12 Days of Disney: Our Very Merry Vow Renewal, Christmas, Alligators and more!

[missjackiemcg]

Welcome, TR readers!! This December we finally got to go on our long-awaited trip over 500 days in the making to spend 12 amazing days at Walt Disney World including celebrating our 10 year anniversary, renewing our wedding vows, enjoying Christmas and kicking off a brand new year!! I'm excited you're here to read about all of our family fun and adventures...now that we've been home over a month and are in the serious throws of Disney Withdrawal, it seems like a perfect time to FINALLY get this started!!!

Let's kick off here with some introductions!
(which I will steal from my PTR....if you're interested in some of the back story
of how this trip came to be, pop on over and check that out!)

The Lagoni's "We Do" Redo
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[missjackiemcg]

So, who's in on the trip?!​

ME
MK_FANTASYLANDEASTWALLCHAR_375968620768 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr​

I'm Jackie! Dopey is my favorite character I'm a Kindergarten teacher by day, work at a Hallmark shop nights and weekends and am also a Mom to my soon to be 8 year old son, Jimmy. My first Disney trip was when I graduated in high school in 2000 with my best friend. What can I say?! I was hooked from the moment I laid eyes on that beautiful castle at the end of Main Street and knew I'd be back. This year's trip will be my 10th, and that's pretty perfect because we've planned this vow renewal for our 10th Anniversary.
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Oh, yea, guess I should introduce you to the "groom."
20160611_121305 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr​

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This is Rob. He didn't know he loved Disney until he met me . One of our first compromises was where to go on our Honeymoon--he wanted some place tropical, I wanted to go to Disney World. So, I compromised--we went on a Disney Cruise after spending 4 days at Disney World. He found out, I was right and we had a very magical time!!

Also joining us will be our son, Jimmy!
20150526_200427 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Jimmy has been born and raised "Disney"! Rob and I baby-mooned at Disney World then brought Jimmy for his 2nd birthday and again for Christmas when he was 4. He is really excited this trip about meeting Baymax and taking Grandpa on Splash Mountain, so he can "get a wet tooshie!!" (Spoiler alert--this never happened...in TWELVE DAYS!!! UGH. Fail. Guess we'll just have to go back! )

Next up is my Mom.
AK_OUTFITTERSCHAR1_375968276181 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Mom is another who didn't know she loved Disney til she went with me!!!! Her first trip was to Disneyland when she was 9 years old. The only part she remembers is It's a Small World, so that is always a favorite at WDW. We went to Disney World as a family in 2004 when I was 22 and my brother was 18. She was hooked. We have gone on two Mom-Daughter trips since then, Christmas 2005 and November 2015 to say farewall to the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights!!!

Last, but certainly not least, "Flat Pat!"
20151027_180803 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Well, THIS is Flat Pat who joined Mom and I on our November trip. It was actually my parents' 35th wedding anniversary but we left the real Pat at home. We took Flat Pat along on our adventure For THIS trip, the real pat will join us!!
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Now, enough with the introductions! Let's get this show on the road!!

 

[missjackiemcg]

Wednesday, December 21st was our last day of school before Christmas Break would finally begin!!! I didn't expect to still be in school on the 21st when we booked this trip (500 days out!!!!!) SO, Rob, Jimmy and I got up at 5:30 a.m. like we do every day, got ready and headed off to school. We are lucky to be able to carpool to school together lots of days because we teach at schools about a mile apart and Jimmy goes to school where I teach. So, we dropped Rob off at school, headed to our own school and counted the minutes until we could get the heck out!!!!

Screenshot_20161221-103558 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

About 11:00 a.m. Jimmy came down to my classroom and it was time to hit the road!!! BUT not before opening one special present from my room Mom who insisted I had to open it before leaving.

20161221_090322 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

I cried (of course!) because it was so beautiful but also so incredibly generous--this is a LENOX statue, and I know they don't come cheap. I was just overwhelmed at the sweet gift and SO EXCITED I would be going to sleep in Orlando. I said my thank yous and hugged my teacher aides who thankfully were OK with being left to handle my class of 35 for the rest of the day and OFF. WE. WENT!!!!

We picked up Rob, stopped home to load up the car and headed to my parents' house to wait for our ride!!!

The SUV arrived about 20 minutes early (woohoo!!) and we started to load up in a flurry of arms and suitcases. We were all grabbing carry ons and suitcases and backpacks and running them out to the car as my aunt arrived to stay with my parents' dog. It was a wild few minutes but all of a sudden it looked like we were packed and ready to go. My parents only live about 15 minutes from O'Hare airport, and with the driver arriving early, we were well ahead of schedule.

20161221_145138 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Right after we took this picture, I went to put the camera back in my bag and realized <INSERT HUGE GASP HERE> I FORGOT JIMMY'S BACKPACK AT THE HOUSE!!!!! Normally this would be no big deal BUT his backpack had all of his "guys" (the stuffed animals he sleeps with every night) and his blanket in it. But even worse, the autograph books I made for him (yes, you read that right--not a type-o. BOOKS. plural. More on that later.) There was no question about it, we had to go back.

So, driver, let's make a u-turn! We headed back home, Dad ran in and grabbed the backpack, back on the road all in about 10 minutes. Good news is, since we were early, we were now on time even with our little trip back and forth. Bad news is, those jerks charged us for making "an extra stop" even though we traveled less than 2 miles total and were still on time. GRR.

We checked in and had no issues, other than the fact that I accidentally hit 3 when I picked how many bags I wanted to check and there was no option to go back, so I had to pay The girl at the kiosk told me I could go on American Airlines.com after my trip and request a refund. Yea, I don't have time for that. So, we ended up checking Jimmy's suitcase o' toys even though we had planned on carrying it on with us.

We got comfy at our gate since we had almost 2 hours left until we could finally board our plane. Mom and I both heard our phones go off at the same time and checked--we both had the same text from Disney's Pop Century. "Your room is.....NOT....ready." Um, ok. Thanks for letting me know??? We have never done online check-in before but were nervous about being sure we had connecting rooms on this trip. Since we were trying to get connecting rooms, we did online check in and put that in as our request for both rooms. We already paid extra for a preferred room, so weren't worried about which building, etc. we would be in. We had a few evenings planned where Jimmy would be at the hotel with my parents at bedtime while we were out. With connecting rooms, he would be able to be tucked into his own bed and they could go to sleep in theirs regardless what time we got home at. Our fingers were still crossed.

FB_IMG_1482412060645 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

We did finally get another text right before boarding the plane that our rooms were ready and LUCKY US they were consecutive numbers so we KNEW we had connecting rooms. YAY

I promise more pictures are coming!!

One second for a little backstory--I booked our flights for this trip back in February 2016 and some point in the time between actually going on the trip they changed the type of airplane and our seats could no longer be in the same row apparently. The thing that really sucks about this is they never let us know about it, so I found out when I went online to do our check in :-/ We were now seated 10 rows behind my parents and across from them was now a bathroom.

20161221_185410 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr
That's the back of their heads up there

20161221_185330 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr
Here's Jimmy and Buddy, ready to fly!

The only positive to this switcheroo they pulled was we got to fly on a brand new beautiful Air Bus. We all had tablet screens in the seat in front of us, free wifi and tons of movies, shows and games.

We had a smooth, easy flight (thank goodness because I am NOT a good flyer....I hate doing it and it's even harder when my Jimmy is with me because that just makes me extra nervous.) Before long, we could see the beautiful nighttime lights of Orlando below us!!!!
20161221_192734 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

20161221_200359 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

After a very quick and easy landing, the pilot announced we were HOME!!! Well, home for the next 12 days Let the magic begin!!!
20161221_223605 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Our first "ride" of the trip along the Fake-o-Rail, which was having a refurb on one track while we were there.

DSC06043 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06042 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06044 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

We had to pick up our luggage because our flight came in too close to the deadline of 10:30 p.m. so we waited for a bit and our luggage was among the first off the carousel. My family followed me...because let's be honest I was sprinting to the Magical Express desk at this point...there was no one there. I should've taken a picture because there were seriously zero people there besides the three CMs with their Mickey gloves waving us over. Magicbands scanned immediately and green Mickeys meant we were all set to board our bus. We walked right on and were the last people to get on the bus for a quick, quiet ride to Pop Century!!

DSC06046 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

FB_IMG_1482412074122 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

It was almost midnight by the time we were walking into the lobby.

DSC06047 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr
I was SO excited to see they had added retro video games to the Kid's room in the lobby!! I knew we'd have to be back to spend some time here on our trip. My Dad's favorite game forever has been Atari Space Invaders.

Even though we did online check in and had our room numbers already, we had shipped a box of Christmas decorations and bagels so we had to stop at the desk to pick those up. (For those who are interested, they did end up charging us $5 which is apparently a new charge if you have parcels shipped to the resort. I wasn't charged for the delivery of my Garden Grocer order though...hmmm)

20161222_001552 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Mom and I sent the cranky boys (all 3 of them!!) up to the rooms (We were in the 50's on the 3rd floor, a nice quiet walkway from Classic Hall, right outside the 50's pool but very quiet) and went to the desk to pick up our package. The night desk man was not very magical! But he got our package efficiently enough and gave me 2 Happily Ever After buttons when I asked for them. Then, Mom and I skipped (as well as 2 tired women can skip with their luggage and a big box) and danced our way down the walkway to our rooms!

20161222_001858 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

So, there you have it! Day 1 in the books! We got to our room, started unpacking our box and decorating the room for Christmas! By the time we finally went to bed it was well after 1 in the morning and we had to be up and ready to go in the a.m. We had fastpasses and breakfast at Animal Kingdom to be ready for!!

I hope you'll stick around and let me know you're here reading along!! Love & Smooches, Jackie

 

[DaisyFoote]

I'm following along - excited to read about your wonderful Christmas. I'm a teacher too by the way
- 2nd grade.

 

[mbvisitor]

Following as well! DH is a teacher and we'll be home for NYE this year! Hoping to learn the Christmas season ropes from you!

 

[Saz78]

following along!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I'm following along - excited to read about your wonderful Christmas. I'm a teacher too by the way
- 2nd grade.

Hi!! Christmas is definitely our favorite time to visit Disney World!! I'm excited to re-live it all with people who won't get sick of hearing me talk about it! I love being a teacher, but this year has been a tough one. I have 35 students this year, so it's a little like this --->

Following as well! DH is a teacher and we'll be home for NYE this year! Hoping to learn the Christmas season ropes from you!

My husband and I are both teachers, which limits when we can travel to WDW; however, we LOVE being off over Christmas Break because that's our favorite time to visit. This was my 5th Christmas trip and maybe the most magical so far!! Let me know if you have any questions--maybe I can answer!

following along!

 

[luckylady]

Following. I love Christmas at Disney. I didn't know they still made My Buddy. My now 27 year old son got one for Christmas when he was two. Think it's packed away somewhere.

 

[missjackiemcg]

Following. I love Christmas at Disney. I didn't know they still made My Buddy. My now 27 year old son got one for Christmas when he was two. Think it's packed away somewhere.

Welcome!! He's not a real My Buddy--he's a Bitty Twin from the American Girl store, but when we got him my son couldn't decide on a name, so we kept referring to him as his buddy. The name stuck! BUT, we do have a real My Buddy and Kid Sister at my parents' house from when my brother and I were little. Those were our favorites!!! We took them everywhere with us

 

[Chicago Mo]

I am HERE! the first report i am caught up since my absence! LOL
I love the intro and your doing an amazing job! it's all in the details!
I cannot believe you forgot the backpack! yes YOU HAD TO GO BACK! Like it was such a big deal to the driver?
Humanity. Dead issue.
The plane looks all cushy and comfy! I would have been sleeping like a baby.. If it wasn't for the fact on the way to DISNEY! LOL. AHHH So So exciting!

I HOPE we fly this year.. I do so miss the ME.
I cannot believe how late it is! I would have been dragging a$$
So happy all your room requests were met. that's important stuff!
Ok I hope to stay on top of things but i highly doubt it.

 

[amazingact21]

I'm joining in. Sounds like this was a magical trip!

 

[cinderaimee]

Following!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I am HERE! the first report i am caught up since my absence! LOL

YAY!!! I am honored to be the first report you caught up on

Ok I hope to stay on top of things but i highly doubt it.

That's OK, I'm sure I won't be able to keep up with my own TR any better than I did the PTR, but I will eventually get there, so just make sure you check in now and then!!

I'm joining in. Sounds like this was a magical trip!

It was an INCREDIBLE trip!!! I LOVE your profile pic--what a cutie!!!

Following

 

[Chicago Mo]

and just like that.. I am still caught up..

 

[missjackiemcg]

and just like that.. I am still caught up..

I have had SUCH a miserable day (3 weeks almost!!) that started with the same kid who tantrums and freaks out and has me all bruised up from wrestling him into the classroom every morning. This post made me laugh to the point of tears. Thanks for being here at just the right moment, Mo!!

 

[fallonkendra]

Great start! Can't wait to hear all about your 12 days at Disney!

 

[missjackiemcg]

Great start! Can't wait to hear all about your 12 days at Disney!

Thanks for joining in!! I'm hoping to get an update done this weekend if life doesn't get in the way

 

[cyndiloveswalt]

Following along. Can't wait to hear about Christmas and your vow renewals!

 

[missjackiemcg]

Following along. Can't wait to hear about Christmas and your vow renewals!

Thanks for hanging around waiting on me, friends!!! This long weekend, I PROMISE to get a good update in on the TR!!! But, news for today is: Going to try signing up the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend 5K and 10K today when registration opens....send me some pixie dusted thoughts if you think of it!!

 

[Chicago Mo]

Still here

Still caught up

I like this report.

want to hear more about wrestling 4 year olds sounds dangerous!