Boo to Two, Kelley and Missy's Joint TR! Update! 3/28

[Missyrose]

Welcome friends! It's time to start the trip report that gives you double the fun, double the laughs and double the Disney magic. It's really two trips rolled into one big adventure.

It's Kelley and Missy's joint trip report...

That's me, Missy (a.k.a. Missyrose here on the Dis) on the right. And the beautiful bride is Kelley (a.k.a. PrincessAmongPrinces on the Dis). This picture is from Kelley's wedding seven years ago. We go way back, friends since the eighth-grade (16 years, wow!). We'll each do our own introductions but for now let's talk a little bit about how this trip came to be...

Once upon a time, both of us had separate trips planned for 2012 (mine in March and Kel's in May). But once Kelley started planning, she couldn't wait to take her adorable twin boys to Disney, so she moved her trip up to their birthday week in October. A few months later, I got a pin code in the mail and was able to book a trip for the same week so we both could enjoy the room discounts!

So our trip looked something like this:

When: October 13-17, 2011

Where: Contemporary Resort (Missy); All-Star Movies (Kelley)

What: MNSSHP, Food and Wine Festival and all kinds of Disney fun for both little kids and the big kids, as well.

So with that information, we're off on our TR adventure. I'll leave you with the same promise I made in my last TR:

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, but mainly, you’ll wish you were in Orlando RIGHT NOW!

 

[Missyrose]

Chapter links​

Kelley: Introductions
Missy: Introducing... Missy and Franklin!
Kelley: Leavin' on a Jet Plane​

Kelley: MNSSHP​

Missy: All Our Bags Are Packed...​

Missy: Our Magical Ride​

Kelley: Trip Report Tangent​

Missy: Pixie Dust Sprinkled Check-In​

Missy: Lunchtime in Canada -- Part 1, Part 2​

Kelley: MNSSHP Bonus Pics!​

Missy: Time to Party!​

Missy: This is Halloween

Missy: Boo to You -- Part 1, Part 2

Missy: A Less-Than-Magical Start to the Day​

​

​

Kelley:DHS Rope Drop​

Missy: Cars, Boats and a 'Round the World Trip -- Part 1, Part 2​

Kelley: Sci-Fi and DHS​

Kelley: Epcot afternoon​

Missy: New Digs and Wishing on a Star​

Missy: 'Ohana Means Stuffing Your Face​

Missy: Happy Holidays Everyone!​

Missy: Riding The Wave Through Fantasyland Part 1 -- Part 2​

Missy: Lunch and a Lovely Afternoon​

Missy: Our First Signature Dinner​

Missy: Magic, Fireworks and Late-Night Fun Part 1 -- Part 2​

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=43836190&posted=1#post43836190

Missy: A Full Day In and Around Epcot Part 1 -- Part 2​

Kelley: Breakfast With Mickey​

Kelley: MK Rope Drop​

Missy: Fireworks in the Sky and On the Plate

Kelley: Morning at Animal Kingdom
Kelley: Afternoon/evening at Downtown Disney

Missy: A Private Tour of Main Street and Breakfast with Pooh and Co. Part 1 -- Part 2

Kelley: Ryan and Jack are 3!​

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Kelley: Crystal Palace breakfast
Kelley: Goodbye!

Missy: Ta Ta for Now​

Missy: Final Thoughts and a New TR!
​

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I'll be the first to join in.

 

[IheartDDuck]

Joining! Can't wait to hear more.

 

[Missyrose]

I'll be the first to join in.

Thanks for being the first to join!

Joining! Can't wait to hear more.

Hi! Thanks for climbing aboard.

 

[PrincessAmongPrinces]

Hello! As Missy mentioned, this is going to be our joint trip report! We go way back, and it’s so awesome that we were able to overlap our trips like this!

I just wanted to introduce myself and my family a bit more

I am Kelley, happily married to Mike for the last 7 years. We are college sweethearts, who met during our freshman year at Virginia Tech (GO HOKIES!)

and I am the proud Mommy to sweet twin boys Ryan and Jackson. They are the lights of my life, the joys of my day, and the cause of all my future gray hairs!

This was our first family trip to Disney World. Mike and I debated a bit about when to first take them - he originally wanted to wait until they were 5, and I thought 3 & ½ would be the perfect age. But as I was pricing everything out, it was gonna be WAY cheaper to take them before they turned 3. So we agreed to go Oct 13-17, 2011 with our last day being their 3rd birthday. He pretends to be all practical and sensible, but really, he is as bad as I am when it comes to spoiling our boys!

We had such an amazing, awesome, wonderful and magic-filled first family trip! Thanks for joining in, and I hope you enjoy reading about it!

 

[natebenma]

Kelley and Missy-

Can't wait to read about all of your great adventures and to have my socks knocked off by Franklin's photos!!!

Ryan and Jackson are way cute!!!

Dee

 

[PrincessAmongPrinces]

Kelley and Missy-

Can't wait to read about all of your great adventures and to have my socks knocked off by Franklin's photos!!!

Ryan and Jackson are way cute!!!

Dee

Thanks for joining us! And yes, Franklin has out done himself again! He is SO talented

 

[Queenofallthings]

Hey chicky...I'm here and can't wait for this one!

 

[PirateKate]

I'm here! Can't wait to read about your trips. Kelley- your boys are so cute!

 

[teekathepony]

Hey ladies! I'm in!

 

[Missyrose]

Kelley and Missy-

Can't wait to read about all of your great adventures and to have my socks knocked off by Franklin's photos!!!

Ryan and Jackson are way cute!!!

Dee

Dee, welcome to the adventure. And yes, Franklin gave his photos his all and it really shows in the results.

Hey chicky...I'm here and can't wait for this one!

Queen!

I'm here! Can't wait to read about your trips. Kelley- your boys are so cute!

Hi Kate, welcome aboard!

Hey ladies! I'm in!

Glad you're here!

 

[Missyrose]

Some of you may know me, but for those that don't:

I'm Missy, a 29-year-old sports copy editor at the Washington Post who lives in the Virginia suburbs with her loving boyfriend of almost nine years, Franklin. He’s a space planner at an architecture firm in the D.C. area.

If you want to know more about how this trip came to be, check out my pre-trip report.

This is my seventh trip to Disney World and Franklin's third. Though we've both become Disney vets, we managed to have quite a few firsts on this trip.

We stayed onsite for the first time.

We relied completely on Disney transportation for the first time.

We attended our first Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.

We bought a Photopass CD for the first time.

We tried a dining plan for the first time (deluxe!).

We bought our very first annual passes.

There are a few more firsts, but I'll let them be a surprise as the TR rolls along.

Our first trip together (in February 2009) was totally a commando affair. It was Franklin's first trip, so I wanted to make sure he saw EVERYTHING! Our next trip (October 2010) included some seriously commando mornings coupled with some seriously laid-back afternoons, including our introduction to the Food and Wine Festival.

And this trip? Our plans got tossed out the window. We rode plenty of rides, but we also found time to enjoy the other things about the parks and we also wanted to enjoy the beautiful resort we were staying at (Contemporary).

With all that background info squared away, it's time to get this party started... so away we go!

 

[PrincessAmongPrinces]

I'm here! Can't wait to read about your trips. Kelley- your boys are so cute!

Welcome Kate! And thank you for the complement on my boys. I think they're pretty cute too, but I am certainly biased!!

Hey ladies! I'm in!

Hello Wendy! Welcome Thank you for joining in!

 

[PrincessAmongPrinces]

Thursday
October 13th, 2011- Disney Arrival Day!! (Part 1)

I remember waking up in the morning thinking “Today is the day! It’s DISNEY DAY!!”

I realized a few days ago that today was also our couple anniversary. We started dating 10 years ago! Can you believe that?? An entire decade of us… So we celebrated by leaving for WDW!

We were flying JetBlue out of Dulles International Airport. Our flight was due to depart at 2:09pm, so I wanted to be at the airport by 12:30pm, just to give us enough of a cushion to take all of our carry-on crap, our double stroller and both our kiddos through security. So my Mom came and picked us up at 12 noon, and we were off to the airport!

We arrived at Dulles at 12:15pm, we curb checked our 2 bags, and we were totally done and through security by… wait for it… 12:30pm!! Hmmm… Now of course if we had been in a hurry, that would have never happened - but oh well, now we were through security, but still had an hour to kill before we could board the plane! So we had some lunch, and walked around the terminal a bit, and before long it was time to board!

We were a bit nervous about how the boys would be on the plane, but I came super prepared! I had an entire box of fruit snacks, some baggies of dry cereal, 2 coloring books, markers, 2 sticker books, 2 bean bag Mickey Mouses and 2 LeapPads! The boys’ Grammy and Gramps bought them the LeapPads as a bday gift, so Mike and I decided to save them for the plane. We had them loaded up with fun, educational apps and fresh batteries, and as soon as the flight had ascended enough for electronics to be turned on, we introduced them to their LeapPads. Well, we didn’t hear another peep out of those boys! It kept them engaged for the entire 90 minutes. That thing is AWESOME

So we landed at MCO promptly at 4:00pm, and quickly found our way over to the DME line. We hopped straight on a bus and headed to our hotel: All Star Movies! (Small tangent here: I have read a lot of negatives on here about the All Stars, but I have to say, I found it to be very pleasant! The room was clean and comfortable – though admittedly cramped for 4 people and a giant double stroller. We had a great experience, and I would definitely stay at the All Stars again!)

All Star Movies!!

We were in one of the Fantasia buildings:

The view of the other Fantasia building from our building:

We checked in, hurried to our room, dumped all of our carry on stuff, changed into our Halloween costumes, and high tailed it over to the Magic Kingdom for MNSSHP!

 

[Joyciemc]

I'm reading! Great start- can't wait to read more!

 

[PrincessAmongPrinces]

I'm reading! Great start- can't wait to read more!

and thank you for joining us!

 

[PrincessAmongPrinces]

Thursday Oct 13th, 2011 - Arrival Day (Part 2)
Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!!

So when I left you, we had just hopped on the Disney bus to Magic Kingdom! We made it there by 6pm, which is pretty good considering we had only landed in Florida 2 hours prior! I thought that to be some good timing and perhaps even a bit of pixie dust!

Our costumes were The Incredibles! The boys had picked out Dash costumes, and then I found t-shirts with The Incredibles logo on the front for Mike and I to wear.

We asked the boys on the bus ride over to MK what ride they wanted to ride first, and they both agreed Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. (We had watched nearly every ride or attraction on YouTube in preparation for the trip, so they were pretty familiar with what was there) So as soon as we arrived at MK and got our MNSSHP party bracelets, we headed over to Tomorrowland and hopped in line for Buzz!

This is Jack's face as we hopped in line - can ya tell he was excited?!?

Here's Ryan:

Here is me and the boys waiting in our very first line:

(Side note about the big hair -- I have thick, naturally wavy/curly hair. I like to wear it straight. I bought 2 brand new frizz and straightening products before this trip. The one spray "guaranteed straight hair for 48 hours" Yeah... Not. So. Much. My hair didn't even last 48 minutes!! So much for wanting nice hair in pictures... It was huge every morning by the time we arrived to the parks, so mostly I wore ponytails.)

The boys loved their first ride. Then we met up with Missy and Franklin (whom the boys adorably call Frank-a-lin) and ate a quick dinner at Pecos Bills. Then we took advantage of the low party crowds and did a bunch of other kid friendly choices like Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, Tomorrowland Speedway, Dumbo, Peter Pan, IASW, Aladdin and POTC. Nearly every ride was a walk-on! Even Dumbo!

This is Ryan and Mike on Dumbo (geez, that kid is ADORABLE!!)

Here is me and Jack on Dumbo. That was by far his favorite ride! He says, "I like to control it. I like to go up, up, UP and down, down, DOWN!":

Their favorite party specific activities were trick or treating, Hallowishes, the Boo to You parade, and Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye’s Dance Party! Well, Ryan liked dancing with the Toy Story characters – Jack liked them all better when they were across the room from him. Five feet away or more was his comfort zone, as soon as a character got closer than that, he froze up and clung to my legs. So I just reassured him that he was fine, he didn’t have to touch them if he didn’t want to, and to just be calm. He wasn’t upset or anything, he just kinda seemed shocked to be seeing his favorite characters “in person”. But the boys did great! They partied like champs all the way til midnight!

And then they totally crashed on the bus ride to ASMo. But, that was a LOOOOONG day, so can you really blame them?

(Doesn't it look like I am holding one giant conjoined twin?!?) Let me tell you though - that was HEAVY! I got quite the arm work out on that bus ride!

 

[IheartDDuck]

How cute are they in their Dash costumes!? Absolutely adorable.

I love Leapster's! They are very good for kids. We kept one in our bag for my nephew the last time we flew and it kept him entertained for almost the whole flight.

 

[Missyrose]

As has become my tradition, I worked the night before our trip. So once I finished working around 12:30 a.m., I drove home to finish my last-minute packing. My goal was to be in bed by 2:15, and at 2:30 a.m., I climbed into bed -- close enough!

We had an 8 a.m. flight, so Franklin’s mom picked us up at 6 a.m., which meant a 5:00 a.m. wake-up call. Oy that was early, but it didn’t matter because we were leaving for Disney!

Having a flight an hour later than our flight last year meant it took us a bit longer to get through check-in and get through security. It took 25 minutes instead of the glorious 10 minutes we encountered last year, but we were through by 6:45 and quickly went in search of breakfast.

We headed to our airport meal stand-by: Five Guys! We each had an egg sandwich and highly caffeinated soda and we split an order of cajun fries. Yup, fries for breakfast means you really ARE on vacation!

As we munched on our breakfasts we both realized we weren’t very hungry, not a great way to start a trip that was centered around the Food and Wine Festival and a deluxe dining plan! Soon enough, we were on the plane and soarin' through the air toward Florida!

I watched “Tangled” on the plane, while Franklin flipped through JetBlue’s TV channels with a bit of TV ADD. We had a smooth flight and after we landed, we saw that beautiful Florida sight: gorgeous palm trees! Our first stop was faux-norail.

I’d read so much on these boards about people getting confused about how to get to Disney’s Magical Express once they got to the main terminal. So I was a little worried. But there was no reason to worry, everything was clearly marked.

And we easily made our way from Terminal A to Terminal B.

With all the crowd predictors jumping in recent weeks, would we encounter HUGE crowds at DME check-in? You'll just have to wait and see.