Five Little Ones Take the Adults - 15 Nights SSR/DDP, UPDATED 23/3 More Grand Welcome

[Lisa29]

This is my first attempt at writing a trip report but I wanted to document my recent trip so thought I would give it a go!

The cast:



This is my family and I. I am Lisa and I am 32. I love Disney World and do not get to visit as often as I would like. This was my 7th visit. My husband Phil, also 32. He really enjoys visits to Orlando and loves taking photographs so there will be lots to share! This was his 5th visit. My eldest daughter Madison, turned 5 on this trip. She is such a girly girl and was so excited about this holiday. This was her 3rd visit, the first being when she was just 11 weeks old. My youngest daughter is Kaley and this was her first visit. She loves to do everything her big sister does.

The support cast:

This was a big family trip and there were 15 of us in total!



My parents Lorraine and Mick. They are DVC owners at Kidani and love their yearly trips.

Along with my girls in the picture are my nieces Sydney, Kori and Piper. I cant find a picture of my sister Michelle or her fiance Jamie, oops. They are parents to Sydney and Kori.

Pipers Mum and Dad are Ryan and Bethany.



My sister Danielle on the right and cousin Marie on the left complete the cast line up.



Pre-trip plans:

We were booked in two two-bed villas at Saratoga Springs for 15 nights with the regular Disney Dining Plan. We had one car booked for the entire trip and a second car booked for the middle week.

We had UK special tickets called a 14 day ultimate ticket that includes entry to all four parks, both water parks, Disney Quest, the miniature golf courses and one of the regular golf courses. We also had tickets to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and SeaWorld.

We were booked to fly with Virgin Atlantic, a lovely 9 hour flight! But it was worth it for all the ADR's we had planned, special experiences booked and three birthdays we were celebrating.

This trip was three years after our last one and we had been actively planning for 18 months or so as that is how early we were able to book our accommodation, tickets and dining. I had high expectations and wanted to get a lot packed into our time. Hmm, am I setting myself up for disappointment here???!!!

More to come soon.​

 

[Lisa29]

Links

Pre-Travel Day Part One

Pre-Travel Day Part Two

Travel Day Part One

Travel Day Part Two

Travel Day Part Three

Day 2, Part 1 Animal Kingdom

Day 2, Part 2 Animal Kingdom ~ ~ And more Animal Kingdom
~ ~ Animal Kingdom PhotoPass Photos

Day 2, Part 3 My 'Mickey's Grand Welcome' Part 1 ~ ~ Grand Welcome Part Two ~ ~ Grand Welcome Part Three ~ ~ and HERE

Day 2, Part 4 DTD and Wolfgang Puck Cafe, coming soon

Day 3, Swimming at SSR, DTD, Planet Hollywood and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Day 4, Magic Kingdom, Harmony Barber Shop, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and Cinderella's Royal Table

Day 5, 'Ohana, Resort Hopping, Epcot and Whispering Canyon Cafe

Day 6, Shopping, a Helicopter Ride (Dad and Phil) and Chef Mickey's

Day 7, Islands of Adventure, Shopping and the Cheesecake Factory

Day 8, Typhoon Lagoon, DTD, Cape May Cafe and the Boardwalk at night

Day 9, Universal Studios, Hard Rock Cafe and Shopping

Day 10, THREE BIRTHDAYS!!

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

PhotoPass Photos

 

[scottny]

Joining in.

 

[Lisa29]

Joining in.

Thanks.

 

[Lisa29]

When I talk about ‘we’, I am mostly talking about my family of 4. I kept notes of what we did, I am not entirely sure of what everyone else did when we weren’t together!

Pre-Travel Day, Tuesday 24 September Part One

In the UK our major roads are not the best, there are often road works, delays, etc. so we always choose to stay at a hotel at the airport the night before to avoid stress on travel day, hence the ‘pre-travel day’.

Phil and I were both off work today. We were up early as normal and got the last bits sorted, double-checked we had everything and made sure the house was tidy. We got the girls dressed then took a picture with their countdown chart.



We loaded up the car, it all fit in better than we thought it would. We went to my parents house and proceeded to unload the car as we had a few errands to run.



The four of us left to take Madison to school. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles are allowed to go into the class for an hour on a Tuesday morning to sit wth the children and see what they are learning. Michelle and I were going in this morning (Sydney goes to the same school) while Phil and Kaley were going to the local rubbish site to get rid of our recycling and wash he car and check the oil, tyres, etc.

I met Phil and Kaley in the village and we went to a coffee shop to pass some time. We went into a couple of shops to look for a car air freshener for my Dad (the things we have to do before a trip! ) then went back to my parents. We got changed into comfy travel clothes and ordered Domino’s pizza for lunch.

We had arranged to pick Madison up from school early at 1.15pm so we left just after 1pm after re-packing the car. I said earlier that I had double-checked everything before leaving. Well, as we got to the school I realised I had left Madison’s shoes at home, duh! I got her changed inside then we called in at home to pick up the forgotten shoes.

Finally we were on our way to the Premier Inn at Manchester airport, which is about a 2 hour drive.

Kaley usually has a nap in the morning but we kept her awake hoping she would sleep in the car. She did



for maybe 20 minutes! The girls were both really good though and the time passed fairly quickly. We arrived at the hotel around 3.30pm, not far behind Mum, Dad, Ryan, Bethany and Piper who had left at the same time as us but didn’t have the stop-offs we did.

The Premier Inn is a pretty basic hotel but that was all we needed. Some pics.







Close to Manchester airport is a Viewing Park which is close to the runway and you can see the planes taking off and landing. The four of us are a bit geeky when it comes to planes so we drove over.

They have a concord exhibit but they were not running tours on this day so this was the closest we got



There were some obstacle course-type play areas that the girls enjoyed







Kaley really enjoyed watching the planes taking off and landing



She had a bit of an issue with the noise though!



And where to put her hands to cover her ears!



We saw quite a few planes taking off and landing while we were there



We stayed for just under an hour and got back to the hotel at around 5pm. We gave the girls a bath and got them changed. They were so excited and just a little bit crazy! I sorted out the clothes for tomorrow and we met up with the others downstairs for dinner. Michelle, Jamie, Sydney and Kori had arrived not long after us. Dan and Marie were driving up after work so didn’t arrive until 9pm-ish.​

 

[ljcrochet]

Can't wait to read about your trip.

 

[scottny]

Great update and pics.

 

[emmysmommy]

Hi Lisa! I'm happy to join in your TR. How awesome that your entire family was along for the holiday!

Your daughters are adorable.

 

[DisneyLifer87]

Joining in! Your girls are adorable and I absolutely love your pictures! I'm excited to hear about your trip.

 

[Lisa29]

Can't wait to read about your trip.

Hi Lisa Joy

More to come soon!

Great update and pics.

Thanks Scott.

Hi Lisa! I'm happy to join in your TR. How awesome that your entire family was along for the holiday!

Your daughters are adorable.

Hi Brenda, thank you for joining in. We all had a really good time and it was lovely to all go together.

Thank you for the compliment about the girls, they do have their cute moments!

Joining in! Your girls are adorable and I absolutely love your pictures! I'm excited to hear about your trip.

Thank you very much! My husband took 98% of the photos so he gets the credit there.

More to come soon.

 

[Lisa29]

Happy new year to everyone. Hope your wishes and dreams for the year come true.

 

[emmysmommy]

Happy New Year to you too Lisa!!!

Enjoy your celebration.

 

[Lisa29]

Happy New Year to you too Lisa!!!

Enjoy your celebration.

Thank you.

 

[Lisa29]

Continued.

Pre-Travel Day, Tuesday 24 September Part Two

We met in the lobby and ate in the hotels restaurant called Thyme. Madison and Kaley shared garlic flatbread, fish goujons, fries and peas and a fruit salad. I had the 8-ounce rump steak with bearnaise sauce and fries.



Phil had the 8-ounce rump steak with peppercorn sauce and fies. No pic as the only difference was the sauce.

Phil had a chocolate sundae for dessert



I had caramel apple crumble with custard



This is my Dad’s pic, hence the ice cream instead of custard, as I forgot to take one of mine, oops!

We were back up in our room by 7.40pm. We got the girls into their pj’s and put them into bed. I had a shower and Phil sat in the dark playing on his phone in the hope that the girls would go to sleep. Nope, no such luck! We had a fair few cross works then decided that I would get into bed with Madison and Phil with Kaley and they were finally asleep by 8.40pm.

We tidied a bit, watched CSI:NY (we were a whole season behind the US) and tried to sleep. This was an epic fail for me as I was awake most of the night.​

 

[scottny]

The food looked really good.

 

[pixiemama91]

I am joining in. Can't wait to hear more about your trip. Your girls are adorable!!!

 

[Lisa29]

The food looked really good.

It was ok, to me, our food, especially steaks, do not compare to the US.

 

[Lisa29]

I am joining in. Can't wait to hear more about your trip. Your girls are adorable!!!

Hi, thank you to both comments! Another update will be up soon.

 

[DisneyJo]

Great start!

Your girls are very cute and I love the photo where Kaley is trying to cover her ears

 

[Lisa29]

Great start!

Your girls are very cute and I love the photo where Kaley is trying to cover her ears

Thanks Jo.

I love that picture too, she really is a quirky little miss.

I remember you from the Mom's Panel, I used to go on that all the time reading the questions and answers. What an amazing experience for you. I have started reading your TR from that too, what I have read so far is amazing!