.

AKERSHUS
We’d never been here before and so I booked a special meal for just me, my daughter and our friends. My little girl is 4 going on 14 and super girly and into her princesses so it was nice for her to have all my attention for one meal. We’d booked it for 8:15 and the park was empty on arrival which was amazing! My little girl skipped and danced her way over to the world showcase it was so wonderful to spend that 1:1 time with her. We loved Akershus! The princesses all came round quickly and what made it even better was that just after arriving Cinderella came and held her hand for the princess march or procession or something which made her feel super special. The food was really nice too, pretty typical breakfast fare with a on-table skillet of sausage, bacon, egg and potato hash and then help yourself to Mickey waffles, muffins and fruit etc. There wasn’t a big selection but I liked this as I can get a bit buffet-overwhelmed, panic and just end up with 27 Mickey waffles as I’m not sure what anything else is so this was good for me. I also think lower choice keeps the buffet scrum down too. There was rarely more than one person persuading the selection. Was lovely and our highlight was Ariel who was amazing. My little girl has been Frozen mad for the past few years, but this year it’s all been about Ariel (much to my delight and the three thousand frozen items she owns) and she didn’t disappoint as she danced with my daughter and took her hair bow (thingamabob) which was an Ariel bow with a fork that cost a snip at $15. Was such a lovely meal and experience.

LOWS

FLIGHT
Boy, was this a tough flight! I’ve flown with kids before as this was my daughters 4th trip and my sons 3rd (they are 2&4) but maaaan, this was hard. My daughter was a delight there and back and I can only hope the people giving me the stink eye over my son could see her and realise that we do have an iota of parenting nouse about us. My son is nearly 3 (3 next week in fact) and we underestimated how tricky an age this was. To be fair he is slightly harder as he has additional needs with a speech delay, hearing problems, sensory processing problems and is going through an assessment for autism so he is harder than your average 2yr old but even so this was a tough one. He simply did not want to sit still and completely freaked out if he had to wear his seat belt. He didn’t understand why and was very restless. We’d come armed with an assortment of new toys, his tablet and lots of sugar free snacks (as last thing we needed was him on a sugar high!) but at times nothing cut it. We found it easier to divide the flight up into segments so to keep him as busy as possible for a couple of hours and then try something else for the next couple and so on. The flight out which took around three days started well as he lulled us into a false sense of security by falling asleep on take off. Awesome I thought! Movie and Baileys time.

Ha! He’d woken just as we levelled out. And that was it FOR THE WHOLE FLIGHT aside from landing whereby the little terror fell asleep again! *rolls eyes*. So mainly it was a case of just keeping him as calm as possible and minimising the disruption he caused. Thankfully he only cried once but we took him for a walk then and he calmed but the bigger issues was him kicking the seat in front. I had to physically hold his feet to stop him as of course once he knew I didn’t want him to do it - that’s all he wanted to do. The massive saving grace was the people in front and behind, were both parents and both had kids. The lady in front was particularly amazing and kept popping her head through to check I was okay as she could see I was struggling. She kept telling me that he was doing really well and I was doing well too. This was obviously a lie, he was a nightmare and I was on the verge of jumping out of the window, but the reassurance helped and I’m very grateful for her soothing words. I kept apologising about the seat kicking and she told me to stop worrying and they were fine, her younger son was in front of him but even so no one needs this, it’s not fair. The family behind kept smiling too and the guy sat behind him often tried to distract him through the gap with peekaboo and other little games. We were travelling with friends who were sat across from us so they basically took care of our daughter the whole flight freeing up my hubby and me to take care of our son. This helped a lot but I did feel a bit like I’d abandoned my older child. She told me this too. Cheers, kid. Towards the end of the flight they brought round mini Fab lollies which he LOVED so they just kept bringing them (so much for my non sugar rule but I figured if he was on the ceiling on a sugar high then he wasn’t bothering anyone else for a bit) and this keeping him entertained around an hour. Boy, I have never been more glad to arrive in Orlando than I was after that flight!

But the flight home was of equal delight. My son had developed a fierce aversion to being strapped into stuff during the holiday. This included, but was not limited to, his car seat, his pram, rides and of course, plane seatbelts...
For some reason my husband gets a bit antsy when boarding flights and gets a bit worried that we need to get on the plane as soon as everyone starts queuing. It doesn’t matter that 90% of the queue are assembled for rows that have not even called yet, as soon as they stand up he wants to join. It’s the British in him. Me on the other hand would rather be that straggler tannoy announcement family than spend one moment longer sat on that tincan with our son. But as usual as soon as everyone started queuing to get on the plane, hubby started hopping from foot to foot thinking the plane was going to fly off without us (chance would be a fine thing). Added to this, we had a sunflower lanyard for my son, so we were unexpectedly ‘fasttracked’ and ended up on the plane way earlier than we needed to. Joy. Imagine my delight when we had a flight delay too. This meant my son was sat on the plane just shy of an hour before take off. Wonderful. I’d already taken Bachs rescue remedy before flying but 40 mins into flight delay I was ready to drink the bottle. My son was on the floor and every time I tried to put him in his seat, he freaked out. I had no choice but to hold him in his seat and strap him in as we taxied and took off. He screamed and I mean screamed. To make it worse there was no other kids in the bubble on the way home that I could see and the woman in front of my daughter had grumbled as soon as she’d got on about being near kids so this made her very unhappy. I just wanted the floor to swallow my up. I was trying my absolute best with him, I was singing and cuddling and shushing him but he simply did not want in his seat. He’s strong too and was fighting me. He ended up in full on meltdown during take off as I had to restrain him (if you were on that flight I am truly sorry from the bottom of my heart, I was doing everything I possibly could). I ended in tears, was furious with my hubby who had made us board early and had to completely turn my back on my little girl as I soothed my son. Bless her though she was awesome. As soon as the seatbelt sign came off I released him and he was fine. The lady directly in front of my son became my saviour during that meltdown as she reached round and handed him her Lotso bear to distract him which worked for a few minutes. I tearily explained to her that he has a sensory developmental and speech delay and I would do my absolute best but until he can get his seatbelt off I’m going to struggle and she told me not to worry and to keep Lotso. If you are a dibber, I love you! More so than my husband. 🙄 He fell asleep cuddling it later (son, not husband).

Thankfully the staff were good too and realised it was the belt that was triggering him so each time we had turbulence they let us hold him on our knee and during landing told me to only belt him in when I hear the final two beeps (as this is when the crew must be seated) so this gave us a huge grace period and I only had to have him strapped in for around 5 mins on landing.
The rest of the flight wasn’t too bad. He had a bit of a sleepy cry about 3 hours in but this was more a normal level 2 minute grumble than a exorcist level possessed scream. I would not have been shocked if his head turned round. He fell asleep at around 8pm (flight was at 5pm) and slept for nearly 4hrs. The flight home was only 7 and a half hours so this meant he woke for the last 45 mins so not too bad. I only got up once during that whole flight though as I was holding him across me the whole time.

The one time I did get up to use the loo, I took him with me. That was fun, if you’ve ever taken an octopus into a airplane toilet before then you’d have some idea what that experience was like. Did you know the handsoap wasn’t attached? Nope? Me neither. Did you know there was a bright orange call button? That was super fun. Also, can you actually get sucked down those toilets? Asking for a friend.

In hindsight I’ve been on flights where babies have cried for much longer but I do pride myself in being that parent who does not let my children disturb others and take off was the complete opposite. I’d of rather taken my chances in the hold than be sat on that seat during takeoff on Saturday.

LOVEBUGS
I’ve been before when these have been bad but they were on another level this trip. I’m not sure if I got used to them the second week (as they seemed to be less about) but the first week they were everywhere I’ve never seen swarms of them like that before, crazy! Not helped by my daughter being scared of them and freaking out each time one got near. In the end she got used them too, especially once she knew they were called Lovebugs. Thought it was because they loved people... whatever works I say! I felt like I was forever flicking them away though, they particularly liked the drinks cups which was delightful.

TANGLED DESSERT
This was gross. Looked beautiful, tasted like melted milky lumpy egg with the consistency of soggy congealed socks. Grimo.

KIDANI CHECK IN
This one really annoyed me. I’d booked Kidani on points and was waiting for my text to say the room was ready as we were in AK that day and I just wanted to get to the room and unpack. I kept refreshing it and it kept saying the room wasn’t ready. We’d been room-less since early morning switching from Saratoga and I just wanted to get settled so went to Kidani at 3:50pm to check in despite opting to skip this it wasn’t happening. There was a long queue and so my hubby looked after our son as I queued with my daughter. This in its self was annoying as I’d really wanted to avoid this. We got to the front just after 4pm only to be told they had no standard rooms left. Say what now? By this time my son was getting restless and so I politely explained that we were really keen to get our room and get him down for a nap. After some phone calls to housekeeping and various other people with fancy names I was told there was a housekeeping issue and the room they’d booked us in would not be available for our stay. This was around 4:20pm and we’d meant to check in at 4. My son was now on the verge of another meltdown so I explained the importance of getting the room. At this point I said just give me any room, even in a different hotel. After much faffing she said she would put us in an ‘alternative’ room. It was 4:45 by this time and my son had launched into a full on floor meltdown in front of everyone. I was so upset as we tried so hard to manage things for him and so to have him stuck waiting for nearly an hour through no fault of our own as they were checking us in late, was really not cool. We went off to the room which was 5th floor overlooking the check in area where the cars/ME/valet/deliveries are. Not ideal as very noisy and very high but I just wanted to get settled. I do get they have issues they can’t control but they knew we were coming and had a room, it’s not fair to check us in nearly an hour late - they don’t let us check out late! The views were still lovely though... out the back and the kids liked the lift. Don’t blame them, they were fancy dan.

JETLAG
Gawsh this sucks! This year we’ve really felt it and I’m not entirely sure I know where we went wrong. My son is particularly struggling and whilst he’s going to sleep around his usual time, he’s waking between 12am and 2am, and I mean WIDE awake. So we’ve had to get up and bring him downstairs. Then he’s falling back asleep around 5am for a couple of hours. He’s only little so it’s not like I can keep him awake in the day either. My daughter is struggling too and has been awake until midnight most nights. Me and hubby are like walking zombies trying to get over our own jet-lag and cope with the kids.

SHOES AND FEET
Omg, I don’t know what happened this time but I really struggled with my feet with aching, blisters and pain! They were so sore! I have some amazing shoes but I fear they’ve got to a point where they are worn out and are now hurting as just as one area got a little better something else would hurt. I just don’t understand it. I got really bad swelling too which was the first time ever so hubby went and bought me a vat of healing cream for elephant feet which helped a bit but I struggled to the end really. I ended up buying some super sexy Merrill sandals which cost a measly $60 and ended up not fitting as my feet were just too swollen. Boy, did hubby love that one! Hoping I can wear them in for the next trip though as they will be my saviour. Think I will also do a bit more walking in prep next time too.

MINNIE VAN
Okay so a bit controversial and to be fair the idea was good, in theory. But unfortunately this makes my lows as it was all a bit stressful to be honest. It cost $150 for a Minnie Van from Orlando airport. It is a lot of money but my friend and I decided to go halves to surprise the rest of our group on arrival with a Minnie van! As soon as we got off the monorail thing at MCO we emotionally said “Surprise! We have a Minnie van! ”. Well, you’d think we’d told them that they had shrimp poo in their tea, both were like “Huh, what, no magical express?” Well, that’s gratitude for you. The next bit that went wrong was finding the flipping thing. We’d been told to meet the driver by the taxi area in MCO. So off we trooped with a gazillions bags, a double pram, two grumpy kids, two people wishing they were going on ME and two overly awkward car seats to possibly the furthest point in the entire airport trying to find a CM holding a sign with our name on it. The taxi area was, um, interesting. Not the area I’d recommend hanging around unless you have spare cash for the beggars and steel toe caps. So here I was feeling completely uncomfortable unable to leg it with the kids if I needed to as I had enough luggage to last the next 3 months and with my other two travelling companions pacing the length of the area desperately trying to find the CM and complaining loudly to each other in thick Yorkshire accents. Didn’t look like lost British tourists at all. Of course as we were waiting for about 30 mins my son had enough of being in his pram and wanted out. The perfect place to lose him I thought. Not. So everything was very tense and stressful. Eventually my friend called Disney to ask what on earth was going on. Turns out there had been a mix up and our driver had been sent to arrivals and we must’ve walked straight past him. Que disney frantically trying to locate our driver and work out where we were as apparently ‘the scary end of the airport’ was not a good enough description for ‘TJ’ our driver to come and rescue us. A couple more phone calls later and our lovely, flustered driver managed to locate his wanderlust family. I’ve never been more relieved to see a CM in all my life. I’m not sure he felt the same as I watched his eyes scan all our luggage, my screaming son and just how many of us there were. I could see he instantly regretted not pulling a sickie that morning. Turns out that despite us telling Disney exactly how much luggage we had and requesting two additional car seats pre fitted, that they’d sent a van that was too small for our party. Grr. TJ told us to go to where ME picks you up and he would bring the van round and not to worry he’d get us in. This just further rubbed it in for the two people already wishing they were long gone on ME. Sorta like ‘look what you could’ve won’. Eventually TJ drove up his shiny sporty van in all its glory and we took a bunch of photos and videos - had to get my moneys worth somehow. I could see TJ sweating as he pulled up to the kerb and we all collectively realised that unless it was a tardis all our crap was not going in there.

Turned out it was a tardis, of sorts, if you count being buried under luggage as part of your luxury ride. We literally could not move and I couldn’t even see my husband in the front or son in his car seat, who was still screaming. The van came with two car seats and I’d requested rear facing but he struggled to fit them so my daughter ended up forward facing and my son rear but neither seat was in very well to be honest which was a concern. However I was so tired by this point I was willing to strap them to the roof if it meant we got there quicker. So I opted for holding one seat whilst my hubby sat in front of the other. The Minnie van comes with snacks and drinks but it was clear there was a miscommunication as there was only enough for half the people in the van which was rather annoying given the heafty price tag. They did however have enough Ghirardelli chocolates to sink a ship (ones that were suspiciously the same flavour as the those currently being given free in store...one wonders how many visits TJ had to make for them) and a DVD player for the kids, on which they played Ariel. Despite the screen being the wrong way round for my son, this still distracted my two enough to forget their woes and they happily watched/listened and covered themselves and their car seats in chocolate. I apologised to TJ but he was back to being as cool as a happy little cucumber and told me not to worry at all. Secretly I feel he may have just been thankful my son had stopped wailing like an overtired hangry banshee and instead was filling his belly with chocolate ‘cos that’s what he needed after 15 Fab lollies. Despite being hemmed in like sardines, travelling with underwhelmed passengers who mostly wished they were on the magical express and tired grumpy kids, the highlight of the trip was TJ belting out Ariel’s ‘Part of your world’ at the top of his lungs as we all joined in. He was an awesome singer and we told him so. Being dropped off at my block at Saratoga rather than at reception too was another highlight. Was it fun in the end? You becha. Would I hire this again from the airport? Not on your nelly. ME is a much better choice in my opinion and it’s free. Plus from that point onwards my husband booed each time we passed a Minnie Van. Harrumph.

T-REX
I don’t know what it is about T-Rex but I keep giving it a chance and keep regretting it. Considering that it’s the same group of Rainforest we keep going back, thinking it may have improved but it’s just... awful. I’ve never had a good meal there and this time was no exception. I ordered the shrimp trio having tried the steak and chicken before (both grim) and it was awful. The butterfly coconut shrimp was passable, albeit the coconut was the texture of toenails (I imagine) but the other shrimp still had the poo vein in which I really struggled to remove as they were very full of shrimp poo. The rice was overly salty and tasted rank and had some highly suspicious beetle looking things in it. I ended up with a lot left over and a big shrimp poo pile. Was more like a Bush tucker trial than a meal. Yuk. Also the server was truly dead behind the eyes. We found him rude, inattentive and it was clear he hated his job and everyone in there. My little girl politely asked him for a straw and he seemed really annoyed she’d asked. Later on my son split his slushy drink on his legs which was very cold and made him cry (I asked him for a lid earlier but he’d told me they had none however then produced one when it spilt... hmmm) and the server just come over and sighed and then went to get a cleaner. I asked for napkins and he threw them on the table without a word. He was downright surly. I should’ve said something to a manager but it’s impossible to hear in there and freezing cold so we were ready to leave. Found out later hubby had given him a $30 tip! Was not impressed, I wouldn’t have given him a penny.

WEATHER
Jeeze Louise (sorry Louise) it was HOT this time! Well in truth the weather was a complete tale of two halves and to be honest it sits in the middle of my highs and lows. The first couple of days we are there it rained and was a bit overcast. Now I’m a bit weird in this way as I don’t mind the rain or cloud too much as I quite like not having sweat dripping in places I’d rather it not and squinting so much I become a traffic hazard so this slightly cooler and more overcast weather was a welcome relief. However we did have a couple of epic storms...

We were totally lulled into a false sense of security ‘cos the sun well and truly got his hat on after around day 3. Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful but honestly my sweat had sweat. It was crazy hot, the kind of hot where you can’t even look at the pavements, your eyebrows sweat and getting back in your car is a fire hazard. I’ve been many times in May and June and it’s never felt that oppressive. In fact we saw more than one person getting oxygen it was that relentless. It meant we struggled to spend long at all in the parks before it became unbearable and ended up doing a lot more on an evenings during period. However, as me mum said ‘that’s Florida for you’ the unpredictable beast she is.

MOONLIGHT MAGIC
Having been a DVC member for over 12 years now imagine my excitement to find that there was to be a free Moonlight Magic event on when we were there! These events are open to DVC members and up to three guests and to get a coveted ticket you have to do this fancy online queuing system whereby you sit in a virtual queue with around 6 thousand other members all hoping to nab a ticket. I was lucky enough to snag one for the 20th May at Epcot and was uber excited. The event started at 9pm and went onto half past midnight so that should have been my first alarm bell as it was super late for two infants... but I also really wanted to go and it included free food which started at 5pm. So I figured if they don’t last that’s totally fine at least we got some free grub. Everything went well on the day, we went to Blizzard Beach in the morning and tired them both out so they both had epic 3hr naps on the afternoon before we went to moonlight magic. Initially it was just like any other day at Epcot until the sun went down and they rolled in an overly elaborate DJ monster truck that set up shop outside the fountain of nations. They made a big hurrah about this vehicle with a circle of cast members flanking each side of the highly OTT as it cruised in complete with LED flashing lights, blacked out windows, top opening doors and wheels the size of an airplane engine. It looked like a transformer and I honestly thought someone famous was arriving with the parade they put on - the people around it looks like bodyguards. But turned out it was just a really big ‘pimp my ride’ truck. This got the party going with lasers no less.

It was around 10pm that I realised this event really wasn’t for kids. It was very dark for a start, the music was blaring out from the DJ transformer van and all the character lines were so long. Even the ride queues seemed long for an event where one of the touted advantages was shorter lines. Test Track and Soarin stayed at around 30 mins all night which granted is better, but a bit long for us. Frozen was 45 mins. So the characters were out due to long lines, the best rides weren’t doable, all the shows shut early. To top it off there was a scrum near each stand where they were handing out free Mickey bars. I also noticed loads of young kids asleep in strollers and it was clear to me that the event was really for older kids and adults. I’d skip this if you have young kids. We ended up bailing around 11pm with both kids were asleep and having done very little. As we drove out the DVC fireworks finale set off which looked great, at a distance.

CLOSING EARLY FOR EVENTS
This was irritating. We found that often the rides and shows closed early for the ticketed evening events. As mentioned we didn’t spend long in the parks and due to the heat often favoured evening hours with the kids after a big nap. But often we were caught out by early closing rides. For example AK closed at 9pm but the rides and shows closed at 8:30pm for the evening ticketed events. This wasn’t advertised anywhere and meant we traipsed round a lot trying to find open attractions. Annoying!

FINAL THOUGHTS AND TIPS

Here’s a few tips/observations that I noted during this trip that may help others with planning.

CAR SEATS.
Most airlines carry these for free, wrap them well as they chuck ‘em around. I wrapped both mine in bubble wrap and towels and put them in a secure bag. I have two car seat bags and highly recommend a rucksack padded bag as it’s super squashy and secure. We also added wipes, nappies and teddies to these to add protection. On the way home I added two packing cubes of soft clothes and a mattress to help protect them.

STROLLER/PRAM
If you are still in the unfortunate position to need a pram and more-so a double monstrosity then I’d highly recommend investing in a good bag for the plane. We have a Genesis bag for our double which adds protection. You hand your pram over at the gate on both departure and flying home. My best advice is to bag it up as early as you can near the gate and drop it off before the masses start assembling to board. Once everyone starts to queue it gets really hard to get through. In the UK they take it from you but in Orlando they expect you to carry it to the plane door once it’s tagged. However if you act pathetic enough like I did upon our return then they’ll carry it for you. Just don’t tell anyone! 😉 In both directions the prams come out with the hold luggage and each time I’ve been this is at a different spot. Sometimes they make the carousel, sometimes they get taken off and piled up separately. Just look forward to, and expect to, play hunt the pram whilst carrying tired cranky little ones in rugby holds.

GETTING FROM A TO B
I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to visit Orlando before I realise during planning just how long it takes to get about. Just driving to the parks, parking up, getting bags out, walking to entrance, doing bag check, scanning magic bands etc can take anything from 40 mins to an hour.
Then there’s the time it takes to actually do rides. Even with a fastpass it can take around 30-40 mins from entering the queue to exiting the ride, space mountain is a good example of this as is Flight of passage and Soarin. They just take a long time. Don’t underestimate this when planning and give yourself time. I lose count of the amount of times I see people get excited as they feel they can double up on fastpassEs and Rider Switch. Go ahead, if you want the rest of your family stuck doing nothing for around 2hrs. So my tip is to give yourself time and if you are doing rides separately to the rest of your party, be aware that you can be separated for a long time even with a fastpass.

GIFT CARD COLLECTION
I don’t know if it was just me that didn’t know this but if you get a free disney gift card as part of your package you collect it at a tiny booth inside the World of Disney. If you enter through the entrance nearest to Basin and look to your right, you’ll see it. It’s literally a one man stand. Don’t do what we did and waste about an hour trying to find it as most CMs looked at us with three heads when we asked where was collection.

RIDER SWITCH
So there is a lot of confusion on the Dibb regularly about the new Rider Switch system. In reality it was not much different to the old system aside from you can only hold one at a time and it is electronic. I’ll start by clearing up a big myth. You can combine Fastpass and Rider Switch (although heed my warning on the A to B tip).

There is two ways to get rider switch now and this just differs slightly ride to ride. Some rides now have a booth not far from the ride entrance that says Rider Switch and DAS pass on them. Slinky has this as does FOP, and I think RnR but I don’t recall seeing it anywhere else. So if they have a booth go to that, otherwise approach the CM at the ride entrance and say you need a rider switch. They will ask if the first riding party has a fastpass or not. You get a different return time based on this. They will then ask who is riding second. You can have up to three riders. Each person riding second then has their magicband or ticket scanned by the CM on a device that looks like an iPad. The same as those CMs have when you walk into the park and they ask you a bunch of inane questions like ‘do you hate Goody?’ If you’ve ever been collared into doing them. On their screen they have to tick if party 1 has a FP or not and their screen then gives them a return time for party number 2. This then appears on MDE under Rider Switch. On MDE it shows an hour window with a start and finish time. The finish time is irrelevant. I was once late and the CM explained only the start time matters. However you cannot hold more than one so you have to use your current RS before you can get another. I hope that helps!

BLIZZARD BEACH VS TYPHOON LAGOON FOR LITTLE KIDS
This is a tip for those of us with little ones. I have always been a die hard Typhoon lagoon fan, and been many times. I’ve been with my little ones too but never lasted too long as I find it a bit sprawling, it’s really hard to get a shady spot in the kids area, and it’s miles from the entrance, food and lockers. This time we decided to try Blizzard Beach. I’ve never been before with my munchkins so was expecting to find it equally as stressful as Typhoon. I was really wrong! It’s clear the Tikes Peak area is very well thought out for families. It’s really close to the entrance, lockers, loo and food areas - in particular the refillable mug area and its much less sprawling so far easier to keep a watchful eye on the kids. There is also loads of seating and shade and sand! The rides there are pitched at the right level for little ones and adults can also go on the racer slides with their youngesters - this we LOVED! We just felt everything was in a logical place and we didn’t need to traipse around just to have a wee or get a drink. In fact we liked it so much we went twice which is unheard of for us! Try the doughnuts too, they’re delicious!

HOTEL DELIVERIES
On this trip I had two deliveries to the hotel, both from Amazon. The first one was the mattress I mentioned earlier and the second was an Ariel dress for my daughter as she became Ariel obsessed and they’d sold out of her size on the whole of property so we ordered on line. There is a $5 parcel holding fee and a $6 room delivery fee now. Neither of these we were charged for either package, so I think this is still a bit hit and miss, however expect it if you order. Delivered can be made up to two weeks in advance of arrival and must say GUEST, your arrival date and surname on the delivery info.

COOL FLASK
My final tip is a practical one. We invested in aluminium flasks for both kids this time which were a bit pricey at £14 each but they were worth every penny as they kept the their water very cold all day. Even if the outside was hot the inside was fridge cold and I have no idea why I didn’t buy these earlier! We often used them to pour water into small cups for the kids and when we ran out just refilled them with free ice water at counter service locations. We went through around 4 a day so well worth the investment. We even bought another when there did us - a Mine mine mine one.

So that’s it! If you got to the end then I bow my hat to you, even if you skimmed I hope some of it is useful. Please feel free to ask any questions, I find the best therapy to get over the Orlando blues is to live through other people’s trips so I am always happy to help!

See ya reel soon.

[3disneykids]

Sounds like an amazing trip I agree the tor story theme was amazing. So glad yo had an amazing time

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Alkel. I adore your style of writing, so funny but also full of facts and good tips. Well done.

The upgrade you got at SSR is mind blowing, so pleased for you. I looked out for you a lot but to no avail! I spotted your thread about meeting Tim and Jen, nice picture. I know little about them but they seem a lovely couple.

You are far braver than we were when ours were the age of yours. No holidays for a few years as we didn't have the patience!

I saw the Guest Experience stands and didn't really know what they did. Good to hear they can resolve the DAS issue without having to go to the ride.

Very true words about the lack of shade at Toy Story Land. We don't line up there and just use FP's but it must be very tough with young ones.

Now I know you were well looked after at SSR and well done Disney. But you were badly let down by Disney Transportation. May I suggest you do a quick E Mail and get a refund for that trip especially considering the debacle about rear facing seats - not good enough.
I lay odds they will comp it immediately.

[Mexy02]

Great report , firstly the trackers . Wow , I’d have been dumbstruck , great photo
The flight I think reading it all you did considerably well and should be proud of yourself more. Kids are extremely difficult at the best of times but confined spaces triple everything . I think I would have avoided the bubble though but that’s perhaps because I hate it downstairs is 10 times better . I got a similar reaction from passengers when my son vomited all over me with air sickness yet a lady two rows down had vomited for 5 hrs non stop ( been drinking) had sick bags and sympathy galore
I love rainforest as well, coconut shrimp is heavenly .
I’d had complained to kidani but I get you just wanted the room and it probably would have made it worse leaving behind ssr upgrade. ( any photos ?) . Are you complaining now home ? How could you not have a room ?
Akerhaus I’ve debated so much over this one , glad your daughter enjoyed it
Did your friends enjoy the trip?

[Gryff]

Great minintrip report
All in al sounds like a great trip

[Labboy]

Fantastic report, thankyou for posting, so good I will read it again after my Golf today.

[Tinkerbell]

BRILLIANT report. Fun, facts and ideas

Welcome home. Glad you had a good time.

[Twin mummy]

Fab mini (ha ha) trip report. Love your style of writing and sympathise about the plane. We didn’t take ours abroad until they were 5 as I knew they would kick off and I would hate it, but then I’m the mother who just walked out of church and left my 2 (with their Dad) when they started kicking off one time.

[emmabanana]

Great summary, that upgrade you got was amazing!

Sounds like you all had an amazing time. I agree with tom morrow you should complain about the Minnie van, if you do let us know how you get on. X

[Bats]

Great report, very well written and very funny.

Joa