I'm going to try to finally finish this trip report!
Saturday morning I finished some laundry and packing. We made a big breakfast because we were throwing out any food that was left. Finally we took our bags to the airline check-in place and headed over to Epcot. This was one of those brutally hot and humid days that makes people want to avoid Florida in August!
I'm not sure I even remember everything we did. I know we did Baby Swap on Test Track. I know I took Nathaniel on Mission: Space (and we did the orange side this time - I felt a little off but Nathaniel was happy as a clam!). While we were doing that, Tom took the little ones on Ellen's Universe of Energy. Jessica loved it!
We stopped at Guest Services and got ADRs for lunch at Biergarten. We probably didn't need them but figured it never hurts. We rode Maelstrom on the way to lunch. Lunch was fun. We sat with a family of 3 who are Dis-ers and DVC members. They were super nice and very friendly. Jessica enjoyed dancing at Biergarten, as usual. I took pics but they are totally blurry. We did a final Kim Possible mission on our way back to Beach Club. Jessica wasn't feeling great so I ended up buying Pepto at the Marketplace (which I had to throw out at the airport because it wasn't small enough to take through security
).
We were waiting and waiting for DME when Tom decided to ask about a cab to the airport instead. They found one with 3 car seats for the kids. It was seriously the best $60 ever. It was a quick and easy trip to the airport. With resort check-in we didn't have luggage to worry about. Totally worth it! I've always been a big fan of DME but I have to say this made me reconsider. Our last few trips on DME haven't been fabulous.
We had a late flight home. Zachary was a handful on the flight (he figured out how to unbuckle his seatbelt which made it difficult). The kids were tired but nobody slept on the plane. Everyone slept in the car on the way home!
I would call this trip a HUGE success. There's no such thing as a perfect trip but this one was as good as they get. I can definitely see that the trips will get easier as the kids get older. Nathaniel was a delight (he had his moments like any kid but he was mostly great). Jessica was a bit whiny but that's her stage right now. Zachary is so easy-going.
What I learned: We missed out on a lot of pool time due to afternoon thunderstorms. The kids were able to survive some longer days in the parks but NOT when the weather was brutal. Plan, plan, plan and then go with the flow. Staying near Epcot made dinner easy and yummy. Our family likes 2 sit-down meals per day - lunch and dinner.
We're heading back in January for the marathon weekend. And I just booked us for our 1st
Disney cruise! We'll be on the Dream for the podcast cruise in June, 2012!!!
Amanda