Completely Waterlogged, but Perfectly Happy...A Family's First Ever Trip

johnsonginad

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 22, 2011
Messages
422
My little family and I took our first ever Disney World vacation back at the end of March this year. We had a spectacular time and we're ready to go back! I've been planning on doing this trip report for quite some time, but I'm just now getting around to it. I have lots of pictures to post and lots of moments to relive. Stay tuned! Introductions of the cast and first day postings coming soon!
 
We'll get started with a look at our cast of characters. First up is Emma. She's our 5 year old daughter, and has a great love for all things Disney. Her favorite princess ever since she could talk has been Sleeping Beauty. (known as "Sweeping ****ie" when she couldn't pronounce her words very well) She is our little princess and is very active and vocal with helping me to make plans for anything and everything. This was her first trip to Disney World.

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Next up is DH, Gregg. :lovestruc He is my Prince Charming in every way shape and form. He was also very instrumental in this trip and helped Emma and I with every aspect of planning. He, too, is a Disney nut. Well, not so much before the trip. But since we got home? Yeah...he's itching to go back just as much as Emma and I are. This was his third Disney trip. He went with me, my parents and his parents back in 1999 for my high school graduation trip, and then went again during the fall of 1999 with PGA golfer Kenny Perry for a golf tournament.

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Then comes me. I'm Gina, and I am the FIRST Disney nut of the household. I have always loved everything Disney. Tigger has been my favorite character ever since I was a little girl and saw "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too" for the first time on a Sunday night during "The Wonderful World of Disney". (Why don't they do that anymore? It was the highlight of my week!) This was my fourth trip to the world. My parents took me on my first trip when I was 3, then my parents and I went back when I was in the sixth grade with my aunt, uncle and two cousins. The third trip was with DH (then DBF), his parents and my parents for my high school graduation.

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Now that you've met our cast, let's get on with the fun!
 

beep...beep...beep...BEEP..BEEP!!!!!!!!!!

My alarm clock went off bright and early at 2:00 am on the morning of March 26th. I rubbed my eyes and stretched. Then it hit me!!!! THIS WAS THE DAY!!! :cool1: In a little more than an hour and a half, we would be leaving for DISNEY WORLD!!! :banana::banana::banana:

I am usually FAR from being a morning person, but there's just something about knowing that in a few hours you will be in the most Magical Place On Earth. I flew around the house like a mad woman. Started brewing Dunkin Donuts coffee in the coffee pot, and hopped in my clothes that I had laid out the night before. My husband was already up too. He already had his clothes on, and was ready to hit the road! We both crept into Emma's room, where she was sleeping like an angel. I began by quietly whispering her name. "Emma...Emma...It's time to get up." She didn't stir. So a little bit louder this time. "Emma...time to get up...it's almost time to leave for Disney World." You would've thought somebody had pinched that child. She bolted upright in her bed, rubbed her eyes and said, "Mickey? Time to go to Mickey's House?" :lovestruc Already, I could feel myself getting emotional. I had looked forward to this vacation for so long, and it still didn't quite feel real.

We got Miss Emma ready and were waiting in the sunroom when my inlaws arrived to take us to the airport. I check the backpack for the 8,000th time. Wanted to make sure I still had our reservation information, boarding passes and Magical Express information. Yep...still there. WHEW!

After my husband and father-in-law loaded up our luggage, we were off! Forty-five minutes later, we arrived at Nashville International Airport, and proceeded to curbside check in. (YEEHAW!!!) We waved goodbye to Memom and Poppy, and were on our way inside to go through security and head to our gate. I felt myself getting jittery already. I was so excited! Emma was bouncing off the walls. We made it through security without a hitch, and off to our gate we headed.

Up next..."Is That Really Our Plane???? You've GOT To Be Kidding Me."
 
Hi,
I was there at the same time.
Though I had to go to Savannah first and St. Augustine. I was with me 2 sisters, and they are not Disneyfied.:rotfl:
I should just say they don't get Disney.

Your little girl is so cute!

Looking to see how your days went.
They should have a smiley on here, getting soaked.
 
When we left off, they had just called for boarding to begin for our flight. We had been sitting off to the side of the boarding gate, away from the windows. As we approached the line, I got a glimpse out the window. I saw what I swear was the tiniest airplane I had ever seen. I felt my heart skip a beat. It was the epitome of what you would call a "pond hopper". It looked like a little Cessna, or even a crop sprayer. I was mortified.

We finally were able to step on board the Little Tykes airplane. It had 16 seats. I swear. 16 SEATS. I could feel the bile beginning to bubble in my throat. Keep in mind, that I normally don't mind flying. It has never bothered me before. But there was just something about this toy airplane that I just didn't like. Not one little bit.

Emma was bouncing around in her seat and ready to go. She was happy, smiling and ready to be off to Mickey's House. I, on the other hand, was in my seat with my eyes closed...saying my prayers.

The plane began to taxi out to the runway. It was still pitch black outside, and all you could see around you were the lights of the runways and the lit up wavy thingys of the workers outside. Emma had a window seat, and as we were leaving she had her face pressed up on the glass. (At least I think it was glass...It might have been plastic for all I know.) One of the workers outside pointed to her and then waved really big. I looked over at my husband and said "Look...I think he's telling us good-bye. As in hasta lavista baby. You no be here no more." We began to pick up speed. As we lifted up into the sky, I could feel my heart race again, and I gripped the arm rests so tightly that my knuckles were white.

The flight only lasted about 40 minutes, but to me it seemed like an eternity. We had finally reached our destination. Memphis, TN...here we are!!! We had 1 hour to change planes, and then we would be off to our final desitination. ORLANDO BABY!!! :banana::banana::banana:

Because of my experience on the previous flight, I was seriously dreading boarding another plane. I was so relieved when I saw the new plane we would be boarding. It was GI-NORMOUS. We boarded, and had great seats. We sat right behind the curtains to first class. So lots of leg room. :woohoo:

We settled in for our flight, which was alot less bumpy and a lot more enjoyable for me. Before we knew it, we were there! We had finally arrived in Orlando! We could immediately tell a difference in weather. It was MUCH warmer there than it had been in Kentucky when we left that morning. We made our way from our gate to the wannabe monorail, and off we went!

We were almost running through the airport toward the Magical Express. We were so ready to be there! When we finally got there, we were happy to see that no one was in line. We were ushered to the Port Orleans French Quarter bus by two smiling CM's. Our vacation had officially began!

We settled into our seats and I (once again) felt myself get emotional when the video started. (You will begin to see a trend here...my emotions seemed to get the best of me throughout this whole trip.) I wiped little tears from my eyes every time I heard Emma giggle at the cartoons, and ooh and aah at the castle and the characters on the screen.

The excitement bore down on me once again, as we headed under the archway. We had finally made it!!! HELLO WORLD!!!!! :woohoo:

Coming Soon: "Our Home Away from Home, and The Best Sandwich I've Ever Eaten"
 
Hi,
I was there at the same time.
Though I had to go to Savannah first and St. Augustine. I was with me 2 sisters, and they are not Disneyfied.:rotfl:
I should just say they don't get Disney.

Your little girl is so cute!

Looking to see how your days went.
They should have a smiley on here, getting soaked.

Thank you so much! She is my everything!

You're right, they should definitely have a smiley for getting soaked. It would definitely get used a lot in this TR!! LOL :laughing:
 
Sorry no updates in a few days. Been a little under the weather, and have been super busy too! This is dance recital week for Emma, and we have practice EVERY DAY this week. I promise, another update is coming soon. =) :thumbsup2
 
joining in...

I don't think I would have liked that little plane either!!!:scared1:

But I guess we gotta do what we gotta do right?!?!?!
 
I'm still here guys, and haven't forgotten about this report. Dance recital is tonight with a second show tomorrow night, so a new update with lots of pictures coming by at least Sunday, I promise! :goodvibes
 
Continuing on with the fun!

When we last left off, we had finally arrived underneath that spectacular archway, and were on our way to our home away from home for the week:

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As we were making our way in, we were greeted at the door by this colorful gentleman:

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We made our way inside, and over to check in. I had not utilized online check in, so was a little worried that it might take a while. To my surprise, we were ushered right up to a smiling CM to find that our room was already ready. He gave us a quick "tour" of the resort on the map, and handed me our folder with our room keys in it. I had gotten Emma dressed that morning in a pair of red pants with white polka dots, so I guess she looked a little like Minnie Mouse. The CM even commented on it and asked for Emma's autograph. She, in true 5 year old girl fashion, acted very shy at first. Then before you knew it, she was taking a piece of paper from him and writing her name on it for him. As soon as she had handed it to him, he said "Thank you Princess!" This was the first time she had been called Princess on this trip and she was amazed. :lovestruc As we were walking away and heading toward our room, she turned to me and said "Mommy! He called me Princess!!!" :wizard:

Before you knew it, we saw this:
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The room was perfect! Perfectly clean, and in a perfect location! We were in the building directly behind the swimming pool, with just a short walk to the bus stop. WOO HOO!!!

We opened the door and found our first surprise:

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We dropped off a few things in the room, changed into some cooler clothes, and we were off to Downtown Disney for a quick lunch and to look around

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When we arrived at Downtown Disney, we were still just taking it all in. We had to stop for a photo opp or two:

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Then we were on our way to this:

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I had heard some really great stuff about this place, so I was super excited to try it. DH got The Original, I got The Italian, and Emma got a berry parfait with granola on it. I have to say, my sandwich was good, but Gregg's was SO much better. After batting my eyelashes a little and whining just a little bit, he agreed to split it with me. He took half of mine, and I took half of his. IT WAS SO GOOD. (I really wish I had one right now...I'm hungry.)

We walked around a little more and checked out World of Disney. I could've spent such a long time in there, and SO much money. But we knew we had a whole week ahead of us, so we got Emma a Tinkerbell autograph book and pen, and we were on our way.

Next up: Epcot!
 
great start! We took our son for the 1st time when he was 5, and also stayed at POFQ and had a wonderful trip. We were also bitten by the Disney bug then and are now waiting for our next trip in Nov.

Can't wait to read the rest of your TR!:thumbsup2
 
We decided that it was definitely time for some park time. We decided to do Epcot the first night. I really wanted the Magic Kingdom to be the first park that Emma saw, but I knew we would all be tired, and probably wouldn't spend much time there, so we decided that we would go to Epcot first. We hopped the boat back to POFQ and boarded a bus to Epcot.

We really didn't spend a whole lot of time here this time, primarily because we were all exhausted already. We rode Spaceship Earth, and Emma loved it. It scared her a bit when it went backwards, but she still thought it was cool.

We kept walking a bit, then Emma spotted The Gang. There wasn't much of a line, so we walked right in to meet the Fab Five. Emma walked through the whole line with her book open and her pen ready. She was so excited to meet Mickey and the Gang!!!!

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Next up was the Nemo ride, which she LOVED!!! We tried to wait around for Turtle Talk, but then I realized that it was getting close to time for Illuminations. We made our way out and over to get a spot for the show. But not before getting some shots of The Giant Golf Ball:

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This was an excellent end to our first day. Emma loved the fireworks. DH and I both got misty eyed this time. The whole time the show was going on, you could hear Emma. "WOW! Look! WOW!!! That's so pretty! WOW!!!"

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Up Next: A Day In the Magic Kingdom
 
The next morning, we received our wake up call bright and early at 6:30 am. I hopped right up and started to get ready. Gregg and Emma weren't too far behind me, though. Emma was so excited!!!! She was jumping on the bed saying "Castle! Castle! Castle! Mommy!!! I get to see Cinderella's castle today!!!" While I got her dressed, Gregg made sure we had everything we needed in the backpack. Once we were sure we had all we needed, we headed to the bus stop. We didn't wait very long for the bus at all. The next thing I knew I was hearing the recording say that we were arriving at the Magic Kingdom.

I felt my heart grow big and I felt the emotions starting to grow again as we walked up to the gate. We had made it just in time to get a spectacular spot for viewing the opening ceremony. Gregg captured part of it on video, but I can't figure out how to upload it. Emma started jumping up and down and pointing when the train came through with all of the characters. And I did what I do best. I cried. You may be able to see part of my tissue in the picture below.

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Here's some more picture of us waiting to go in:

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And of the ceremony:

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Hi There!
Just wanted to let you know I'm following along - Emma is adorable!
 




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