Home 'n Hosed: Ethan's First Trip to Walt Disney World: Overview

Ethan and Donald, Best Buddies

Cayne and I took Ethan on his first magical trip to Walt Disney World in Florida last week. All three of us had a blast and as an added bonus, Ethan's Grandma & Grandpa Wade, Aunt Sarah and new Uncle Nathaniel were there too. Ethan's first park was EPCOT (first ride was "Living With The Land"). His second park was the Magic Kingdom and his first ride there was "Snow White's Scary Adventures". His favorite Magic Kingdom ride was "Jungle Cruise" and his most favorite Disney ride was "Journey into Imagination with Figment" (a close tie with the "Gran Fiesta Tour" at the Mexico pavilion). Ethan also loved the dinosaurs and tigers at Animal Kingdom but didn't find much to interest him at Hollywood Studios.

We stayed in a 2-bedroom villa at the Beach Club Villas and although we didn't get to spend much time in their awesome pool, Stormalong Bay, Ethan got to go swimming in it once and he had so much fun. He only ate a little bit of sand on the "beach" and he loved the waterfalls.

Ethan did a great job at the parks with the help of the Disney Baby Care centers (these are really nice air conditioned spots for feeding/playing/changing babies). Transportation was not-so-good (one trip home from the Magic Kingdom took over an hour and a half and included what I call the "sauna bus" considering the 93-degree outside air felt cool when we finally got out of the bus) so if we decide to ever go back we won't stay somewhere requiring bus transport to either Epcot or the Magic Kingdom (or we will rent a car to get to the parks, a real waste in some ways considering how nice the Magical Express free airport shuttle is).

We went to one character breakfast (at Cape May Cafe) with Ethan and he lit up when he saw Minnie, Goofy, and Donald! Donald was his absolute favorite (part of the reason he loved the "Gran Fiesta Tour" so much). It was so much fun to see his cute giggling reaction to Disney characters!

While I wasn't impressed with Disney service or the "Disney Experience" on this trip we did manage to have fun in spite of all the setbacks. So for now, we don't have any plans to ever return to Disney World but I'm sure when Ethan is 5..or 7... or 9 years old he'll convince us to take him back. If Disney can somehow convince us that they've returned to their customer-oriented ways, we will be glad to take him again.