12-day Fantasy and parks vacation-ganza! (Part 1 - traveling with a toddler and food)

**Mendelson** · 05-23-2013, 08:19 AM

Me; Wife; Daughter, 19; Son, 2.5 years (yes, that age difference in kids is correct)

This trip includes a seven-day cruise on the Fantasy (western Caribbean) and five nights at CBR, two nights before the cruise and three nights after, and the better parts of five days in the parks.

As opposed to chronological, I’ll write this report around themes (since you don’t care what time I ate a pastry or took a shower or got a fast pass…but for the record, I ate far more pastries than I took showers)

Traveling with a 2.5 year-old. Overall the trip was faaabulous, but traveling with one this age is a lot of work, and even with three adults in rotation, my wife and I did not get nearly enough alone time, which is really my only big complaint about the cruise (we had to get creative on occasion, but what happens on the Fantasy stays on the Fantasy and I’ll say no more). The first two park days were fine, and then he got scared by the Aladdin show on the Fantasy and simply refused to sit in any of the other shows on the boat, and this bled over into our park days afterward, afraid on dark rides he had been okay on before the cruise. And don’t get him started on fireworks! We took him to the daycare on the boat once but the next time I tried he got so upset by the mere sight of the daycare door I didn’t have it in me to drop him off there (though I should note by all accounts he enjoyed the daycare immensely the first time).

Dinners on the cruise wet okay with him because we used our Kindle to keep him occupied for the 1.5 hours we were in there (with puzzles and games and episodes of MM Clubhouse) and he ate more here than he EVER does at home for dinner.

And of course there were many bright spots and heartwarming moments, which many of you have experienced with your own kids, including: interactions with Aurora and Snow White (in particular) on the cruise, riding the Barnstormer, and his overall joy and excitement at things like the castle, the Tangled Tower, the “mine” seagulls, etc.

Food. We were visiting during the Flower and Garden festival and I’d made a list of foods I wanted from the stands. These small dishes were generally incredible, but somehow I just didn’t make it to the Dole Whip with rum and I am sooo disappointed! Among other delights we had (apart from the food stands) were the gelato cookie sandwiches in Italy (the gelato is great but the cookies aren’t as good as in the ice cream cookie sandwiches at MS bakery), a DW float (natch), and lunch at BOG. This was a great experience. It’s too bad they make you bake on that sun-soaked bridge while you stand in line, but this easily has to be the best-quality CS that I’ve had in WDW (though see my report on the cast member under my CM report).

After our cruise we looked at our budget and realized…wow, we burned through some money on that cruise! So the next few days at the park upon our return were filled with PB&J’s, trail mix, bananas, and the like. On our last day we did open the wallet back up for lunch (for $130!) at a place I’ve always wanted to try – the Yak and Yeti. It was tremendous, and Brian, the server, wonderful. The yeti was cooked perfectly and you might think it would not go well with a mint sauce, but you’d be wrong.

**ibelieveindisneymagic** · 05-23-2013, 09:35 AM

Kids can be fun to travel with.

When DD was 6, we took her to universal and she got so scared by the spiders in Shrek that she refused to go to a movie theatre for a full year!

**faline** · 05-23-2013, 01:55 PM

It can be challenging to travel with a toddler but, as you certainly know, also very rewarding to do so!!

**KylesMom** · 05-23-2013, 04:11 PM

Ah yes - our first trip with Kyle to Disney World was at 2.5, and while there were lots of memorable moments, it certainly had its share of adventures for DH and I also. I remember HIS terror in Voyage of the Little Mermaid! LOL

Bummer that you missed the Dole Whip and Rum - awwwww! On to the next installment . . .

**January-2007** · 05-23-2013, 11:55 PM

Thanks for the trip report!

**vizsla** · 06-04-2013, 05:27 AM

Thanks for the report.

**emerzmom** · 06-18-2013, 11:44 AM

Wow! What a vacation! We tried Yak and Yeti for the first time on our last trip and really loved it. Too bad you missed the Dole Whip with rum. It was good.

Julie