Bella's Trip Report..OR..why spending $45 dollars renting a stroller was the best idea..ever.

Thanks for all the sweet comments about Holden..I of course agree and think he's pretty cute!

I do have to apologize though..I have been making our Photo Book and I realized that pretty much every single picture is of Holden...very few pictures of stuff etc. I guess your kid only has his first Disney trip once. So if you aren't a fan of kids you might as well just stop reading this TR now.

& yup..I got the name Holden from The Catcher in the Rye. It is my very favorite book.

Ok..so on with the report!

We had gotten our text that the room was ready and the traveling, baby wrangling and excessive walking had worn us all out. And quiet frankly Holden was starting to reach his expiration date so we decided to head towards POP. We did decide we needed to do Spaceship Earth on the way out. I just LOVE this ride..even before they changed it a few years ago. It just makes me happy.

And we had to stop for some Ball pictures on the way out..

I had never used the "text when your room is ready" system before..I have to say I really liked it! We checked in at 9 a.m. and actually received the text around 10:30. The lady at check in told me that I should be able to go right to my room and stick in my key but sometimes it didn't work. We went to the car got all our stuff and went to find our room. I had booked a preferred room and we were given a room on the 3rd floor of the 60's building.

We have stayed at POP a lot and we've never had a bad experience there. We've done the 50's once and the other times we've stayed in the 80's and 90's. Since we booked preferred this time we were in the 60's. I wasn't too excited about the 60's...until I got there! Our room was literally 100 feet from Classic Hall. I would run down in the morning and fill up our mugs while they boys were waking up. This was SO much nicer that schlepping across the entire resort from the 80's. Especially with a kid in tow. (We rented strollers so by the end of the day he was tired and we usually carried him from the bus).

Our room was great as usual--nice and clean but smaller than I remember. I guess I've been spoiled by AKL and OKW on our last trips. However, with only being there 3 nights we weren't planning on spending a ton of time in our room.

After we rested and unpacked we decided to go get some dinner and then go swimming. I was in lust with those nachos that I had earlier in the day at Cantina de San Angel and I couldn't get nachos off my mind so I went and got some. I wish I had taken a picture--these things were awesome! Not as good as Cantina de San Angel..they were a different kind of nacho if you know what I mean. The best part was they let you pick your toppings. I got beef, black beans, tomatoes, salsa, cheese, sour cream and guacamole. Oh, so healthy! Tp make it even healthier I got a Tye-die cupcake. I didn't take a picture because I stink at life. But it was a yellow cupcake with buttercream frosting but the frosting was a variety of different colors. This..surprisingly..was the BEST cupcake of the entire trip. It was fresh and moist...it was cold because it was in the fridge but it tasted like it had just come out of the oven. And the frosting was nice and fluffy. Yum.

Dave had the LoMein and he said it was SO good. I had a bite and it tasted pretty good but I'm not really a Lo-Mein person.

Holden had yogurt and an Uncrustable. He thought it was thebomb.com. He also ate some of my cupcake..because he is the fruit of my loins I was nice and didn't stab him with my fork. I let him have some.

After eating we went to the pool. Don't worry..we waited awhile so we wouldn't get cramps.

We started out in the big Hippy Dippy Pool. Holden loves pools..I think this was his favorite of all. The pool has life vest available for kiddos..I didn't know this beforehand..and we put one on him and it made him a little braver that normal. After an hour..I am not joking..I was feeling pruney and Holden kept handing out on the steps so we made our way to the Kiddie Pool. For most of the time this pool only had one or two other kids and Holden had the time of his life. And Dave and I got in some much needed sitting still time. We eventually had to leave because it started to rain. Holden was as pruney as a raisin.

Also, there was a small boy (maybe 4) named Diego and I think Holden thought he was "the" Diego (as in Go Diego Go from Nick Jr). He was infatuated.

Now for some obligatory toddler in the pool shots.

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Okay, I made a goal that I am going to FINISH the entire day 2..right now. I am not allowed to leave my office til that happens!

So here we go!

Day Two: MGM. I will never call it Hollywood Studios.

I We woke up pretty early on Saturday (ahem..I may of gotten up at 7 and stomped around loudly while getting ready to try and wake some sleepy boys up). Holden and Dave got up while I snuck out to get some Coffee and breakfast treats. I got Holden a Yogurt and Milk and Coffee for Dave and I.

By the time I got back everyone was ready to go to MGM (finally).
I had high hopes for MGM. Holden LOVES with a firey passion ALL things Lightening McQueen. I could probably recite the entire first movie for you..we've watched it THAT much. I was excited to see how he would react seeing the man himself. Also, it was Star Wars Weekend. I knew this going in and we were not there for the Star Wars stuff. We've been done before during SWW and it actually made the park seem LESS crowded because everyone was in one area. We hoped it'd repeat that again.

We got to MGM and there were of course..Storm Troopers on top of the ticket building. Holden LOVED them. So did Dave. For the rest of the trip he was obsessed with storm troopers.

Dave and I hadn't eaten so we made our first priority breakfast. We decided on Starring Rolls. I'd actually never been there before and hearing you guys talk so good about it I knew I had to try it. Dave went sensible and got some sort of fruit thing...and I got...

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Yes, that's my finger and yes I ate a cupcake for breakfast..because in Disney World calories are magic and don't count. In case you didn't know now you do!

I was so excited about this. I had read the great review literally days before we left on the Disney Food Blog and it was the one cupcake I knew I must get...although I must admit the Darth Vader cupcake was kinda calling my name but I thought it might be a leeettlle too much chocolate for 9 a.m. Sadly..this cupcake was not great. It wasn't bad and it had the potential to be really awesome..but..it was cold. Like freezing cold..and it had the taste like it had just been taken out of the freezer and recently thawed. It wasn't moist or fresh and the goodness in the middle was rock solid and the icing was a little better but still very hard. I guess that's what I get eating a cupcake for breakfast. I would totally go back and try this one again..just not bright and early in the morning.

After my cupcake we decided to grab a FastPass for ToyStory which was already up to 3 p.m. and then we headed to Muppets. This part of the park was empty. I know there were lots of people there but they were all in the Star Wars part or on Hollywood Blvd. we saw the Muppets and played around a little on the scenery.

My child was being very uncooperative about pictures.

Early...you can see it's packed here but once we turned the corner..no one.

Holden was loving this snowman..we stayed here..forever.

Then we decided it was time..to meet Lightening McQueen. I was excited because he had done SO well with Pooh, Tigger and Alice the day before and he didn't even know who they were.

This was not so much the case with McQueen. He saw them from faraway and literally died. He screamed and stopped walking for at least 20 seconds. In line he kept trying to cut in front of all the other kids. Then we got close and he was terrified. You see, had they just been sitting there I think it would have been okay. However, they were LOUD in there. There was music playing and engines revving and I think it gave the little dude a heart attack. He still talks about how they were "loud". Oh well.

Here he is..looking very concerned.

(I feel like this is the point in the TR where I talk about how irritated I am that these pictures are so friggin small. I'd be annoyed at these pictures if I was reading this..so my apologies but I am toooo lazy to go back through and re-edit all of them).

After McQueen we saw Phineas and Ferb..we did not stay and take a picture much the the little ones dismay because they left for a break and we moved on to the Great Movie Ride...which we walked right on. This is something that has never happened to us..we usually wait forever in here! We walked right on and had the gangster. I used to always want the gangster and end up with the cowboy..now I think it's been years since we've had the cowboy. After TGMR we had to leave the park and head to Downtown Disney!

We were headed to Downtown Disney to meet up with my cousin Julie her two kids and my aunt. They live in Lakeland and always make it a point to have lunch or something with them whenever we come down. I really don't see them unless we go to Disney so this is always an added bonus to a Disney trip. This was also the first time they had met Holden.

We decided to just grab a bus..any bus..and get on the DTD bus from there.

The first bus we saw was Saratoga. It was probably not wise that we were totally unfamiliar with this resort. We got to the first stop and I convinced Dave to stay on for awhile because I knew you could walk to DTD. I was hoping we'd get to a stop where I could see some of DTD. Finally at the 4th stop in SSR Dave insisted we get off before we head BACK to MGM..and I agreed because if I was wrong I'd never live it down. This stop was under construction or something and was actually just one of those make shift tent things. We waited about 15 minutes for a bus and we were finally on our way to DTD. On our way I got a text from Julie that they got us a table at T-Rex. Bonus! I had never been there and I knew Holden would LOVE it.

Did he love it? I have no idea he spent most of the time playing in the "Dig Yard" with my cousins two teenagers.

Fun fact, I found those rocks in every crevice on his body and clothing for DAYS after this. Seriously..he filled his pockets with those rocks.

I loved it though and so did Dave. Dave had a manly Grilled Chicken Salad and I had a Paleonzoic Chicken Sandwich. Yum, this was chicken, pepper jack cheese, bacon and avocado wrapped in pizza dough. Holy crap that thing was GOOD. They also have waffle fries. Who loves waffle fries? This girl!!

My aunt is the best aunt for many reasons but she is totally the best aunt because she wanted to give Holden a gift. She asked him if he wanted to Build A Dinosaur (like build a bear) or Build a Car at Team Mickey.

He chose car..once he heard you could make one like Lightening McQueen it was over.

This place..which I can't remember the exact name of..is towards the back of the Team Mickey store in DTD. Basically you pick out the shell of your car and then you can choose wheels, spoilers, rims etc. Holden could have cared less what it looked like as long as it was McQueen so we pretty much stuck to the basics but we did add the Lightening McQueen sound option..they all come with a regular motor sounds but this one had McQueens voice. The best part? After you choose all your stuff you get to help put the car together.

Here he is starting...

Building McQueen

At this point I would love to show you a finished product of McQueen but that's not happening because he literally hasn't sat still since this day..Holden SLEEPS with this car. True. Love. All together McQueen cost about $60.00 but his shell was about 10 dollars more than the regular cars and we did get white wall tires and fancy rims..and the voice box. I think you could build a pretty basic car for about $40. It was SO much fun and I am sure we'll do it again.

After building McQueen we rode the DTD at least three times. I don't kid..the train was hit...and my little cousins rode it too. I've already tagged them on Facebook in this picture..they LOVE me!

And then of course...more hats. Cuteness alert..this character is Perry the Platypus...Holden for some reason calls him Harry the Octopus. I have no idea why...but it kills me.

Then it started to rain..so..this happened...of course.

While Holden ran around in the rain AND the fountain I shopped in the Christmas store. FINALLY..there is one thing that having a little kid at Disney has changed for the worst in my opinion..my shopping time was VERY short. I was grateful for the foundtain/rain distraction so I could SHOP. I bought two ornaments..a Mickey Snowman ornament and one for Holden's tree (we give him a new ornament every year) that is Lightening McQueen with Mickey Ears..because..obviously.

We headed back to POP for what we thought was the night. We planned on another pool visit and eating at POP..but..it turned about 5:30 and we were thinking..why are we hanging around here..Holden had rested (not napped mind you because THAT doesn't ever happen but he had chilled out for awhile) and MGM was open til 10..so WHY not.

So we did..we made it to MGM super quick..I think we were there by 6 and then we were right on time for the next American Idol show. I had never see this before and it was AWESOME. I just loved it! I kind of felt like they knew who they wanted to win though and were kind "making us" vote for her because she had a big video montage and the judges were all nice to her when she wasn't really any better than the others. Either way I did not care because I voted for her anyway. Mostly because it was really quiet at one point when she was being interviewed and Holden screamed "HI!!!!" and she waved to him.

After American Idol we decided we were hungry..which I never thought I would be again after lunch. We went to the Studio Catering Company which we had never been to before. I am usually pretty down on MGM Quick Service choices but this was actually really good! And it was totally empty..I plan on eating here again.Dave had the Tuscan Sandwich and really liked it and I had the turkey sandwich which was also pretty good but kind of dry. I wish it had more sauce on it or something--but other than that it was good. Holden had the kids meal and ate it all..which is rare so it must have been awesome. While we were sitting there the StormTroopers came out to mingle so Dave took Holden over to see them thus perpetuating the infatuation (ask me how many times they've watched Star Wars since we've been home).

After dinner we tried McQueen again but got the same results..not so good..then we just sort of walked around and explored all the extra stuff. We asked if we could use our Toy Story FP's (which were at 3-4) but they said that we couldn't (they really tried though--she asked if we were at dinner during the time frame). The CM told us that since March they have really been cracking down on ALL the rides and you must use your FP during the time they say. I am sad to see this--Dave and I were always bad about the times and would just go whenever..I guess we ruined it for everyone! I do wish that if they are really going to enforce this that they make the window a bit bigger..maybe 2 hours instead of one or something.

This is the only trip that I haven't ridden ToT at least once. I really missed it!

Anyways, while walking around we saw the Star Wars Dance Show in front of the hat..it was fun!

Dave also wanted an R2D2 Popcorn container that he had seen earlier in the day--we looked ALL over but could not find one. Finally he went into the Fantasmic theater and got their LAST one..it was actually the display. I must admit he's pretty cute and we've like eating popcorn out of him on movie nights. I don't have an actual picture but here's what he looks like...minus churros..obviously!

After finding the Popcorn we headed back to POP for the night..it was about 10 by the time we got back which was late for Holden but he was having too much fun to care.

The next day was our last day AND our only day at MK...we had so much fun!

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