Preparing to go to the Happiest Place on Earth:
In true "Michelle" form, I waited until about two weeks before our trip to actually get excited and start planning for it. I think the reason behind this was the fact that we wanted to wait to tell the kids about the trip until this time. We knew they probably wouldn't really understand what WDW was or where we were going, and there would be questions everyday about when we were leaving. My kids don't really have any concept of time. Even after all of this, Mia, my daughter would still say, "Going to Disney in two couple days!!" every day. She even said it when we were on the airplane.
Thankfully, my husband talked with his mom and sister, and took care of the details as far as where we were staying and what kind of park pass to buy. My job was to work on the small details of what to pack, and how to plan out our days once we got to WDW. To get prepared for the trip, I checked out the Disney website, but found that I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the information. The best advice I got was from my Aunt. She had this wonderful PassPorter book that gives wonderful tips about where to stay at Disney, where to eat, how the transportation system works, and lengthy descriptions about each park. I promptly went out and bought my own copy. She also let me know what to expect on different rides, and tips on how to avoid having meltdowns from my kids wanting souvenirs from the numerous gifts shops in WDW. She suggested we bring our own flashlights for the kids to use on the dark rides if they got scared, and turned me on to the penny pressing machines. I left her house excited, and looking forward to our trip. I started a "Count Down to Disney" for our kids about 5 days before we left. We would put up Mickey Ears with the number of days we had before our trip. This really helped my son understand how much time we had left before the big event, and it helped him get a little pumped up, too. We watched Disney movies, listened to Disney music (yes, I have CDs of The Best of Disney Volumes 1-7), and watched the promo videos of the parks on the WDW website. I think this helped pump up the entire family. We were ready to go.
Our WDW trip:
We left for WDW on Sunday, and arrived Sunday evening at about dinner time. We stayed through Thursday around noon. On Monday we spent the day at the Animal Kingdom. We spent most of the day Tuesday at Hollywood Studios. We went to Epcot in the evening for dinner and the fireworks. We went to the Magic Kingdom on Wednesday and about half of the day on Thursday before leaving for the airport. I will just give the highlights of each day.
On Sunday, we woke up, and rolled out. We listened to Disney music to get excited for the trip. My mom was traveling with us-which was a huge help, and we picked her up on the way to the airport. I would like to believe that my kids are travel well. They are experienced fliers as we have made numerous trips to visit family far away. Mia kept saying, "We're going to Disney, in two couple days!!" Sammy kept correcting her of course, "No, Mia, we are going to Disney, now!!" It was a long day to say the least. After a lay over in Atlanta, we finally arrived in Orlando. We tried to my kids for the bus ride it would take to get to Disney, but I don't think it really helped. Sam did really well, and loved watching Donald Duck on the video screens on the bus. I think this was his first exposure to the "traditional" Disney cartoons instead of what he has seen on Disney Junior. Mia on the other hand was not so enthralled. By this point she had enough. She was ready to eat some dinner, and go to bed. (She's used to napping, but did not take one on the plane-darn it!!) We stayed at the Boardwalk Inn on Disney property. We had four stops before our hotel, and at each stop, Mia was sure we were getting off of the "school bus" as she liked to call it. I tried to calmly tell her this was not our hotel, and point at the huge Swan on the hotel's roof, "see what's the Swan, this is the Swan hotel." She would promptly yell in my face (loud enough for the entire bus to hear), "That's not a SWAN!" Same thing at the Dolphin, "That's not a DOLPHIN." Duh-mommy. It was cute about the first 2 times, after the twentieth time-not so cute. Finally, we made it to our hotel, ate some dinner, and crashed for the night. Well, some of us were able to crash. Let's just say we have a couple of snorers in our group. Also, Mia did not want to sleep in the pack and play at first, and spent the first part of the night literally sleeping on top of my head. I tried to scootch down towards the foot of the bed, but she would just scootch down there, too. At one point she bonked heads with me, and said, "sorry mommy, sorry" and began giving me kisses on my bonked head. Too cute, but seriously, I just wanted to sleep. At about 4 am even she threw in the towel. She scooted down to the end of the bed, walked over to the pack n'play, threw her owlie in there, and looked at me, like, "Can you give me a hand here I need to get some sleep."
Sam waiting for the Magical Express. |
Mia and Grandma on the bus to the hotel, you can almost see the grouchiness brewing. |
On Monday morning we woke up very early to take advantage of the "extra magic hours" at the Animal Kingdom. Honestly, we weren't sure if the Animal Kingdom would have a lot to offer that our kids would be interested in-we didn't want to just visit a glorified zoo-this was our Disney trip after all. Boy, were we wrong. It was wonderful. We got our fast passes for the Kilimanjaro Safari ride, and then had some breakfast while we waited for our pass time. The ride was great. Both kids really enjoyed the bumpy cars, and looking at all of the animals. Sam was a little nervous when we saw the lions-he was afraid they might come after us. We saw the wildlife everywhere, and we even saw a cheetah jump into a tree-seriously!! After the safari ride, we enjoyed a nice relaxing walk through the Pangani trail. We saw all kinds of birds and even some gorillas. Then, we took in the Lion King show. The kids and Jake, my husband, were able to sit on the aisle. They got up close and personal with some of the cast from the show, and even received a high five from one of the monkeys. It was amazing. Next, we went to camp Mickey and Minnie where kids can get autographs from their favorite characters. We waited in line to meet Minnie, Mickey, and Donald. Mia and Sam both did fantastic. They were so excited to meet each character. Finally, after all of that we rode the Triceratops Spin in Dinoland and played in the dino dig area. The kids were tired-and so was mom. As we left the park, Mia (going with out a nap once again) decided she was going to show off the skills she learned on how to be a lion at the Lion King show and "roar" at everyone on the bus. She would stand in her seat and yell "ROAR!" at everyone. It was highly entertaining for all of the bus passengers. We ended the day with dinner in Downtown Disney at the T-Rex. Picture Rainforest Cafe, but with Dinosaurs. Sam was not a huge fan. Mia was asleep when we got there, and I was worried she would freak out when she finally woke up. She did okay though.
The family with Mickey at Camp Mickey and Minnie |
Could you find kids more happy than this? I doubt it. |
This is Mia's "Ova Hea" video from Chef Mickey's
The last day of our trip was truly exhausting. We woke up early so we could get to the park for the opening. We only had about three hours before we had to leave and head out to the airport. It was the warmest day of the trip by far. The kids were tired and pretty worn out by this point. We rode some of our favorite rides one last time, pressed some last minute pennies and purchased a few quick gifts before leaving the "happiest place on earth" to make the long trek home. I think I was the saddest. I will hold the memories from this trip dearly in my heart for years to come. It was a special experience for me to have my mom there as well because we never got to make the trip to Disney when I was a kid.
Once we were home, it took us all a few days to get back into our normal routine. I think I had a little bit of the vacation blues. It's hard to come back to reality after being in a place where dreams come true. I've always loved Disney movies and music. I think it was truly a magical experience. To get over the vacation blues, I've already started planning our next trip.
If you have made it all the way to the end of this post-I thank you, and if you still have a few minutes to read, go check out Danielle's post about her vacation adventure at "My Peaches and Cream."
1 comment:
It looks like you had sooo much fun!!! I can't wait to take Jayna to Disney World. :)
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