What a magical start! Thank you!
I was curious- is there a reason you did not take the boat to MK?
Your photos of the garden viewing area remind me of my last experience. I am glad you found an area in the back!
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Family wanted to take the bus because “it would be faster”. GG and PP went last year with DW’s sister and her family, and had better luck with the bus. We did ride the boat a few times though
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and now I do too
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Three little ones under age 5 and 6h35m sleep means a deficit? Sounds more typical to me!
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You may be crazy, but you’re not alone! When my son was 13 months, we brought a carseat on the plane for him.
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When I was at the dessert part the week of October 20, I also was surprised at how the plaza garden was packed. And everyone was standing up in our area so DW and I ending up holding the kids for the entire show. It was far better than the shoulder-to-shoulder of the hub and I would do it again, but it wasn’t as pleasant as I expected.
In any event, what an awesome first day at Disney World for your family! Looking forward to reading the res of your report!
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Same for us 
Definitely, but I’m going to keep a running total, which is quite staggering by day 9!
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Beautiful trip report so far. Count me in for tears on your fireworks story.
Looking forward to reading the next day.
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I’m not crying. I have corn chip dust in my eyes. Really.
Food allergy family myself. Mostly it stinks, but sometimes someone blessed my son with a home run.
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Maybe because it was just me and DH, plaza did not seem that bad on Nov 2. I guess if I still had littles and I wanted to make sure they could see, my perspective/perception would have changed. but yea dessert pkg was worth it to me in the end
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That was really the issue. If it was just DW and me, we wouldn’t have had any issue with the crowd level at the garden. The price of the dessert party is high to have to worry about little ones being able to see the show.
Do you remember if your dessert party was sold-out? At ours, there were multiple signs that the dessert party was sold out. Obviously that would effect crowds at the garden.
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we did the after party and there were very few people there. I don’t know about the before party. but judging by park crowds, I would not be surprised
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Great report! 
We did IASW as our first ride on our first trip with kids - so glad we did that. They insisted we also make it our last ride that trip and every one since (they’re 13 and 16 now.)
Also: that GP bison burger was great, right?
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I agree. It was nice to show up for yummy snacks at 8:15ish, and walk over to the garden at 8:40ish and not be fighting crowds at all. When we walked through the hub around 8:10 it was already getting full. Keep in mind this was my first park experience, but it seemed a lot more crowded than the CL6 reported by Touring Plans. I would have guessed a 7 or 8. It’s probably just me, because some days turned out to be CL1s and 2s, and even though the parks were very empty in the mornings, I thought the afternoons/evenings were pretty crowded. And Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) had to be at least an 8, but I’ll get to that… Anyways, back to the point, the HEA dessert party was worth it, but I don’t think we will do it again since prices went up and next time the boys will be old enough to handle a long wait in the hub anyways.
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Indeed!
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That part of HEA always makes me cry, too! I just watched it on YouTube a few days ago and it gets me even if I’m not there in person. We are planning the dessert plaza party with two toddlers, so thanks for the heads up to manage expectations!!
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My trip was October 20-25 so right before yours. I was pleasantly surprised at how low the crowd level felt (in general). I have been going in October/November for years (not every year) and I have not experienced crowd levels that low since 2009.
I guess it’s all relative. I have seen October/November crowds get heavier and heavier over the past 10 years so now that there was finally a reversal of that trend, the crowds felt really low to me.
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Hubbers got bison burger too and loved it
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Love your report so far and the pictures of your beautiful children are priceless. I cry every time at the fireworks. Can’t wait to read more. God bless you and your family.
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