Well, we did it! We survived (and mostly thrived) our first family trip to Disney World. If you are interested in learning more about us, or the planning of this trip, please feel free to read my PTR, http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2190617. We stayed at POP from 9/7-9/14, and enjoyed 7 days in the parks with free dining. And yes, one of my children did indeed drink out of a puddle. Don't you want to keep reading now?
The quick cast of characters was
-me, Jana, the planner and group leader. I celebrated my 32nd birthday the first day of the trip.
-my husband, Chad, the laid back, go with the flow daddy
-my older son, Griffin. He will be 5 in November, and the trip was really for him
-my younger son, Cooper, who is 26 months old. I just wanted him to not be unhappy!
-my mom, Kathie.
-Chad's mom, Sue. Both of the grandmas really wanted to come to be able to experience the kids' first trip, and we were thrilled to have the extra help!
And we're off! Sunday we tried to tucker the boys out as much as humanly possible, in the hopes they would sleep well that night. It mostly worked. Once they were asleep, I worked on packing up the last of things, and then Chad brought what we could down to the car. This was our room that evening.
Our alarm went off bright and early Monday morning at 4:30 am. We had both woken up on our own around 3:30, which actually made getting up easier. The plan was to do as much as possible, then ease the boys into the car and maybe get them a little more sleep. Not so much...Griffin woke up at 4:45 and came in to see if today was finally the day! He was very excited to hear that it was! One thing I am so glad we did was dress them in their clothes to sleep the night before. In the morning, Griffin just had to potty, and we changed Cooper's diaper when we got to the airport, so it was super easy getting them out the door. We loaded them into the car, then drove the 6 miles to my parents house. We picked up my mom, and my dad took over to drive us to the airport-our minivan was packed to the gills! We had originally thought of driving to WDW, and seeing the car packed up convinced me that it was the dumbest idea ever. So glad we flew!!
We met Sue at the curbside check-in, got our checked bags taken care of, and were off to security. We found out that somehow Sue had paid for 3 bags instead of one (she's a little ditzy!), so we were able to check two of our carry-ons. This was a nice surprise. Security was super easy, and I was surprised that they said we could take the kids' sippy cups of milk through.
We ate Munchkins and donuts while we waited, and a short while later, we heard the boarding call!
The flight was uneventful, which, when you're traveling with small kids, is perfect! Griffin sat with the grandmas, and Cooper sat with Chad and I. He was a little bored, and would have done much better with his carseat (we didn't want to haul it just for the plane). He watched a DVD about firetrucks for a while, and kind of hung out. Griffin was an angel. After only 2 hours, we were in Orlando at 9:17 am!!
We stopped to potty, and Griffin had the first of our week's tears when he banged his head on the stroller and cut his temple somehow. I put a band-aid on him, which was a lovely addition to our pictures the first couple of days! We found DME easily, and were ushered right onto a bus with no wait at all. Awesome.
Griffin and Grandma Sue
Grandma Kathie
Chad and Cooper
Me (taken by Griffin, who did pretty well!)
The ride was great and the kids liked the video. Around 10:30 we pulled into POP and went off to check-in.
I had done online check-in, and we had no wait at all to check-in. I had faxed some room requests a few days prior, and we were thrilled that all of them were honored. I hadn't specified a section, just top floor, quiet, connecting rooms that were hopefully ready early. All were met, and we were put in the 90's section, rooms 8422 and 8423. I wasn't thrilled with this since they were so far away from Classic Hall and the bus stops, but we quickly learned that if we walked through the parking lot, the walk wasn't bad at all. I got the water I had ordered from Costco, and we went off to find our rooms.
A long, meandering walk through several decades later, we made it to the big laptop icon and found our building. Our rooms were great, clean, and we had towel animals waiting in the windows.
I was able to take a couple quick pictures before the kids destroyed the room!
I'm going to take a break for the night, but will try to finish day 1 tomorrow. Up next, Crystal Palace, Spectromagic, Wishes, and two whiny kids!!
The quick cast of characters was
-me, Jana, the planner and group leader. I celebrated my 32nd birthday the first day of the trip.
-my husband, Chad, the laid back, go with the flow daddy
-my older son, Griffin. He will be 5 in November, and the trip was really for him
-my younger son, Cooper, who is 26 months old. I just wanted him to not be unhappy!
-my mom, Kathie.
-Chad's mom, Sue. Both of the grandmas really wanted to come to be able to experience the kids' first trip, and we were thrilled to have the extra help!
And we're off! Sunday we tried to tucker the boys out as much as humanly possible, in the hopes they would sleep well that night. It mostly worked. Once they were asleep, I worked on packing up the last of things, and then Chad brought what we could down to the car. This was our room that evening.
Our alarm went off bright and early Monday morning at 4:30 am. We had both woken up on our own around 3:30, which actually made getting up easier. The plan was to do as much as possible, then ease the boys into the car and maybe get them a little more sleep. Not so much...Griffin woke up at 4:45 and came in to see if today was finally the day! He was very excited to hear that it was! One thing I am so glad we did was dress them in their clothes to sleep the night before. In the morning, Griffin just had to potty, and we changed Cooper's diaper when we got to the airport, so it was super easy getting them out the door. We loaded them into the car, then drove the 6 miles to my parents house. We picked up my mom, and my dad took over to drive us to the airport-our minivan was packed to the gills! We had originally thought of driving to WDW, and seeing the car packed up convinced me that it was the dumbest idea ever. So glad we flew!!
We met Sue at the curbside check-in, got our checked bags taken care of, and were off to security. We found out that somehow Sue had paid for 3 bags instead of one (she's a little ditzy!), so we were able to check two of our carry-ons. This was a nice surprise. Security was super easy, and I was surprised that they said we could take the kids' sippy cups of milk through.
We ate Munchkins and donuts while we waited, and a short while later, we heard the boarding call!
The flight was uneventful, which, when you're traveling with small kids, is perfect! Griffin sat with the grandmas, and Cooper sat with Chad and I. He was a little bored, and would have done much better with his carseat (we didn't want to haul it just for the plane). He watched a DVD about firetrucks for a while, and kind of hung out. Griffin was an angel. After only 2 hours, we were in Orlando at 9:17 am!!
We stopped to potty, and Griffin had the first of our week's tears when he banged his head on the stroller and cut his temple somehow. I put a band-aid on him, which was a lovely addition to our pictures the first couple of days! We found DME easily, and were ushered right onto a bus with no wait at all. Awesome.
Griffin and Grandma Sue
Grandma Kathie
Chad and Cooper
Me (taken by Griffin, who did pretty well!)
The ride was great and the kids liked the video. Around 10:30 we pulled into POP and went off to check-in.
I had done online check-in, and we had no wait at all to check-in. I had faxed some room requests a few days prior, and we were thrilled that all of them were honored. I hadn't specified a section, just top floor, quiet, connecting rooms that were hopefully ready early. All were met, and we were put in the 90's section, rooms 8422 and 8423. I wasn't thrilled with this since they were so far away from Classic Hall and the bus stops, but we quickly learned that if we walked through the parking lot, the walk wasn't bad at all. I got the water I had ordered from Costco, and we went off to find our rooms.
A long, meandering walk through several decades later, we made it to the big laptop icon and found our building. Our rooms were great, clean, and we had towel animals waiting in the windows.
I was able to take a couple quick pictures before the kids destroyed the room!
I'm going to take a break for the night, but will try to finish day 1 tomorrow. Up next, Crystal Palace, Spectromagic, Wishes, and two whiny kids!!
. You know, the one who yells at her kids for having too much fun at Disney World? It wasn't pretty, but by 2:15 they were both out. I rested a little, but Cooper woke up at 3:30, waking Griffin up too, of course. 
I bet they will get here by sat. Thanks again. I will let you know as soon as they come. 
