I have to say, all the parents that bring their babies to WDW are so brave! Braver than I had ever been!
OH @BoilerMomPharmD - this is so bad. So so bad. I am so sorry. I’ve traveled far and wide with my brood of six and thankfully we’ve had very few sick vacation experiences, but they are truly miserable.
I’m aghast at the hostess’s poor response. I think that often this boils down to reduced staffing (whether in the restaurant itself or the resort or park) and for what we shell out to visit WDW this is unacceptable.
My family would have been very much the same - not knowing how to proceed so headed back to the hotel. At least at those young ages. My teens have been well versed enough some could carry on without me now. 
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Believe it or not it actually gets worse before it gets better 
Oh no! I nearly cried reading day 4–I can’t imagine it getting worse. So sorry.
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What a dreadful experience at Tiffins! I think that the most frustrating thing with customer service is when you get no response from someone. Even just expressing sympathy if there is truly nothing they can do to help (clearly not the case here) goes a long way towards making it seem a bit better.
I recently had a fall on the ice outside a Starbucks. I fell quite hard onto my tailbone and struggled to walk into the store afterwards. The only response from the girl at the counter was that the property manager was responsible for the walkway! No one asked if I was okay or offered to get help of any kind. I was appalled. It took me almost three weeks to fully recover and I will never go back to that Starbucks again.
All I wanted was a bit of human kindness. It would have gone a long way towards making me feel a bit better.
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I can’t 
that. Oh - I am so so so so sorry.
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I used to love going to Sea World but the last time there I rented one of their ECVs and the battery died 4 times and had to be replaced 4 times. The last time the CM was so kind she gave us passes for VIP seating to the big night killer whale show. She also talked me into going to customer service on the way out to let them know what problems I had. I was just going to go home with a smile on my face after watching that show. On the way out I stopped by customer service and spoke to the manager. After letting him know that I went through 4 different ECVs and had to wait stranded each time his response was “SO”. I think I was so upset I had an aneurysm all I saw was a bright light and I knew if I stayed I was going to wind up in jail so I turned and left. I received a email asking how my visit was and I let them know and once again I got no response.
Day 5: Animal Kingdom/HEA 12/7
Today was always planned as our second AK despite it being back to back visits to the same park. It ended up working out & we barely scratched the surface of this park! DH graciously volunteered to stay back at the hotel with DD10 months. She slept almost the entire day. DH loves to relax at hotels, watch TV and walk around/explore, so I actually think he enjoyed this day a lot too. Plus, you know, baby snuggles 
There was 8am EMH today, but we had nothing specific we needed to do during EMH. We ended up getting to the park around 8:30. I stopped at guest services to see if they could move my parents’ RS from yesterday to today. I also wanted to see if there was any way we could get our reserved FOTLK seats moved as well since we had missed it yesterday. The CM at GS was so incredibly kind & helpful. He gave my parents their RS & gave us all a FP for Navi. He also made a few calls & was able to get us in to the 12:00 FOTLK show. I was not expecting anything, but he really helped us regain a bit of our lost time.
We headed to Pandora first so Mom & Dad could use their RS. I took the girls on NRJ. I have an adorable video of DD5 exploring along the outdoor queue peeking in all those tube/plant things. They really like this ride. My favorite part is when the “creatures” are jumping on the leaves above you. After the ride we watched the drummers for a bit, ate a snack (lumpia for me), then met my parents. We took the back trail from Pandora to Africa to use our FP for KS. We really enjoy this every time.
Then we headed to our late breakfast at Tusker House. We really enjoyed the food & characters here. We kind of sped through though because we needed to get to FOTLK by 11:45 for our VIP seating!
Okay, so this was a highlight of the trip for me. We were given front row seats in the giraffe section. We had an AMAZING view of the entire show. The girls also had a chance to participate & actually did it since I walked along with them. We loved seeing the performers up close. DD5 is in ballet, so the dancers/birds were absolutely amazing to her. DD3 does gymnastics, so of course she loved the Tumble Monkeys! And seeing the performers on stilts so close was cool too. Overall it was a great experience. I’m so glad that we were able to attend after missing the day before. I’m not sure I’ll ever go back to Tiffins, but if I do I will likely pay for the dining package again.
After the show we grabbed ice cream for the girls & headed out of the park. We needed to get some rest before our evening plans. We caught a bus back to Pop pretty quickly (also- how amazing is it that the Pop bus stop is so close at AK. It spoiled me!). Everyone laid down for naps.
Now one big frustration to me was how much all the other adults in the party were inflexible about dining. Given the direction our trip had taken, I was ready to ditch all of our PM ADRs that required extra travel. But no one else would consider just grabbing QS. It was annoying & time consuming.
We had an ADR at Ohana tonight. Baby had perked up a little, so we took her with us knowing that one of us would bail with her if needed. We headed down to the bus about 75 minutes before our ADR. This was our longest wait for a bus. Of course. Then we took the monorail to the Poly. Oof I hate how unorganized the queue is for this. With 2 strollers to try to fit on, it was crazy. And people push so much. Anyway, we finally made it to Ohana about 20 minutes late to our ADR. Thankfully they seated us within 15 minutes or so. I explained to our hostess that we had the dessert party at MK to get to, so we really wanted to get through dinner quickly. She promised to do her best. She was phenomenal. She brought each thing out as soon as we were finishing up. Man, I could skip the meat & make a meal out of the salad, potstickers, and noodles. So dang good. We nibbled at our dessert then scooted back out to the monorail again. Another long line & wait, but we finally made it to MK. We headed straight over to our dessert party (we were about 30 minutes late). We all enjoyed our treats (although eating a TS meal before is 100% overkill, but alas they did not listen to me). The girls loved the little Oreo pushpops & chocolate covered strawberries the most.
We waited in line to head to the garden. It was PACKED (about 30 minutes before HEA). Like hardly enough room to walk through. We finally found somewhere to stand. And quickly realized why it was open. There was a group of several families next to us. One of the children was SCREAMING at everyone at the top of her lungs. Like not for a few seconds. But nonstop for the entire 30 minutes before the show. She screamed at us at one point to “MOVE YOUR STROLLER. I WANT TO STAND THERE.” To which we firmly replied “Not a chance.” Her parents completely ignored this behavior. It really was annoying beyond already being crammed in like sardines. Finally the show started & we got to watch. Standing up of course because we can’t all stay sitting & watch 
It was good, although my view was fairly obstructed. Baby crashed during the show. I’m not sure that we’ll do the dessert party again. For the price, I expected more. The garden has become packed to a ridiculous point. I’ve done it 4 times since 2017 & this was the first time I didn’t feel like it was worth it. For the price we could all go to CG.
After the show was over the garden cleared out. My kids found a few other kids that stayed behind and they played together. This was such a fun & unplanned moment. Playing with strangers at Disney. DD5 was so sad that she wouldn’t see them again the next day. We watched Once Upon a Time & slowly made our way out of the park. MK was open until midnight that night which made it less of a mad dash after HEA. It was worth chilling for awhile after to let things die down some though. We had maybe a 10 min wait for the bus, went back to Pop & crashed.
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Day 6: Magic Kingdom, I mean Emergency Room 12/8
I had been looking forward to today for months. We planned to RD MK then enjoy brunch at California Grill before relaxing at Stormalong Bay all afternoon. We were also changing resorts today, moving from Pop to Beach Club.
Sunday started with me waking up early to finish up our packing. Everyone was still asleep. Baby woke up but was super lethargic. She had spiked a fever. Her diaper was dry. After speaking with my husband we realized she had not had a wet diaper at all the day before. She vomited twice this morning & would not take anything by mouth. I called our pediatrician on call for advice. That was a less than stellar experience. 2 hours later, the return call I got was to give her some Pedialyte until she peed. Nope. Mom instincts were going nuts, so I made the decision to take her to the ER. I was certain she was going to need IV fluids.
We got our bags set up for luggage transfer with bell services, then I went to the desk at Pop to see about transport to a children’s hospital. Nemours is where we ended up going. It took forever to get a shuttle with a car seat. Unfortunately the seat was probably 20 years old & had mold spots on the straps. Again, I won’t travel without a car seat again. I sent my family on to Beach Club, we cancelled CG brunch 
Nemours was about a 20 minute drive. My driver was great. He gave me his cell & promised to come get me for our return trip back to the hotel, which he did.
I was very impressed with the staff at Nemours. We were triaged within <15 minutes. Total time at the ER was <2 hours which is so impressive. The staff were incredibly kind and caring. Overall such a good experience considering everything.
We headed back to BC after getting DD10 months all fixed up. Everyone else had eaten at A&C. Despite the restaurant being dead & there being tons of ADRs in MDE the hostess had gotten snippy with them about not having a reservation. Weird. My parents took sleeping DD and rocked on the porch at BC. DH & I got the kids in their suits since our rooms weren’t ready yet. The girls LOVED Storm Along Bay. (Also how nice are those locker rooms!) Their favorite part was the shallow pool/sandy area. They loved digging in the sand. We swam/played for about 2 hours then got our room ready texts. We headed upstairs to get cleaned up. Our bags still hadn’t arrived yet. I stopped at the front desk on our way to Epcot & requested our dining credits get transferred over after explaining why we had so many left. They were incredibly accommodating & added our credits without any issues.
We headed to Epcot through the IG for dinner at Via Napoli. This was a hit 2 years ago & we really enjoyed it again. Their checkin process is confusing & not well marked. And it is SO LOUD inside. But the food was good and came quickly to the table. The walkways around WS were very crowded & difficult to navigate. We really only ate dinner & headed back to the room though.
On our way out, Mom & I stopped at Guest Services. I wanted to see if they would be willing to give us credit for the park days we had missed. I explained everything that happened & the CM credited my kids and parents with a 3 day comp ticket for a future trip. It was nice to feel like those days weren’t completely wasted money. We got back to the room, unpacked our bags & went to bed.
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I agree with you about the garden dessert party–it’s become much more crowded and I’m not sure it’s worth it anymore.
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Day 7: Epcot 12/9
Today DD10 months finally woke up a little happier. We seemed to have started to turn a corner. We decided to take her to the parks with us knowing it was a short walk back to the hotel if we needed to bring her back to rest.
We started our day with breakfast at Trattoria al Forno at 7:35. This was pretty easy to accomplish since it was a short walk & we had gone to bed early. I absolutely love this breakfast. The food is great and the characters are so much fun. The girls got to see inside Flynn’s satchel
After breakfast we walked to IG to RD Epcot. My plan was to hit FEA then A&E before moving on. Well FEA had a 25 minute wait when we arrived a few minutes past 9. They must have let the FW guests in earlier? Anyway we enjoyed the ride, even DD10 months. She was wide eyed & flapping her arms to the music. We had a mandatory bathroom break then headed to meet A&E. The line was already 45 minutes 
There was no way I was going to subject my kids to that so we skipped it. I think the new movie/outfits made these things more popular again.
We headed to the Land Pavilion for DD5’s first flight on Soarin’! DH & I took her while Mom & Dad took the littles on LWTL. My dad farms so he loves this ride. DD5 got nervous about Soarin’ but absolutely loved it. We had done RS, so she rode again right afterward with my parents. We grabbed the stroller & took the littles to Nemo while they rode. We explored the Seas area until my parents met up with us. We all did Turtle Talk together. DD3 freaked out about sitting up front, so all 7 of us ended up crammed on the bench together.
Then we headed to Test Track, again a first for DD5. We did RS & DD3 got to eat snacks while we waited. DD5 loved TT & her car won both times! After TT we headed back to the hotel. I can’t remember if DD3 napped or not. We did end up swimming that afternoon too. We discovered the short slide at the bottom of the pirate ship and did several other things in the pool. We finished up our night with dinner at Cape May Cafe. I know it doesn’t get a lot of love, but my dad & DH love it. It was close & convenient. DD10 months had a huge blowout so I missed half of dinner. But I enjoyed what I had. We all went to bed at a reasonable hour because tomorrow is a busy day!
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Day 8: Magic Kingdom “Princess Day” 12/10
One thing we did on our 2018 trip was have a “princess day” of CRT, BB, 1st haircut, meeting princesses, etc. So I planned to repeat some of these elements again. At one point it was scheduled for Sunday which ended up being our ER day, but thankfully I had moved it to Tuesday!
Our day started with catching the bus around 6:45am to MK. We had 8am reservations at BBB! We had yet to get a good group photo, so I wanted to get some castle photos on our way in. This was not our biggest win as DD3 was whiny & pouty in the pictures. We did get a few great candids though! DH grabbed Starbucks for all of us & met us at BBB.
BBB had changed since last year. You now check in at Castle Couture which I did not know- Liner fail! The girls loved the magic mirror- we had somehow missed it last time. DD5 chose a ponytail with rainbow clip in hair & a flower headband. DD3 chose the Cinderella bun/tiara. DD3 almost cried during the process. She was so unsure! DD5 loved it. By the end though DD3 was loving all the attention. We had also gotten a Cinderella onesie for DD10 months. So 3 princesses ready for a day at MK! We took photos afterward (I think it’s at Sir Mickey’s now?)
We decided to rope drop meeting Merida as we hadn’t met her yet! The girls really liked Brave, so this was a fun one to add to our autograph books. We met a wonderful family with teenage girls who were there as part of the Gary Sinise foundation. OMG, I had so much pixie dust in my eyes talking to this family. It was a really good reminder to be thankful for our loved ones. The girls were so sweet & doted on my kids. My mom & I were both a mess telling my dad & DH about it later.
Merida was so much fun. After we met her we headed to Tomorrowland to ride Astro Orbiter. My mom sat out as she doesn’t enjoy spinning rides. And DH did too because he hated AO last time. So my dad & I took the girls & enjoyed it! The line was super short. We walked right on the the elevator. I think we rode TTA again here, but not 100% sure. Then we headed to meet Cinderella & Elena, then Rapunzel & Tiana using FP. So much fun. DD10 months was enthralled by the princesses before bursting into tears.
I don’t remember the exact order of everything, but rode the Carrousel, did Philharmagic, used our Anytime FPP from our first horrendous night so that DD5 could ride SDMT 4 or 5 times in a row. While that went on DD3 rode the carrousel again & also UTS.
As we all headed to meet up, I happened to see the Fairy Godmother meeting with a fairly short line. We’ve tried to meet her the last 2 trips & both times got Anastasia & Drizella instead. This time we were lucky enough to finally meet FGM. What a special character meet! She absolutely fawned over my girls, gushed over DD10 months & just was so sweet and patient with them. 100% worth the wait!
Then we headed to CRT for our lunch. CRT was great. We’ve been here 3 times now & with little girls who love princesses, it’s very worth it to us. We all enjoyed our food (well the kids didn’t eat much but oh well) & the characters as well.
After lunch we kind of split up. DD10 months fell asleep in the stroller, so we took turns riding with the other girls & pushing baby. I rode TTA with DD3 all by ourselves which was a fun & rare one on one moment together. We have selfies to prove it! This ended up being a combo of using anytimes for SDMT, riding Buzz with FP, and riding TTA. We left around 4pm to head back to BC. We caught a bus very quickly again.
Now this is where I should have known better to call it quits. But I really wanted to see Fantasmic, Jingle Bell Jingle Bam, and see HS at night for Christmas. So we grabbed a QS from BC (um, this food is downright gross. How is this even allowed at a Deluxe resort?). Dad decided to stay home, and we trucked on to HS, leaving around 6:30. Now I thought I knew how to walk to HS, but I was wrong. Eventually we gave up and took the boat. We got in to see Fantasmic with FP I had grabbed earlier. Got everyone snacks. Loved the show but man what a crowded mess leaving as we were the farthest section inside. We wavered back and forth on staying for JBJB. Well the girls fell asleep while we were deciding. So we headed back toward the boat to beat the rush of people once JBJB was done. So no JBJB for me, but I did get to see the projections on ToT and snow on Hollywood Blvd.
So many steps this day though. Over 20,000. We wiped everyone out & we were all hurting by the end and grumpy. We made it back to the hotel around 9:30 and the kids went to bed. I packed 90% of our stuff since we needed to check out the next day.
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This is bumming me out big time, we have the dessert party planned on a CL 5 day and I’m wondering if it would be better to save the money and stake out a spot early. Ugh.
Even with the PM push it sounds like an awesome day!!!
I have been to the party on a very crowded night. The garden has always been less crowded than the rest of the hub. You will have to stand during the show. It is advertised as a standing area.
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I expect to stand but was hoping to avoid the elbowing and long wait.
It could be crowded but it will be less crowded than the hub area.
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I will say that the dessert party area can be crowded, but it is still nothing like trying to find a place at the hub or on Main St.
I think I was spoiled by some very uncrowded dessert parties early on before they became popular.
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Okay, dying to know, what is in his satchel???
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Have you seen the movie?