“Dreams Come True Momma!” A 2 year old’s first trip ~ May 2015~Complete {NEW TR LINK!}

[Gracefulskinny]

You are the only adult I've ever heard say that!

What?!? Nonsense!! How could you not like Figment?!?

 

[Gracefulskinny]

I cannot wait to read more. Your Little Miss is adorable!

Hi there welcome! THank you! I think she's pretty cute myself!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

The Pre Travel stuff…..



So this trip report starts off in the days leading up to the trip. To give those who weren’t with us in the PTR some background, about a month before the trip started my back tooth completely shattered which lead to a bit of what I have now dubbed an “Oral Apocalypse”. I ended up needing a Root Canal and a Crown on a different tooth and the shattered tooth was going to need to be removed but I had been told that it could probably wait till I got back from the trip. Well, fast forward to 10 days before the trip and the last bit of tooth that was protecting the nerve and preventing me from having pain crumbled away leaving me in pretty bad pain. I called the oral surgeon the next morning and they were able to work me in and get it out the very next day. I came away from surgery with an insane list of food restrictions that left me only able to eat cold soft foods. The perk of it all was I was also required to drink an INSANE amount of water every day and that ended up helping me to get plenty hydrated before our trip.


As those that read the PTR will recall, the surgery and food restrictions added a level of drama to the days leading up to our departure that I could have lived without. The day before the trip I went in for my Post Op appointment with crossed fingers. Thankfully I was given the all clear to eat pretty much what I wanted except chips and anything with Small loose particles that could get stuck in the still freshly recovering site. (I’m telling you that the chick fil a sandwich I had for lunch after that never tasted so good ever!)


With that weight lifted from my shoulders I stopped to top off the gas and went home to get the last few things packed. Soon my dinning room looked like This:

I got nervous that everything wasn't going to fit in the car because with all this here we still had to fit the somewhat bulky jogging stroller as well.


Well finally DH finished up his work before the trip and Little Miss was put to bed. At 10 PM is when we finally started the game of Car Tetris. (Some may remember that DH had rather lofty goals of being in bed by 9. At least he gets points for optimism. )



After about 45 minutes of fiddling around We managed to get everything in without a single window being blocked. (The 3 cases of water we brought with us took up a lot of space!) We climbed up stairs and started to wind down for the night and then DH realized….. In his diligence to pack his suitcase he forgot one small minor detail…..He forgot to leave his arrival day clothes out of the suitcase. He ended up going back down and digging something out of his suitcase to make things work. Thankfully it didn’t take too long. Soon enough we were down for the count getting as much rest as we could before our early wakeup call. ​

 

[Gracefulskinny]

The Best Laid Plans…..


{This should be the last of the text heavy posts. There isn’t that much to take pictures of on travel posts}


The plan had been to strike out at 5:30am to avoid traffic and so that Little Miss would sleep for most of the trip. Our plan also had us arriving by at the VERY latest 1:30 and that was accounting for emergency/unaccounted for stops. Our goal was a 12:30-1pm arrival. I had a fair amount of confidence that this was doable.


Well, before we would have liked, the alarm was going off at 4:30 am and DH started Operation keep the kid asleep by quietly changing her diaper and putting her back down so that she could fall back asleep. Phase one was pulled off without a hitch.


After finishing getting ready and packing the last of the toiletries in the car we had gotten everything ready to go and we were ready to hit the road. It was time to act on phase 2 of Operation Keep the Kid to sleep.


All the lights were out. The path to the car was clear. DH quietly picked up Little Miss and crept to the car. I quietly followed behind with her pillow and Loveys. DH settled her into her car seat with us both holding our breath and just when we thought we had pulled it off, Little Miss’s bleary eyed going back to sleep now expression melted away as she realized where she was and why she was sitting in her car seat. In an instant she was wide awake.



We sighed and crossed our fingers that we could entice her back to sleep with a dark and quite car so we just struck out with no music and crossed our fingers.


We pulled out of the garage right at 5:30. Awesome! We are on schedule! About 30 minutes in I realized that something was off and my plan of empty roads and no traffic were not to be and that even 5:30 in the morning is not too early for the morning grind impatient commuters. While traffic never fully gridlocks, it’s still heavy and adds about 30-45 minutes on to the drive time.


About 2 1/2 hours in I glance back to see if Little Miss has fallen back asleep yet. Instead, I am greeted with this site:

Yeah not going back to sleep anytime soon. We have now lost the advantage of darkness she won’t be falling asleep now. At this point I have a few moments of Panic and frustration. “The trip has barely started and things keep going off course! What was this going to mean for the rest of the trip?“ Soon enough DH calms me back down and we are back to the let it flow attitude. With Little Miss now wide awake and me getting hungry I go ahead and munch on a Twizzler and allow Little Miss to have one as well.


About 30 minutes later, Little Miss starts coughing and I realize that we forgot to give Little Miss her allergy meds the night before. Before I can even process a plan, that coughing turns to something a tad…. more.


Little Miss has now choked on her post nasal drip and thrown up that just eaten twizzler.I would like to say that as a mommy my first thoughts were concern for my daughter who is now barfing in the backseat. I would like to say that DH’s first thoughts were of concern for our daughter who was now barfing in the backseat. However I’m a realist.


You see, as we were putting Little Miss to bed the night before DH and I realized that Little Lambie or “Travel Lambie” had gone full AWOL. So because we couldn’t find travel Lambie and Little Miss seemed rather dead set on bringing big Lambie with her (If you don’t know Lambie’s story I suggest going back to my PTR and reading it. Poor Lambie has been through a lot. ), I caved and let her bring big Lambie with us.


Fast-forward back to the puking. So here we are driving along the highway Little Miss starts puking her recently eaten RED twizzler with Lambie in her lap! Our first thoughts were both “CRAP! SAVE LAMBIE AND BLANKIE!!! SAVE LAMBIE AND BLANKIE!!!” So in a move worthy of a mommy ninja, I thrust the barf bucket (because we at least thought this far ahead) at Little Miss and threw Lambie and Blankie out of the line of fire. DH quickly pulled off that the first exit we came across and we ended up in a Grocery store parking lot.


While DH started dealing with Little Miss I assessed Lambie and while she was hit with a spot I was thankfully able to use a bottle of water and the paper towels in the car and clean her off. LAMBIE SAVED!(Thank god! That REALLY wasn’t the way to start a trip. )


With Lambie Clean and Little Miss extracted from the car, I took the backpack and Little Miss to get cleaned up. ( Note, it wasn’t until we were in the grocery store we stopped at that I realized that I had left Little Miss’s shoes in the car!) While I was doing that DH tackled getting the car seat clean which thankfully wasn’t too bad because her stomach had been mostly empty.

We recover from the debacle quickly at get back on the road, but not without adding another 30 minute delay to the mix. The one upside to this stop was that in going ahead and giving her some Benadryl for her allergies we weren’t back on the road for long before we come across this lovely site:

Benadryl saves the day and she sleeps for another two hours and only wakes when pull off for breakfast. (Though in hindsight we probably should have just grabbed something while stopped at the grocery store).



This is a cute little video of Little Miss while we were eating breakfast.


After breakfast DH puts on a few movies on the tablet and Little Miss seems rather happy and content with that.

In the last hour she starts to get restless and the motion sick safe toys and the movies are no longer cutting it. With about 40 minutes to go I finally cave and let her have her sticker book. A move I am strongly kicking myself for now!


10 minutes later I realize that our calculations on not needing to stop for gas and having enough to get there we're off. We now are forced to get gas while on the turnpike but thankfully the price wasn’t too bad.


I am now really anxious. Its already 1:45pm and by even my padded timing we should have been there by now and we still had another half an hour left of the trip. I could start to see my grand plans for hitting up DTD dwindling away already.


As we are exiting the turnpike on to I-4 IT happens. DH tries to grab the bucket and get it in front of her in time but doesn’t quite make it. This time we aren’t lucky. This time its not just a bit of postnasal drip choking her causing the throw up. This time its because Mommy caved and said she could have her sticker book. This time is motion sickness with a belly full of breakfast. And we didn't have another change of clothes accessible because she already threw up on her p.j.s. and her clothes are in the bottom most suitcase that won’t be reachable till we get to the room.


We pull off at the first exit I could find and end up in the Fridays parking lot facing Universal. It was not a fine moment for DH and I. Here we are in a parking lot staring at Universal, over an hour and half behind schedule already, no clothes for the kid, and a car seat that is completely covered. THANK GOD Lambie was safe from the line of fire. (She may have been thrown by one of us across the car to save her) Blankie wasn’t quite as lucky but not that bad. I was once again able to use some water and paper towels and get it mostly clean.


At this point it looks like Little Miss will be checking in naked. And then I see the pool Bag.

You see when I was packing I had found in our linen closet a cute hooded towel I had bought ages ago (pre little miss days actually). I had initially bought it as a good just in case present for a random kid but decided that it would be a fun surprise for Little Miss. It was sitting on the top of the pool bag which happened to be on the floor in the back seat in easy reach.


SCORE! My kid won’t arrive to Disney World naked!!! So another 30 minutes off the clock and everything is loaded back up and we are ready to get back on the road.

Little Miss is still not her happy self and is still on the fussy side. I had to laugh when we ended up passing Cabana Bay and DH commented, “Wow, gosh look at that PLACE! Talk about a need of a referb!”


I guess it’s a good thing I only considered staying there for a day or so. After laughing I told him what it was and his response was… “Yeah, no thanks!”


FINALLY we were seeing this beautiful site and like magic Little Miss went from a little miserable to feeding off my excitement.

Before long we were pulling up here

We had yet to get a text that our room was ready so we parked and went in. I won’t lie a part of me was cringing inside that after all the hard work on planning out her outfits and back up outfits and contingencies that my daughter was going to be walking into her first Disney resort in nothing but a diaper and a pool towel.


And this is where the magic of being at Disney really kicked in. Because while our room wasn’t ready I was informed that they were able to grant all our room requests and by the time we had reached the check in desk it was 2:45pm so letting Little Miss run around in a pool towel for 15 minutes wouldn’t kill her. Then to amp up the magic in the moment the girl checking in stops us as we are about to leave and calls out, “ Oh wait! I almost forgot!” then turning to Little Miss said, “Tiana stopped by this morning and left this for you. She wanted me to be sure that you got it.” She then pulls out a scroll and hands it over to Little Miss.

Any sign that Little Miss wasn’t feeling well was erased at this. We thanked the lady and went to sit on some chairs and hung out in the lobby for a minute before heading out to move our car to our building. (She did tell us that so that we could move our car, but we would have to wait for the text for the exact room number.)

We got our car into the correct lot and within minutes the text came through and we were off to find our room! ​

 

[jessidoll]

Joining in! And so happy you had a little Disney magic to make up for the bumps in the road!

 

[KathyM2]

I'm here!! Oh man...what a drive!! That is so brutal...nothing worse than puke and more puke...I had to laugh though...and I hope it's funny to you in hindsight too...because I was so amazed by all your planning of outfits etc...and then...the pool towel...sorry...one of those things it probably is only funny later but I hope you are giggling about it now!! I'm glad that things started to turn around though! Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Ugh, best laid plans indeed. At least having a bit of a low point there made the Disney magic mean that much more

Really cute story of Tianna l waving the scroll.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Sorry about your travel day issues. I have been there (which you probably know if you read my first trip report!). Glad you got back on the right track!

 

[ashw100]

I'm here! Sounds like a rough start to the vacation but Disney Magic kicked in. I'm sorry about the puke but, at least she wasn't naked. I may have a puke story or two in my TR .

 

[kadrachb]

game of Car Tetris.

Car tetris is the most annoying thing while doing it; but the most satisfying type of tetris when done! Just as long as the trunk closes, who cares if stuff falls out of it when it's opened?

Sorry about the puke, but one day you can tell your daughter about it and laugh!

 

[bunnyboo]

YAY, you started your TR!!! The pictures in your first post are so cute, can't wait to see more!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Joining in! And so happy you had a little Disney magic to make up for the bumps in the road!

Hi there! Thanks for joining in! That Disney magic makes all the difference doesn't it?

I'm here!!

Yay! Hi there!

Oh man...what a drive!!

You're telling me! I was so relieved to just be there.

That is so brutal...nothing worse than puke and more puke...I had to laugh though...and I hope it's funny to you in hindsight too...because I was so amazed by all your planning of outfits etc...and then...the pool towel...sorry...one of those things it probably is only funny later but I hope you are giggling about it now!!

Oh no worries. I could recognise the humor in it as we arrived. By the time we parked the car and were walking in the building I was almost laughing about it right then. Life is all about the surprises right? I knew then that when I shared this story that y'all would understand and get a kick out of it.

I'm glad that things started to turn around though! Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip!

The downsides really made the good stuff later all that much more special.

Ugh, best laid plans indeed.

At least having a bit of a low point there made the Disney magic mean that much more

Just wait till you see how true that is!!

Really cute story of Tianna l waving the scroll.

I believe they do that for anyone checking in to a Royal Room, but I had forgotten about it so wasn't expecting it. It was a nice bit of magic at just the right moment.

Sorry about your travel day issues. I have been there (which you probably know if you read my first trip report!). Glad you got back on the right track!

My mother would call it Parental Karma. Though from what my mom says I had it way easier with Little MIss.

I'm here!

Yay! By the way, You didn't by chance ride Soarin right at close on the 13th did you? I ended up doing single rider next to someone who looked like I should know them but I didn't recognise anyone that it looked like she was with. I didn't think to ask about the disboards till way later.

Sounds like a rough start to the vacation but Disney Magic kicked in.

Rough start indeed! But Thank goodness for that Disney Magic!

I'm sorry about the puke but, at least she wasn't naked. I may have a puke story or two in my TR .

Indeed. Everytime I would start to cringe I would end up so greatful that at least she wasn't naked. It really is a tad funny now.

Car tetris is the most annoying thing while doing it; but the most satisfying type of tetris when done!

Just as long as the trunk closes, who cares if stuff falls out of it when it's opened?

That doesn't work for us. Our trunk has a motor that closes it on its own and it closes slowly. But also it would drive DH crazy to just have it thrown in.

Sorry about the puke, but one day you can tell your daughter about it and laugh!

Thats what the disers are for! If I can't laugh about it with Yall who can I laugh with?

YAY, you started your TR!!!

Hi there!

The pictures in your first post are so cute, can't wait to see more!

 

[Choozee]

You always leave me aching for more!
Well you were very prepared with the barf bucket and kudos to your dh for cleaning things up a bit.
The CM and the Tiana scroll is awesome!
We are staying at POR with a 3 yr old in September

 

[princessesandpascal]

Great update! Oh my goodness, that is one insane car ride! (I come from a family that took 15+ hour road trips with me as a three-and-four year old so I've been part of some crazy ones myself, but that really is a bad one!) I'm so sorry but I can't help but laugh at the idea of you and your DH standing there freaking out that she's gonna be naked arriving in Disney and then all you had was a hooded towel But hey, being at Disney with your little one in a hooded pool towel and not much else is better than no Disney at all! And you two were pretty well prepared!

So excited to see the Riverside pictures. We stayed at POFQ and fell in love with it in 2011. I'd love to do Riverside someday as well!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

You always leave me aching for more!

Well thank you! You will have to hang for a few more days... I don't yet have the next update written.

Well you were very prepared with the barf bucket and kudos to your dh for cleaning things up a bit.

We learned this one the hard way. Last year on our way to the beach Little Miss got car sick less then 10 minutes from the hotel. (We could literally see it in the distance! Apparently she is making a habit of puking right before we arrive somewhere.)

The CM and the Tiana scroll is awesome!
We are staying at POR with a 3 yr old in September

It really is a special touch they do for those staying in the Royal Rooms. Its a copy of the letter that is printed on the table in the room.

Great update!

Oh my goodness, that is one insane car ride! (I come from a family that took 15+ hour road trips with me as a three-and-four year old so I've been part of some crazy ones myself, but that really is a bad one!)

Isn't it though? At least it makes for a good story after the fact!

I'm so sorry but I can't help but laugh at the idea of you and your DH standing there freaking out that she's gonna be naked arriving in Disney and then all you had was a hooded towel

We weren't freaking out about that as much as trying to figure out how to get things cleaned up. We had resigned ourselves to the idea of her arriving naked. Finding the hooded towel was such a relief that it was almost cause for celebration. Desperate times and all that.

But hey, being at Disney with your little one in a hooded pool towel and not much else is better than no Disney at all! And you two were pretty well prepared!

At least she wasn't naked!

So excited to see the Riverside pictures. We stayed at POFQ and fell in love with it in 2011. I'd love to do Riverside someday as well!

Well I took plenty. Especially on the last day where I was just wanted to soak up every last moment that I could before we left.

 

[pkondz]

my back tooth completely shattered which lead to a bit of what I have now dubbed an “Oral Apocalypse”.

"I love the smell of novocaine in the morning"*

*From: Apocalypse Dentist

The perk of it all was I was also required to drink an INSANE amount of water every day and that ended up helping me to get plenty hydrated before our trip.

Wow. Talk about looking on the bright side!

Soon my dinning room looked like This:

Pretty typical for a family of five heading out on vacation.

(Some may remember that DH had rather lofty goals of being in bed by 9. At least he gets points for optimism. )

Our goal was a 12:30-1pm arrival. I had a fair amount of confidence that this was doable.

You forgot to add the additional two to three hours for real world navigation.
At least that seems to always be the case with my vacation travel plans.

We pulled out of the garage right at 5:30.

Impressive. Especially with a little one it tow.

About 2 1/2 hours in I glance back to see if Little Miss has fallen back asleep yet. Instead, I am greeted with this site:

Pretty cute sight, even if it was unsettling for you.
She looks like she's thinking "Where are you taking me?"

“The trip has barely started and things keep going off course! What was this going to mean for the rest of the trip?“

Hey, it could be worse. She could be puking or something.

If you don’t know Lambie’s story I suggest going back to my PTR and reading it.

I did!

Our first thoughts were both “CRAP! SAVE LAMBIE AND BLANKIE!!! SAVE LAMBIE AND BLANKIE!!!”

Yup. Save what you can! The kid comes second!
I think we instinctively know that she's not in any real danger.
But we are in danger of losing valuable merchandise!

That always amazes me. If I puke, I feel horrible for a long time.
Kids? Puking is like getting their second wind!

The one upside to this stop was that in going ahead and giving her some Benadryl for her allergies we weren’t back on the road for long before we come across this lovely site:

Awww... I figured she'd tucker out sooner or later.

In the last hour she starts to get restless and the motion sick safe toys and the movies are no longer cutting it.

What are motion sick toys?

My kid won’t arrive to Disney World naked!!!

Why, oh why didn't you make that your TR title!

Someone looks a bit perturbed.
I would be too, if someone handed me a puke bucket.
"Here. Hold this. You'll need it."

Then to amp up the magic in the moment the girl checking in stops us as we are about to leave and calls out, “ Oh wait! I almost forgot!” then turning to Little Miss said, “Tiana stopped by this morning and left this for you. She wanted me to be sure that you got it.” She then pulls out a scroll and hands it over to Little Miss.

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[Gracefulskinny]

"I love the smell of novocaine in the morning"*

*From: Apocalypse Dentist

Wow. Talk about looking on the bright side!

You gotta find it somewhere right?

Pretty typical for a family of five heading out on vacation.

Except we are only a family of 3. Really truly I probably could have left the chips at home since I couldn't eat them and Little MIss and DH didn't really eat much either.

Yeah I never took that one seriously. I did TRY to help him stay on schedule though.

You forgot to add the additional two to three hours for real world navigation.
At least that seems to always be the case with my vacation travel plans.

Usually I only need an hour for that. Normally we end up a little faster than predicted Navigating time. I didn't really account for puke time though. At least I know for next time.

Impressive. Especially with a little one it tow.

We were pretty organized and she was asleep. But we are generally pretty good about getting out the door when we try to.

Pretty cute sight, even if it was unsettling for you.
She looks like she's thinking "Where are you taking me?"

Oh it was cute for sure. Just a tad frustrating. I knew as soon as I saw her look around and realize it was Disney day she wouldn't be going back to sleep easy.

Hey, it could be worse. She could be puking or something.

I did!

Nothing like burning off the face of your child's beloved toy to get you going right?

Yup. Save what you can! The kid comes second!
I think we instinctively know that she's not in any real danger.
But we are in danger of losing valuable merchandise!

That always amazes me. If I puke, I feel horrible for a long time.
Kids? Puking is like getting their second wind!

Its how I can tell if she is sick puking or just car sick or allergy puking. Once you clean her up and get her in fresh clothes if she bounces back within 30-45 minutes I'm good. Usually its even faster than that.

Awww... I figured she'd tucker out sooner or later.

gotta love benadryl.

What are motion sick toys?

Motion Sick Safe toys are toys that can entertain her but don't strongly encourage her to keep her head focused on her lap instead of up. (You can see some foam shapes she likes to hold and play with that are a motion sick safe toy in one of the pictures.) The problem with books and coloring pages is that it encourages her to keep her eyes down. That is when motion sickness gets you.

Why, oh why didn't you make that your TR title!

1) I didn't think of it at the time. 2) The quote that I did end up using kinda summed up the trip well.

Someone looks a bit perturbed.
I would be too, if someone handed me a puke bucket.
"Here. Hold this. You'll need it."

She was done being in the car. There is also the factor that there is only so much you can clean a car seat in a parking lot. It ended up having to come with us in the room and DH had to wash it. Paper towels aren't all that comfy to sit on for 20 minutes. I really didn't blame her. I didn't want to sit anymore either.

joining in

Hi there! Thanks for Joining in!

 

[Nermel9]

I'm here! Great start, Little Miss is the cutest! Sorry your drive there was filled with puke, lol, but yay, you made it to Disney!!

 

[Glittercat]

Hello! I'm over from your PTR. What a great and happy family picture! Also, I just love your tank top!

“Dreams Come True Momma!”
A 2 year old’s first trip ~ May 2015

how very sweet!

What a magical photo of your daughter!

Her Favorite ride was most definitely the carousel with Figment up there as well.

My son loved Figment at five and hopes to see Figment again at 10.

Next we have my wonderful DH who on rare occasions can be found here on the disboards under the name PirateFuzzball.

good name

His favorite Disney stuff is Star Wars (as you may quickly guess biased on his shirt choices.)

My husband is the same way.

There has always been something special about Disney that has held a place in my heart

I feel the very same way!

The perk of it all was I was also required to drink an INSANE amount of water every day and that ended up helping me to get plenty hydrated before our trip

great attitude!

Operation keep the kid asleep

DH settled her into her car seat with us both holding our breath and just when we thought we had pulled it off, Little Miss’s bleary eyed going back to sleep now expression melted away as she realized where she was and why she was sitting in her car seat. In an instant she was wide awake.

totally understand

Our first thoughts were both “CRAP! SAVE LAMBIE AND BLANKIE!!! SAVE LAMBIE AND BLANKIE!!!”

evry parent has been there at least once

SCORE! My kid won’t arrive to Disney World naked!!!

I won’t lie a part of me was cringing inside that after all the hard work on planning out her outfits and back up outfits and contingencies that my daughter was going to be walking into her first Disney resort in nothing but a diaper and a pool towel.

I think you both handled the situation with grace.

“ Oh wait! I almost forgot!” then turning to Little Miss said, “Tiana stopped by this morning and left this for you. She wanted me to be sure that you got it.” She then pulls out a scroll and hands it over to Little Miss.

I'm so happy this happened for her!