2 Nights @ AS + 5 Nights @ WL + 3 Night DCL + 2 Nights at BW = Our Vacation COMPLETE

[natale1980]

I started to write my TR on the same thread as my PTR. It never got moved... so I am starting over here.

Link to PTR - http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1786212

The Cast--- (as seen on PTR)

Me- In love with all things Disney (except the Snow White ride... it scares the bajezes out of me). I have been going to Disney since I was a little girl. I won't go into my whole Disney history since it is on my first TR (link below).

DH Shawn- He used to be one of those husbands that said, "We're not going to Disney every year." and turned into "I haven't been to Disney World in over a year... When are we going!!!" He started saying this about eight months after our February trip

DS Dexter- Just about the coolest 3 year old you will meet! I'm sure every mother thinks that their child is the cutest, smartest little person around - But mine really is. This will be his fifth time to the world. He went at 6 weeks (big mistake) 9 months (so much fun) 23 months (woo whoo) and 2.5 years (he still remembers and talks about this trip). He has been asking to go back for a few months now. Every time we leave the house and I ask, "Do you know where we are going?" He says, "Disney World!!!" So I felt it was my motherly obligation to book this trip as soon as the free dinning came around.

DD Skylar- She is our happy ending (those of you who read our first TR understand). Our family is now completed. She was born on February 7th of this year and will be just shy of 8 months when we travel. She is bright eye-ed and very strong... a bit of a cry-er... but that's ok.

see how obsessed I am, this is the first picture I took when we got her home from the hospital.

--------------------------------------
And alittle bit of background about this trip. We were orriginally booked a vacation durring free dining with my parents (September 2008). Well that trip didn't happen so I changed everything about our trip... The date - we would now travel in January 2009... The resort - we would now start our vaction at the All Star Sports then move to The Villas at Wilderness lodge then move again to a three night Disney Cruise and finish our vacation with a few nights at the Boardwalk This vacation was going to kick the junk out of our free dinning plans.
The really crazy part was I was keeping the whole thing a surprise for my family. They knew that we were going to Disney World... BUT they thought we were spending the whole trip at a value resort. I was able to keep the whole thing a secret for about 5 months until a few days before the trip. I accedently left my DisBoards open and Shawn saw my plans. I was disapointed but it all worked out in the end. Plus its alot of stress to keep something like that a secret! (thus the name of my TR... for those of you who don't know it's a line from the movie "Big Daddy")

Thanks for reading.

This is from before we left...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAmG3aO7-do

 

[natale1980]

I didn't end up going to sleep until after midnight the night before. It seemed like the list of things to do was endless! It didn't seem like too much later that Shawn was telling me to get in the shower. I think by the time I fell asleep I had only gotten 4-5 hours of sleep! Oh Well!! No time to sleep - we have to go to Mickey's House!
I showered first and then filled the bath up for Skylar. She wasn't to happy being taken from bed only to be placed in a bath. But maybe now she knows what I feel like every time I'm sleeping and she wakes me up.
Dexter took a bath the night before so all he had to do was get dressed. I snuck into his room with the video camera (and you guys know the rest... check out the you-tube video I posted yesterday if you haven't seen it yet). He was a lot more excited then I thought he would be. He was happy to go but he thought it would be best if we waited for the sun to come out first.
We arrived at the airport exactly two hours early.

It wasn't that big of a deal... the kids were really good. Shawn was entertaining them by walking on the moving sidewalks. They were all being troupers.

The theme of the day actually was "mommy is tired and crabby." I'm not sure if it was because of the lack of sleep or because of all the stress I was leaving in Chicago. I'm not sure - BUT - Shawn was being awesome not crabby at all (most of the time it's him) He was very sweet all day.
The only seats left on the plane together were all the way in the back. We had the last possible row. Shawn had fun looking out the window with Dexter while I tried to keep Skylar from jumping out of my lap.

Dexter was reading the safety guide.

It wasn't very bumpy - so I was grateful! Skylar finally fell asleep about 45 minutes before we landed.

Once we arrived to MCO we made out way to the Magical express desk, where I checked in.

When we got in the proper lane the cast member said the name of our resort. So I told Shawn that if I would have kept the original surprise he would have found out then... NOPE! He said he didn't even hear her!!

There were only a few families on the bus and we left with in 10 minutes. They changed the movie to reflect the new 'celebrations' so it was fun to watch. Shawn & Skylar were sitting behind us and Dexter turned around in his seat to look at them. At that very moment The bus driver thought it would be a good idea to slam on his brakes!!! Dexter goes flying out of his seat to the floor. He was ok - but I don't think he was the only one who flew out of his seat. There was another little person crying in the front of the bus.

Skylar on the bus.

Dexter on the bus. He was mad at me when I took this picture.


Here's another video from the day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFW5TiQ3ugU

 

[natale1980]

Shortly after Dexter's spill we arrived at The All Star Sports. The check-in was easy. Although even when I told them we didn't want to be able to charge to our room key they did it anyways. No harm - I just wrote "do not charge" on the signature line of each card. I didn't have high hopes for this resort - BUT - I was VERY wrong!!! They must have done some remodeling since we had stayed there last, because the rooms are as cute as can be!! Nothing more then 2 beds in a small room... but they are very clean and nicely done. We got a room in the surf building - second floor - with a view of the pool.

Here's some pictures of our room.

Here's a picture on us getting excited about our room.

And Here's the YouTube video to prove it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Echa5Hhsrug

 

[natale1980]

Only minutes after we checked in (and got done jumping on the bed) my phone rang. It was my friend Trisha. She had just started the Disney college program a few weeks earlier and was just as excited to see us as we were her.
She was going to wait for us in the gift shop. On the way there Dexter said he had to use the bathroom so Shawn took him while I looked for Trisha. I saw her in the back of the gift shop reading a book. So I snuck behind her and gave her a BIG hug.

Here's Trisha -

This is a picture Trisha took -

We didn't really feel like jumping into a park so we headed to Downtown Disney. We walked around for a little while going into a few shops. Then we were getting hungry and stopped at Earl of Sandwich. Now my original plans were to eat at Earl as much as possible during this trip. BUT - This would be our only visit. They changed my sandwich and it wasn't as good anymore. I always order a Caprice the Mozzarella and Tomato Sandwich. But it used to be toasted to the point were everything was all melty and yummy... but now the fresh motezerella is cold and it tastes like a sandwich I can make at home.

Shawn and Dexter Playing Around. It was so much fun to see them goofing around!! We really needed to go Disney World for some much needed family time!

Skylar Sleeping -

Dexter pretending to sleep -

Shawn pretending to sleep on Dexter -

This is the Big Dino in front of the new restaurant.

We never made it inside but my friend told me that there is a dinosaur named Dexter - So - I guess there is a lot of merchandise I could have bought with Dexter's name on it. We have to make sure we go back there next time!

Family Picture -

We made some chocolate dipped pretzels - YUMM!!!

After some more time of looking (not shopping) we thought it was a good idea to head back to All-Sports. IT was getting late and it was VERY cold!! Not Chicago cold but cold enough for some cast members to be wearing gloves and scarves!! An older gentlemen actually asked me if I wanted to borrow his coat to wrap the baby in. I thought that was nice... but she was already in a jacket and we had a blanket... so I'm sure she was fine.

We parted ways with Trisha and we went back to our room and watched TV. By 'we' I meant everyone but me... I was too busy getting ready for our next Disney Day!!

 

[natale1980]

Another YouTube video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RbJu-Ye1N4

Crazy Dexter.

 

[natale1980]

The only plan I had for today was to be at The Magic Kingdom at 9am. humm... That didn't happen! I set the wake-up call for bright and early and even ended up getting out of bed and unplugging the phone 10 minutes before it was supposed to go off - BUT - I didn't feel like waking up a bunch of crabby tired people, so I let them sleep. Don't get me wrong, I didn't let them 'sleep-in'. I just took the more relaxed approach to getting ready.

Skylar all ready to go.

Shawn took this picture. You can see how cold it was in the morning!

We ate breakfast at the food court. It wasn't good or bad... just really expensive!! We didn't start the dinning plan yet, so all of our food was cash.
After breakfast we headed over to our bus stop and only had to wait about five minutes. Can't beat that!! For some reason we discovered that Skylar does not enjoy Disney Transportation!! She cried and fussed the entire time over to the MK. Once we arrived I headed over to will-call to pick up our park tickets. I had purchased them on-line before we left. BIG MISTAKE!! Apparently will-call is the place everyone goes to get their free birthday park tickets. So the line took forever... wasn't very long... just very slow.

It was so nice when I was finally out of line and we could enter the park!!! We headed straight over to the barbershop to get Dexter his much needed haircut. I talked Shawn into getting his hair colored also. Dexter was first and got 'ALL' his hairs cut, and then colored orange. Shawn was next and chose green. They looked great!!! Shawn was embarrassed getting it done but they both really enjoyed the attention together the whole day. It was funny because people would see Dexter and comment on how cute his hair was and then shift their gaze four feet up to Shawn's head and laugh!

Hair Cut Pictures...
BEFORE

Almost Done

AFTER

Shawn feeling like a dork.

Getting Pixidust

Both of my boys looking very cute.

My plans kinda ended after the barbershop. I didn't really have a game plan. We were both just so happy to be warm in the Magic Kingdom and didn't really care what we did. I'm not sure how it was decided but we ended up at Pirates. BUT - Skylar fell asleep on the walk over. I told Shawn & Dexter to go ahead without us. I walked Skylar around the park - I was simply happy. It's a very nice feeling that you don't get very often when your in reality (home) After a few minutes I went into the shop by the ride exit and waited for them. I found a really cute hat and was extra happy when I found out it was on sale for $9.99!! Shawn and Dexter found us and it was time to figure out where to go next.

 

[natale1980]

Skylar, Me and my new hat.

We were all getting hungry so we stopped and had Hot Dogs at Casey's. I have heard some bad reviews of Casey's lately because they changed their buns. They were definitely different then they where but I thought it was fine. Although I do buy that type of bread at home anyway.
Skylar was still sleeping so we thought we would walk over to tomorrow land and peek in on Trisha. She was supposed to be working. (she works at Cosmic Rays) We looked and looked for her but she was no where to be found. *I got a text message a few hours later saying that she woke up an hour after she was supposed to start work!!!*
After we grabbed some fast passes to ride Buzz Lightyear Skylar woke up. So we took her on her first Disney ride EVER!!! Tomorrow Transit Authority (aka the people mover)! She seemed to like it, it may be silly but the TTA is one of my favorite rides. I don't really feel like I have spent the day at the Magic Kingdom until I have gone on that ride.

Skylar, Me on the people mover.

Dexter really wanted to go on the race cars - BUT - the wait was 60 minutes. We told him we would come back later. Off to toontown!

This is when I found out that the faries kicked Donald Duck, Goofy and Pluto out of Toontown!! Oh well... we still went to see Mickey. The line wasn't too long, so we waited to see the big cheese & his little lady. When it was finally our turn I put Skylar on the floor and held her hands to walk her over to Mickey & Minnie. That's what I did with Dexter when he was a baby and he was in love with them. Skylar on the other hand was freaked out!! She has no fear of anything at home... but show her a big mouse and she starts to cry!!! OOPS!

So I picked her up and we were going to take a family picture. At this point she wasn't really crying - just alittle teared up. But then Mickey made some sort of sudden move and she lost it. She almost jumped out of her diaper and started screaming.

(this picture is right after Mickey freaked her out)

The cast member tried to make her smile, but I told him just to take the picture.

No harm... she was fine.

We forgot our backpack... so Shawn had to run back and get it.

We then walked back to Buzz.

Shawn & Dexter had a blast!

I didn't even try to score. I just let Skylar spin us around.

Skylar was starting to get crabby - so I took her to the baby care center. I let her try to walk around for awhile.
She wasn't walking by herself yet. Just while she holds on to people or things.

We found this on the floor.

 

[natale1980]

Then we met back up with the boys. Shawn said he really needed a break and some Dole (aka dole whip), so we decided to hop on a monorail and take it over to the Poly. When we got up to the monorail platform it was pretty dead, so I asked if we could ride in front and they said yes. Skylar LOVED it!!! I think it was the only time she enjoyed Disney Transportation!!

Dexter with his new Monorail Drivers License.

Another $24 in food later we all felt much better. I couldn't believe how much Skylar ate! I guess that was why she was getting crabby... I mean the poor thing did sleep during lunch! I found out by reading some one's TR that you can get Dole at the Poly... how cool is that??

Back to the Magic Kingdom! When we got back the parade was happening. I thought it was cute and so did Skylar!!! She was waving and laughing and dancing!!! Maybe we should have watched the parade before we saw Mickey for the first time.

After the parade Dexter was complaining that he was tired so we told him to take a nap... (aka 'relax') But he didn't want to lean back - he was afraid he was going to mess up his hair. He fell asleep despite the fact that he looked VERY uncomfortable.

Skylar was in the backpack looking sleepy also. And soon she was asleep too!

We took that opportunity to take some pictures.

Now that both kids were sleeping we were kinda stuck. What to do? So we just walked around the MK taking everything in. Dexter slept FOREVER!! He really needed it!

We went and looked for my friend again... she finally showed up for work!

We called Shawn the mule because we made him carry everything.

Once Dexter woke up we took a train ride. We met this really nice man who is a huge Disney fan and comes to Disney almost every weekend.

We got off at toontown after a lap & 1/2 on the train. Time for Dexter to drive the race car.

This is where the day really took off... Until till now we were calling our trip 'How to spend a whole day doing nothing." After they got the cars (Dexter loved it) it was 7:15. In the next 45 minutes before the fireworks we rode the Teacups, Winnie the Pooh & Peter Pan!!! We got out of Peter Pan just in time to watch the fireworks. We watched them from the back of the castle. No tears from the kids!

The bus ride home was a NIGHTMARE!! Short line - BUT - screaming baby!! And it was mine.
We grabbed a pizza at the resort and gave the kids baths and then went to bed. Goodnight!

Here's the bathtub AFTER Dexter's Bath.

 

[natale1980]

Two new YouTube Links -

First thing Magic Kingdom Morning -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkXsirhUHDA

Dexter's Haircut -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvqZU78fUwk

 

[natale1980]

We changed our plans at the last moment and decided to go to Epcot not Hollywood Studios. I woke up early and packed up all of our bags. It was a lot of work! But I was able to get everything together. (If you had forgotten... today was the day we were going to check into the Wilderness Lodge Villas!!!)

We called up luggage services and they came moments later. The transfer was very easy!! We ate breakfast in the cafeteria - again - nothing special.
We wanted to go and check in at the wilderness lodge so that we could start using our dinning credits. So we took the bus over to the MK and a boat over to the Wilderness Lodge.

Once we got on the boat I started to get butterflies in my tummy!! I couldn't believe we were on our way to a deluxe resort!! There was a very short line and I was soon next to check in. A very nicely dressed cast member came up to me and asked if we were checking in or out. I told him we were transferring from another resort. He asked me which one so I told him the All Sports and he said very nicely... "That's a nice resort also - we're just different." I think by the look on his face that he wanted to say better.
At check in I had to pay for our dinning plan - to our surprise our room was ready!!! I wasn't expecting that since it was only 11am.

We went to our room - on the way Shawn wanted to see Walt's model train collection.

After what seemed like FOREVER we took the elevator up to the second floor and found our room. It was beautiful! But - one of the first things I noticed was there was no tub! The gave us a handicap room. If it wasn't for the kids it wouldn't have mattered. I tried calling down to the front desk on the phone but it wasn't working right. I picked it up and it started to ring... there was a man on the other end asking me what the emergency was. Oops!!! Who did the phone call?? And to top it off he couldn't hear me. So we walked back down to the desk and requested a room with a bathtub. Moments later we were on the way back to our room. We loved it! The view was of a wooded lot. IT was GREAT!

 

[autumnpalm]

I just read your whole trip report so far. I love all the pictures and you have such a beautiful family. Your husband and son look SO cute with their matching hair dos and your daughter is just adorable! I've had so much fun reading along so far... can't wait to hear all about your stay at the WL!

 

[overthemoon4mickey]

Yipee!!! I've never joined a trip report this early!

Your family is super cute and I can't wait for more...

BTW we were there Jan 8-18th and I know what you mean about the weather being cold!!! BRRR...

I need to go back over our plans and see if we were at any of the parks on the same days.

 

[Nicole786]

I just love the WL!! I have never seen the villas, just from a distance i'm sure they're beautiful!

 

[Raecheal]

I'm in... and excited you've updated!!

 

[natale1980]

I just read your whole trip report so far. I love all the pictures and you have such a beautiful family. Your husband and son look SO cute with their matching hair dos and your daughter is just adorable! I've had so much fun reading along so far... can't wait to hear all about your stay at the WL!

Thank you for reading! I LOVE the WL!!! I am going to have a hard time staying anywhere else!

Yipee!!! I've never joined a trip report this early!

Your family is super cute and I can't wait for more...

BTW we were there Jan 8-18th and I know what you mean about the weather being cold!!! BRRR...

I need to go back over our plans and see if we were at any of the parks on the same days.

It was cold! And it got even colder after you left. Thanks for joining!

I just love the WL!! I have never seen the villas, just from a distance i'm sure they're beautiful!

WL is great! It's like your not even in Disney World.

I'm in... and excited you've updated!!

Thanks! more to come...

 

[natale1980]

At this point we were getting hungry, so we took a boat back to the Magic Kingdom and a monorail to Epcot.

Finally at Epcot!!!

We really wanted to try the new Kim Possible Adventures. BUT we were very hungry so we needed to eat first. We headed over to the UK and had fist & chips. Not really the best dinning plan value - Shawn could have eaten twice the amount of food that they gave us. After we ate (although still hungry) we headed over to start our Kim Possible Adventure.

Walking over.

This is where you start your adventure.

Dexter and his Kim-municator

It was a lot of fun - when you got to certain areas of your 'mission' things moved and at one point a phone booth even spit out a golf ball.


It was fun, but Dexter & Shawn mainly got to play since Skylar wasn't very interested.

At this point I got yelled at by a cast member for Skylar's bare feet. Well maybe not yelled at - but firmly spoken to.

When Shawn and Dexter were finishing up I saw Alice in Wonderland. Me & Skylar got in line to get a picture and by the time it was our turn Dexter jumped in.

(yes... I know Skylar still doesn't have shoes on BUT she's in my arms now and I was told by that very helpful cast member that holding her without shoes was exceptable.)

We then wandered over to Journey to Imagination. The kids both enjoyed the ride - afterwards we played awhile with the indoor attractions as well as the water sprayers outside.

We were really tired from the last few days and decided to go back to our resort and relax before dinner. On the way back to our resort we ran into my brother and his family walking into the Magic Kingdom (it's a small world after all) They had drove in from Chicago and had just arrived.

Did I mention that I LOVE the Wilderness Lodge.

A little bit later it was time to head down to our reservations at the Whispering Cannon Cafe. There is nothing that whispers about this restaurant - everyone and everything is very loud. It was GREAT! Shawn and I ordered the skillet meal.

It had chicken, ribs pulled pork, mashed potatoes, beans & corn. Everything was excellent. Dexter ordered Chicken & Pasta, but he spent most of the time drinking his milk shake. Skylar enjoyed all of our veggies.
The milk shakes are very good and included as a drink on the dinning plan. They taste like they were made with home made ice cream. We were all so full that we took our deserts back to the room and put them in our little fridge.

Pictures from the restaurant...

This is a happy "life is good" face. I believe he was dancing.

YUMM!!

Shawn and Dexter went down to the gift shop so that he could spend some of his money and me and Skylar stayed at the room to relax.
Good night!

 

[onelilspark]

Love the report! My younger brother, Dad & cousin all get their hair done at the barber shop! I've seen where girls can get it done too (a cheaper alternative to the BBB!) My brother started doing it when he was about 11 or so (when we learned about it) and he'll still get it done occasionally...he'll be 21 tomorrow!! The characters love it!

 

[hhockman]

Well I posted once about 8 months ago and then promptly stopped spending as much time on the DIS. Now, magically, my trip is just under 4 months away, so I'm spending a lot more time here.

Just read your whole PTR and what you have of your TR and I'm loving it. Can't wait to hear more. We've got a lot in common with you guys (including the living-with-parents thing, although we're STILL living with mine) and though my kids are older than yours, we took them at that age.

I'm looking forward to the rest of your TR (as I continue to plan my trip). So, when is your next trip?

 

[natale1980]

Love the report! My younger brother, Dad & cousin all get their hair done at the barber shop! I've seen where girls can get it done too (a cheaper alternative to the BBB!) My brother started doing it when he was about 11 or so (when we learned about it) and he'll still get it done occasionally...he'll be 21 tomorrow!! The characters love it!

That's so cool! I always tell Dexter that he can stop getting his hair pixie-dusted as soon as it stops being fun. But secretly I hope I get a picture of him with orange hair from his honeymoon.

Well I posted once about 8 months ago and then promptly stopped spending as much time on the DIS. Now, magically, my trip is just under 4 months away, so I'm spending a lot more time here.

Just read your whole PTR and what you have of your TR and I'm loving it. Can't wait to hear more. We've got a lot in common with you guys (including the living-with-parents thing, although we're STILL living with mine) and though my kids are older than yours, we took them at that age.

I'm looking forward to the rest of your TR (as I continue to plan my trip). So, when is your next trip?

I started posting in 2005 and always seem to fall away a bit until my trips get closer too.
It is really hard living with your parents isn't it... ugg. We did it three different times. Now that we finally own a home we won't be 'in-between' homes ever again. (I hope)

We are going to go back as a family in January. We have to go back so we can use our annual passes.

Yesterday I did just book a three night Disney Cruise for me and Shawn in September of this year for our 10 year anniversary. I know that this totally awesome trip was supposed to be for our 10 year BUT once I get to the cruise part of it you'll see why I really want to go back with just the two of us. I may have to cancel this trip if I can't convince my parents to watch the kids.


Thanks For reading Everyone!

 

[Disneychix]

Yesterday I did just book a three night Disney Cruise for me and Shawn in September of this year for our 10 year anniversary. I know that this totally awesome trip was supposed to be for our 10 year BUT once I get to the cruise part of it you'll see why I really want to go back with just the two of us. I may have to cancel this trip if I can't convince my parents to watch the kids.

Really?? Another cruise? But now I can't wait for more TR!!
Glad you're back Natale!