4.5 Newbies and a Whole Lotta Kleenex! Updated pg 10 8/21! finally!

[rparmfamily]

Great report, can't wait to read the rest!! Your children are beautiful too BTW!

 

[iluvmickeytown]

I am so enjoying this. Love all the pictures. Picture of your son looking bored was histerical. Especially with the husband reference . Daughter is gorgeaus. Don't keep us waiting to long

 

[tink too]

I had already seen some of your daughter's makeover PhotoPass pics on another thread - but the one's you took around DTD are just as beautiful!

"What did DS do during the makeover? He practiced his best 'bored but patient husband look'"

That is too funny. He looks adorable just sitting there waiting!

I keep saying this and haven't gotten around to it yet, but today (definately) I'm going to call BBB to book an appointment for DD for our trip in October!

 

[Gerweniel]

Hehe, I love the daughter in mid air photo! Great trip report. Both children are adorable. Will be waiting for more!

btw - I cry over everything too - especially when it is something memorable or special for my sons. Doesn't get any better when they are older.

 

[BlueBayou]

Great trip report. I think it is wonderful how well you are doing with the two kids alone. I flew with my two girls (18 months and nearly 4 at the time) across the country by myself. It was work! But I was meeting my husband on a business trip and getting to spend a week with my best friend from childhood... so I knew help was meeting me at the airport. I can't imagine doing it pregnant.

Sher

 

[sara74]

Aaaarrgh! Had the post all ready to go and DS erased it with a single click!

Here we go again...

There we were at the CBR, waiting for DH to join us. TONIGHT. He is coming tonight! Now, the kids have been remarkably cooperative, and not at all whiny, but we are all well rested and realy just taking our vacation lite at this point, so it's not like they are truly that well behaved, just decently bahaved and in the right situation. I however, am starting to long for some adult company. No conversation has really been had in the last couple of days, unless you count explaining every time we enter or leave the room why the lizards run away from us (we are very big to them) and why I am managing to only get pictures of the ground when I try to take their picture (Mommy has a baby in her tummy and she is starting to move more slowly now) I start giving the people that we encounter on the paths long smiling glances hoping they will strike up conversation with us. They don't. They have their own grownups. They don't need me like I need them! I wonder if the babysitter companies have rent a husband services too. Not for anything like that, you sickos! I am already in the family way for the third time! Just to talk to me and not ask me to sing Zip-a-dee-doo-dah! (which happens to be DDs dance recital song on June 10th - just a sign that we took this trip the right year!)

I considered taking the kids to DTD again as there is no entrance fee and I might actually get to see some of the stores that don't sell toys today. I never made it into the bath store, the art store, the kitchen store - not even the candy store! But I decide that would bore the kids and they are doing so well...so we decide to try minigolf instead. I have read that the Fantasia one was harder than Wintersummerland so I decide to skip it. We catch the bus to BLizzard Beach and head to WinterSummerland with me, the kiddos and the stroller. And we wait. And we wait.

Don't these people get up early? I had also read that minigolf in Florida was best done early in the day or late at night to avoid sweltering heat. So we got there at 9. Can't remember now if they opened at 9:30 or 10, but basically we were there WAY TOO EARLY. No food to buy, no people to play with, or talk to. Just an empty minigolf course to look at.

Finally, some excitement! Just as the CMs are about to open the place, a momma duck and her babies waddle by us! Even I am excited and we had a yard full of messy noisy ducks (36 of 'em) when I was a kid!

DD chose the Winter course, which I was hoping for. It just seemed, cooler. Ha, ha bad pun I know. Now contrary to popular belief, not all dentists golf. DH has at least set foot on a golf course a few times. More as a teenager when he worked at one but once or twice in the last 5 years as well. I have never been to a 'real' golf course. I find minigolf challenging. I don't play sports that require the use of a ball. And I am highly competitive, so DH won't take me minigolfing as we usually end up fighting. He won't play Scrabble with me either, but that's a whole different thread! So I have little experience with a golf club as it is. Believe me, no wear and tear was put on the golf clubs in our tour of the Winter course! DD decided on the first hole that rolling the ball was much more efficient. Then chasing it with the golf club maybe like lacrosse or polo was her second choice of method. DS ran around indiscriminately picking up the balls and putting them wherever he wanted to. And the CM at the start of the course had tried to force a scorecard on me! The silly woman gave me a funny look when I told her we wouldn't need one! I have a vague memory of DD getting a hole in one, but no idea how that happened and I'm sure no regulations were followed, or golf clubs used.

I had parked the stroller. So I had a one liter bottle of water, all three clubs and was wearing a backpack while trying to herd the kids along the course. Fast enough that not too many families were passing us - though we let several go by and slow enough that I felt we got a decent morning for our money. The kids were having fun.

Then we got to the snowman hole. The motherlode. The one hole that was worth the entire trip! The one where the snowman shoots water at you when the ball goes in the hole and even more when you take the ball out again! We stayed at this hole for a long time. Like 2 families passing us long. The kids were soaked. I was soaked. It was great! Then we finished up and had the lunch of champions. Cheetos and Mickey bars. Hey, I said the kids were happy - not happy and well nourished!

I had to commemorate our first Mickey bar with some pictures...

We caught a bus back to the hotel. I think we all may have nodded off on it. And then it was off to the pool again! I discovered the baby pool today. Luckily DD is not so old that she didn't want to go into it. Too bad DS wanted nothing to do with it! Wouldn't even take a step in it! So we were back in the big pool, DS on my hip and he and I watched DD make a hundred trips up and down the slide. I grabbed dinner at the food court again, figured the kids could still eat off of the remains of the grilled cheese sandwiches from yesterday, and we would wait for DH to join us.
Eternal optimist that I am, I expected him before the kids went to bed. He had to drive from Miami to MCO, catch an ME bus to CBR and then find Aruba. It was 11 pm before he got to our room. He was so tired that he didn't even take a stroll around to see the hotel. And we had a cab set for 7 AM to take us to WL for check in! So all he saw of CBR was our room, and not all that much of it, since I wouldn't let him turn the lights on!

Stay tuned for the next day. After 3 days at Disney, we actually (gasp) go on a RIDE! Lots of magic at WL and a not so magical development as well...

 

[MagicMe]

Wow! I'm impressed! All that time by yourself with two little ones. I would definitely be hungry for adult conversation too!!!!

Can't wait to hear what happens when you start your full family vacation!

 

[KerriSue]

I am loving your trip report I cant wait for the next installment.

Your children are soooooooooooo cute

 

[imp&pixie]

Great report so far . Your family is beautiful! I love all the pictures.

 

[sara74]

Thank you all so much for thinking my kids are cute! They are photogenic, but then again when you take 975 photos in 10 days there have to be a few that come out looking cute!

Hope everyone is having a nice Memorial Day. The kids are napping and we are cleaning the house! DS is moving into a big boy bed in a week or so and changing rooms too, so we are in the 'everything is a big mess right now but in the end it will all turn out ok' phase of switching things around. DDs furniture to a new room, DS into the new room, new furniture for DD, getting things out of the house for a tag sale next weekend. And me deciding that even though baby #3 is a boy I can't bear to part with any of DDs clothes yet. There's a lot of fast talking that I would have to do to get a fourth child out of DH! But then again that's nothing I can't handle!

I'm working on WL and our actual use of those Magic Your Way tickets and will be posting it soon! The magic of our trip has yet to begin...

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Can't wait to read the rest of your trip report!
& see more pictures of your gorgeous kids!

 

[sara74]

Ok, so we wake bright and early on the morning of the 23rd. Stitch wakes us again - anyone have a clue how to NOT get him for your wake up call? I was so sick of Stitch by the time we headed home! And that is the one movie that we don't own! Didn't even let DD know that there was a Stitch ride/attraction as we didn't want to waste time at it. I had read that it was pretty lousy - opinions, anyone? Add it to the list next time?

This time we wake up and DH is there with us! Now he hasn't seen the kids since he loaded us on the ME bus and they are so excited to see him! I had laid out everyone's clothing the night before, including DH's. I had all of his vacation clothes with us, since he was in dress pants and a sport coat for his meeting in Miami for the last few days. Why did I put his clothes out for him too? Am I just that nice? No, he's just that clueless (and I'm just that nice ) I work three days a week and am home with the kids the rest of the week. DH works M-F and has at least one night a week that he has a meeting to attend, or to meet with his partner, etc. We made a choice for me to just work FOR someone instead of owning an office myself so I could be home more. Well, with being home more, as I'm sure many of you can relate to, comes doing more for the home. I used to starch and press DHs shirts but he sends them out now. June Cleaver I am not. However, when it came time to book this vacation and I looked at DHs summer clothes, I knew I had my work cut out for me. The man still has denim shorts from college (10th reunion this fall) You know the ones. The ones where you can see the outline of his wallet even when there is no wallet in the pocket? The ones that look like they were cut offs simply because the hem is reduced to fringe? It was time for a change. DH hates shopping. Loathes it. And honestly I am not much better. I can breeze into a store and back out and if something doesn't catch my eye, I'm done. So I packed up the kiddos and shopped for DH until we all had migraines. I think DH had a sympathy migraine too! For some reason he had such a headache when I showed him all that I had bought! Remember how cheap he is??

So there we are at WDW and all the clothes that DH has packed for him he hasn't seen since I brought them home from Kohl's. So it was up to me to lay out all of our clothes every night as DH was clueless. He didn't know that there were two pairs of blue shorts (light and navy) or even what shirts there were to go with them. So for all those that might have had a pinch of pity for me being all alone with 2 kids for three days...it is the morning of the fourth day and I am trying to dress all four of my children.

The kids were all cooperating as they realize this is IT. This is the big day. We are going to WDW. Yep, we are a bunch of newbies and though we know there are multiple parks etc, etc, etc. For us, we aren't really going to be on vacation until we are at the Magic Kingdom...I have the backpack, the stroller, the kids, DH, camera, video camera, extra batteries, and the fanny pack. Inside the fanny pack (borrowed from my mom who wears it everywhere - to me who was glad to have long maternity shirts to hide it under while at WDW!) Inside the fanny pack I have my secret weapon. My silver bullet. My secret recipe for our vacation. My notecards. For the last couple of months before we left I visited Tour Guide Mike's site almost daily. I never got onto the message boards there as I didn't think I could keep up with the Dis and TGM all at once (score a point for all you Disers! I couldn't leave you for the TGM folks!) but even without the message boards I had plenty to keep me busy. I didn't want to waste too much paper printing things so I would read and take notes. My notes were messy, so I recopied them. They were wordy, so I recopied and condensed them, then I made an outline version of the condensed version. All of this was in a black binder that I purchased dividers for with each day in a different divider. There was an overview section with all of our reservation #s, ADR times and #s and park hours for the week, including parade and fireworks times as the week that we were there the times varied all week. Then each day had a summary sheet with our planned park, the hours, the parade time, the fireworks time, the ADR time and reservation #. This was followed by the several pages of TGM notes. Of course I realized that I couldn't carry this into the parks with me so I needed a portable version. A Cliff's notes, if you will. So I got me some colored 3x5 cards, picked a different color for each park and made notecards from the TGM info. I punched them in the corner and put them all on a ring together and put them in the fanny pack. Added the maps from the passporter and we were ready to go. I did make a copy of the map from the passporter and numbered the rides in the order in which we intended to ride them so that we didn't even need to know where we were going, just needed to be able to count. After several late nights working on this project, I was barely able to count my own fingers!

Have I scared any of you away yet? Are you calling the men in the nice white coats to take me away? Or do you all do this and I'm not crazy at all? Dh laughed that after all of my efforts, I still printed several dozen pages of TGM for him to read on the plane. He didn't do it. I tried to get him to review our itinerary for our first day in the parks on Saturday night before we went to bed but he said he trusted me and went to sleep. Several people, including a certain friend and coworker who shall remain nameless, warned me that for all my planning the kids were probably going to decide how, when and where we would be spending our time at WDW. So I took my own planning with a grain of salt. And I also took comfort in knowing that no one in the family knew one little teeny bit about WDW except me! They were putty in my hands. If I told DH it wasn't worth doing, we weren't going to do it. If I told DD something cool was off to the left, chances are she would believe me. After all, the kids were well aware that this trip was Mommy's idea. They knew Daddy was just along for the ride. And what ride, when and how was going to be all up to me, I hoped...

Wow, all those words and we haven't left CBR yet....I'm terribly long-winded today! And I am bushed. I am incubating another little DS, you know. Tomorrow night I will take us into the unknown and onto Dumbo. Little excitement for all you seasoned guests, but a big deal to our little family!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Hurry up, Hurry up!
Post your Magic Kingdom day!!

 

[sara74]

Aaargh! The ILs are here, DH and I both had wo work today and I can't seem to get a post written. I have half of the day saved on word on our other computer...so I am bumping myself so I will post when the ILs leave tomorrow (oops! today!)

Good night all you night owls! This is what we did all night!
Can't Dis with MIL awake or she may read my posts about her!

 

[gopack]

Really enjoying your trip report. We have never done the mini golf at WDW. I think we may have to try it next time. Did your kids really eat leftover grilled cheese for 3 days? Ha! You must be doing something right because my picky kids would have looked at me like I was crazy! Your kids are adorable!

 

[sara74]

Without further ado...

So, armed and ready I load DH and the kiddos into a cab at CBR at 7 AM and we are on our way to WL! DH is in awe at the size of the whole Disney complex. And I will admit I am too. This is his first time there at all, and I had a few days offsite back in the 80's so we are as excited as the kids! DD is more worried that we are in a cab without a carseat than anything. And this is the one time on the whole vacation that we aren't on a bus, boat, train or plane so I am biting my nails and praying that no nut jobs decide to crash into us. The cab driver is nice and shares a little info about the area with us, but I am not listening at ALL.

We pull up to WL and it is perfect. It is a really foggy morning, which could not look better at any resort other than the WL. If I didn't know better, I would think that there were fog machines there just for us. We have the stroller, the backpack and the fanny pack with my notecards with us. The rest of our bags are to be brought by bell sevices later in the day. DH checks out the lobby with the kids while I go to check in. I had called the CBR front desk the day before (Sat) to get connected to the WL front desk to ask when we could check in and the CBR CM was pretty rude to me. First refusing to connect me to WL and then telling me that I should not even try to check in until 9 AM. Well, I told her I was going to take my chances and I'm glad that I did. By 7:20 we were all checked in, and the CM told me that she might even have our room ready for us! If we didn't mind an upgrade to courtyard view! I had booked standard view and then regretted it so I had called Disney several times trying to get a woods view room - none available! It was a great surprise to be upgraded (a second time in one trip!)Well, guess what, I was crying again! And DH knew that this was just the beginning of it for the day...we were offered a choice of lower or higher floor, and since we couldn't get ground floor, I opted for as high as we could go. Also we were offered bunk beds! I turned them down. My kids are too little to be on the top bunk, and there might be some other family out there hoping for them. I didn't ask about being a Flag family either. My logic was that this whole trip was such a special experience for us that we could always push the issue on extras on a return trip. Me and my return trips!

We decided to check out the room since we were really early for heading to the park anyway. So we headed up to 5015 and had a peek around. The view of the courtyard was great and we could see the lake too! The room was neat, clean and didn't seem run down to us. No peeling wall paper or anything. DD declared that it was "the greatest room ever! It even has a holder for the soap!" I guess she isn't all that impressed by our shower at home! And her excitement over the soap holder gave me high hopes for her excitement entering the MK in a few hours!!!!

So glad we stopped by the room as our first bad development of the vacation cropped up that morning. Diarrhea. Explosive, spontaneous, all encompasing...DH had it bad! Kids wondering what was wrong with Daddy kind of bad...Change your shorts kind of bad...did I mention that bell services would be bringing our luggage later in the day? Re read taht line again. I said - change your shorts kind of bad! Did DH make his first visit to the Magic Kingdom commando? I'll never tell!

We wheeled the kiddos to the boat dock to catch the boat to the MK. Fidgeting with excitement. Want to be there for the rope drop. And there is no one at the dock. Were we just that early? Didn't think so, what with DH and his pit stop in the hotel room. Here's the dock in the fog. It was so beautiful. So we waited for a boat and only the boat for the Contemporary came. We gladly hopped on it and good thing we did as they weren't running boats to the MK due to the fog! I still can't figure out why we could go to one place and not the other. Anyone have ideas on that?

We didn't quite have our kids, stroller, multiple modes of transportation groove on yet, so we struggled quite a bit with the stroller at the comtemporary and then trying to get up to the monorail was fun. We were really in a rush, I mean this is our first morning, we didn't get the boat we wanted, didn't plan on the monorail and then we have to negotiate all these escalators with a double stroller and both kids? All before 9 AM? There is not enough coffee in a refillable mug to make that fun! A few days later we found the elevator to the monorail platform.

Now, I know this is risking major flaming...BUT...not that impressed with the monorail. For one, we had to go the 'long way around' past the Pol and the GF. That was annoying, but I knew about it already, so DH was prepared for it. What neither of us was prepared for was the frequency of the stops for no good reason in the middle of the tracks! We sat on the monorail for over 20 minutes that morning, and another morning it was even longer! Give me a bus any day. Especially now that I had an extra set of hands with me and didn't have to manage the kids and stroller alone! Finally! We arrive at MK and roll ourselves down the ramp to security and to the gates! We were at the back of the crowd and just barely through the turnstile for the countdown. Didn't even notice the characters, we were like machines. Dumbo seeking, blinders on, no time for the sights machines. Yep, we got a little but commando. I can't help it! Uber planner that I am I get a little carried away sometimes. And DH is from New Yawk. Put him in a crowd and he is immediately defensive...elbows locked, eyes to the ground and stroller wheels engaged to the pavement with just the right fore to maximize grip and minimize friction. He took off for Dumbo faster than a frat boy after a freshly tapped keg! It was all I could do to keep up with him! I had prepped DD that if we saw any characters in the morning, we could always go back and visit them later - but that was unnecessary. DH wasn't running, but as close to it as he could be, and he waas weaving in and out of people so much so that I was disoriented! And the kids got a taste of their first ride at Disney - StrollerMach1. The tears in my eyes as we made our way down Main Street that Sunday morning had three causes...1) the beauty of all things Disney 2) the wind! I needed goggles if I was going to keep up! 3) pride- could it be? DH was as excited as I was!

We were in the second group on Dumbo and we all loved it!

Then we hit the rest of Fantasyland - with no lines in sight! DD had been afraid to try Snow White's ride before we arrived as she is totally afraid of the movie, but she was so in the spirit of things that she hopped right on to it before you could say "poisoned apple!" I thought maybe after that she would watch the movie, but we've been home for a month and she still refuses.

Next we went on the Carousel. DS really liked that. He loves animals and just kept saying 'horsey, horsey' over and over. We goofed around at the Sword in the Stone quite a bit - that is a favorite movie in our house.

Then we made our way to the teacups. DH and DD rode together and he spun the daylights out of her. DS and I didn't spin at all - in 6 months PG remember! But it was fun just the same. DH and DD went on Goofy's Barnstormer and she declared it "Crazy!" That was our test to see if DD was ready for Splash and BTMR. Sure that she was we caught the railroad over to it. DS loved the Choo Choo! We could have ridden that all day! But what fun would that have been?

DS and I sat and looked at the water across from BTMR while DH and DD went on it and Splash. I didn't realize until I was already settled in a rocking chair that we were in or so close to a smoking area, but I was already too pooped to move. DS was asleep in the stroller, so I had a little peace to myself.

It wasn't even lunch yet and we had been on 7 rides! DH and DD were on 2 more, so really 9 if you don't count the pregnant lady and the little man! All this and potty stops for me - and more than that for DH! He was a trooper and didn't complain once of the abdominal cramping, the sluggish feeling or the rock in the pit of his stomach that was accompanying his stomach bug. He was really great about it and never let on that he wasn't feeling well! I had grabbed FP's for Splash while they were in the line for it, so DH and DD rode again right after they got off. DH said that the FP 'saved his life!' Now not only was he excited, but he GOT IT. He understood why there was planning, why there were websites, why people were coming out of the woodwork to lend me guidebooks. Somewhere in all this I smelled a return trip...

We made our way to Columbia Harbour House for lunch. In line I realized that DH wasn't the only one with a shorts issue. Took little man to the restroom - no changing area, no room to even lay the kid on the floor! And a major blowout. Are you sensing a theme to this day yet? So I apologize to anyone who witnessed me changing DS in our stroller. I put a towel over the sunshade to try and ensure that no untoward parts of DS would accidentally show up in anyone else's vacation photos!

Made it back to DH, he took off on his own and I was stuck with DS in my arms and a tray of food to carry. Enter a very nice stranger who carried the food for me! Thank goodness for nice people! Lunch was great. DH had the Captain's platter, the kids split mac n cheese and I had a sandwich of some sort...

We walked, strolled even! over to Philharmagic and made it right into a show. It was awesome!

DD sat on my lap and watching her made me miss half of the show, but she was reaching out for things, and the blasts fo air were making her hair puff and it was all so real for her. I teared up then and am now just thinking about it! DH was blown away. He said that it was the best theme park attraction, including thrill rides he had ever seen! And he's a big coaster freak! We rode the teacups again and had to go on a yellow one with pink trim as DD says they are the fastest. She agreed to let DS and I in the cup with her under protest, but we let Daddy spin it just a little this time. Ran back to Philharmagic again and DH wanted DD to sit on his lap this time, so I got DS on mine. He enjoyed it too. I was very relieved that he was having a good time. There was plenty for him to enjoy even as a toddler, and he was being so easy going all day, never made a peep or a complaint!

We didn't intend on sticking around for the parade, since the kids should have had a nap, BUT it was vacation, and we were in commando, excited, little kid we need to see it all mode, so we grabbed some curb and watched the parade. I even tried out the hula hoop before the parade much to everyone's amusement. At least DH didn't get that on video! Prince Phillip blew DD a kiss and she melted! It made her feel so special. And it made me cry, go figure!

No way were the kids actually going to nap, so we hit the WL pool after the boat back from MK. The slide was great! DD loved it, and DH too! It was much faster/nicer than the CBR slide. DS even gave it the thumbs up (sort of) and he couldn't go on it!

We had 6:50 ADRs for Whispering Canyon and even though we were early, we had quite a wait. The Lincoln Logs came in very handy. And the penny presses right there too! Dinner was good, DH had the skillet and I had the steak and the kids split roast chicken. DS got into the rowdy atmosphere and banged on the table for a while.

Loved the entertainment, especially the kids pledge! And we loved the milkshakes! (But hold the sprinkles next time for me!)

We did leave an extra tip along with the dining plan since there was cornbread on the table, and our kids love it. But there are certain foods that our kids should not be allowed to eat without a vacuum cleaner at the ready, and corn bread tops that list!

The kids were asleep as soon as we got back to the room, DH was incapacitated for a little while, so I gave him my notes for the next day to read and I laid out all of our clothes. A little rocky start, but Day 1 Magic Kingdom - mission accomplished. It was awesome! The kids were snuggled in one bed, DH and I crashed in the other, visions of EPCOT in our heads...and they were hammering upstairs renovating the room above us. Oh well, enough pixie dust to see us through a little construction noise. Was I about to complain about a room upgrade? Nope! And I was so tired that I didn't notice the noise after about 17 seconds!

Good night all!

 

[MomofCKJ]

Yeah, a new post! I love reading your trip story! Poor DH Not fun! I hope he feels better on your Epcot day and no one else gets the tummy bug!

Allyson

 

[Sweedee]

Put him in a crowd and he is immediately defensive...elbows locked, eyes to the ground and stroller wheels engaged to the pavement with just the right fore to maximize grip and minimize friction. He took off for Dumbo faster than a frat boy after a freshly tapped keg! It was all I could do to keep up with him! I had prepped DD that if we saw any characters in the morning, we could always go back and visit them later - but that was unnecessary. DH wasn't running, but as close to it as he could be, and he waas weaving in and out of people so much so that I was disoriented! And the kids got a taste of their first ride at Disney - StrollerMach1.

Loved that description!!!

 

[suezpqt]

Sure do hope that DH was only commando for a day!!!
Thank you for the newest edition - can't wait for the remaining saga - please don't wait so long this time!!

 

[shellynn24]

Wonderful pics! Especially the one of the WL boat dock. Can't wait to hear more.