Did I Really Expect Pixie Dust to Cure the 3yr. old melt-down? Arrival Day

[#1hoosierfan]

A few other titles I tossed around were:

"I Chose my favorite son in WDW"

and

"I would sell you to the Gypsies Right Now, if I Didn't Think They Would Ask for their Money Back!"

I thought better of both of these titles, because well....... I thought you *might* get the wrong idea about me..... although anyone that has lived with a 3 year old will probably understand.

Here is the cast:

Me:Michelle. I am a first grade teacher, and this is my fourth trip to WDW, the last being in January 2005. I LOVE all things Disney. I love to take pictures with my new Canon Rebel Xsi (took over 600 on this trip) which should not be mistaken with being a "good" photographer.... because THAT I am not.....

dh:Ben. We have been married 4 years. He is a great guy, nothing really rattles him, but it takes a lot to "impress" him too. He has only been to WDW once when he was a teenager. That trip was only one day and included MK and Epcot. Essentially, this is his first real visit to WDW. He also detests having his picture taken.

ds Owen. He is our sweet, lovable, maddening, independent, fearless 3 year old. He LOVES Mickey Mouse and the gang. I really think he would watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 24/7 if we let him.... also Thomas the Train (don't really "get" that one.)

Doesn't he look so sweet and innocent in that picture?????

ds Kaden 14 months: This is the child God sent me to let me know that I was not the "perfect" mother that I thought I was. Owen could not have been a better baby.... easy-going, slept well almost from birth, played on his own, etc..... Of course, I took credit for all of that. Well guess what????? Kaden came into our lives, and I did (well tried to do) the same things with him. He wouldn't have any of it. Was awake 5-7 times a night until he was 9 months old, NEVER wanted to be put down, doesn't nap well, and an all around MOMMY'S boy. I tease him all of the time that it is a good thing that he is so darn cute.

Also on the trip will be my mom, my sister, dbil, dn (6) and dn (2). I am sure that they will be showing up later in the trip report.

We stayed at a house in Windsor Palms for 7 night and spent 6 days in the parks.

More to come later.... the baby just woke up from a nap and is currently SCREAMING for me to get him.

 

[Later_Mater2009]

im planning on keeping up with your TR I have a almost 3 year old and I feel ya pain, I also have two boys who exact opposites....

 

[lnh'smom]

I can't wait to hear more! Our next trip, DS2 will be 3. I'll be honest, I'm a little nervous! Terrible two's? With my other DKs it was more like terrible three's!

 

[shelbys mommy]

I am in!!!!! Owen sounds like my oldest Koby & Kaden sounds like my middle child Brady! My DH is also named Ben & I love your avatar! I am a huge Snoopy fan!!!! I can't wait to read more!!!

 

[#1hoosierfan]

Thanks for joining in. Now I know I won't be talking, well writing, to the crickets.... Yeah!!!!

I am a HUGE Snoopy fan..... dare I say more so even than Mickey???? My classroom is done all in Snoopy as is our home office/scraproom. My two dogs are even named Schroeder and Lucy. Just love that beagle!

 

[shelbys mommy]

Thanks for joining in. Now I know I won't be talking, well writing, to the crickets.... Yeah!!!!

I am a HUGE Snoopy fan..... dare I say more so even than Mickey???? My classroom is done all in Snoopy as is our home office/scraproom. My two dogs are even named Schroeder and Lucy. Just love that beagle!

I am with you on that one!!!! Brady's crib set & nursery was all done in Baby Snoopy! I still say Disney needs to buy the rights to the Peanuts gang. Then I will really be in Heaven!!!

 

[#1hoosierfan]

No pics in this installment, sorry!


So WDW was not (gasp) our first choice for a vacation destination this year. Back in January I made reservations at the beautiful Beach Club Resort in Gulf Shores Alabama. We had previously visited this resort and just loved it. We reserved a condo right on the beach. My mom, and my sister and her family would be sharing the condo with us. Gulf Shores is about a 10-11 hour drive from our house. I booked the vacation on a snowy afternoon with visions of the beach dancing before my eyes.

Sometime in February or March my sister mentions saving for a Disney cruise and maybe going in the summer of 2011 on the new ship. I just *happened* to google Disney cruises, and what should I find but the DIS forums? Well, let me tell you, the Disney bug hit hard and fast. I learned very quickly that Kaden probably would not be fully potty-trained by summer 2011, and I really wanted him to be able to get in the pools on the ship, so I pretty much abandoned the thought of a Disney cruise.

Dh and I have always agreed that we would like to take the boys to Disney every 2 years and the opposite year do a beach vacation. I started crunching the numbers and decided with some careful budgeting and saving that we could pull-off a **big** Disney vacation in summer 2011. I started planning (at least in mind) for a 7 night AKL club level vacation and absorbing all of the terrific knowledge here on the DIS.

Then the BP oil spill occurred in the Gulf of Mexico.

By the beginning of May I knew that it was a very real possibility that the oil would not be cleaned up AND Gulf Shores could be affected. What to do, what to do? I don't go to the beach to sit by the pool (even though the resort has a nice one) I go to sit on the beach and play in the waves. I wanted my boys to be able to play on the beach. The resort was offering a full money-back guarantee up to 24 hours before our arrival date, however, I knew that if the oil came ashore we would have a hard time finding someplace else that we all agreed on at the last minute. Back in early May they were also saying that the Gulf Stream could possibly take the oil to the Eastern Shore.

So here it is early May, and Owen is becoming more and more obsessed with Mickey Mouse. Just a few weeks before, I had asked dh about maybe taking Owen on a quick trip to WDW sometime in May. There was just no way we could swing it financially.

In the wake of the oil spill I started researching off-site WDW area homes. Well I was completely and utterly shocked at how affordable they are. Our 3B 3ba beach front condo was going to cost $2600 for the week. I found a house in Windsor Palms ( a few miles off Disney property) with 4B, 3ba, and a private pool for $1,000. I ran the idea by my sister, and she was all for it!

We were going to Disney World!!!!!!

Now I understand that everyone will not agree with my decision to bail on Gulf Shores, and I understand that. I have a lot of guilt about cancelling our trip. I feel like I have let the people of the coast down in someway. I feel in my heart that I made the right decision, however. I watch the daily beach updates posted by Gulf Shores and they are reporting that some areas are see very little effects and just a mile down the beach there is the strong smell of oil with sheen. I pray for the people of the coast and the animals that are affected by this disaster.

OK,that was a quite a novella. I just thought it important to share why a crazy type A+++++ person such as myself would attempt to plan a Disney vacation for 9 people in only 7 short weeks.

Next up, the planning and the Departure!

 

[shelbys mommy]

The oil spill is HORRIBLE! I live 30 mins from the gulf (I am 45 mins south of New Orleans) and it is just killing me to know that I can not take my baby to the beach this summer for the 1st time. It is affecting everything here, including my husband's job since he works in the oilfield.

 

[BlueEyes78]

Wow, can't wait to read more. We're going November 14th this year, with our two little guys (5 and 2). We have a Caden too, but with a C!
We're also going with the extended family for the first time. Where did you find your rental? Is there a website?
I was going to stay onsite (and maybe after reading the rest of your review I'll decide to stick with that, depending on how you thought it was), but sounds like we can get a lot more space/amenities for much less.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

Wow, can't wait to read more. We're going November 14th this year, with our two little guys (5 and 2). We have a Caden too, but with a C!
We're also going with the extended family for the first time. Where did you find your rental? Is there a website?
I was going to stay onsite (and maybe after reading the rest of your review I'll decide to stick with that, depending on how you thought it was), but sounds like we can get a lot more space/amenities for much less.

Welcome!!!! I am so glad you are joining in! Here is the link to the house that we stayed in. The pictures really do not do it justice, however, and the owner was so easy to work with.

http://www.windsor-palms-florida.net/property/5_0_27273002/view.aspx

There is not even a picture of the master bedroom, which was VERY nice, and the living room has a leather couch and loveseat. We didn't let my mom pay, so my sister and I each paid $500 for the whole week. We were thrilled! I will go into a bit more detail about the house later in my TR, but if you have any questions before, that just let me know.

 

[Antigua08]

Hi really looking forward to your trip report, we've just booked our villa at Windsor Palms too so be really interested to hear (and see pics!) of what you thought of it.
We'll be going with my DH family so be good to see how that traveling with extended family works too

 

[BlueEyes78]

Thanks for the link! Since I read your post last night, I've been looking at all kinds of Windsor Hills and Palms homes. They're about HALF what Disney is charging us for two cabins, where we'll be crammed into Murphy beds and sharing one bathroom. I am just about ready to change my reservation. A few questions for you - one reason why we wanted to be on Disney property was due to nap time. But these look pretty close, so I'm guessing the drive wasn't too bad. But how was it waiting in lines of traffic at the Main Entrance?
What kind of stroller did they provide?
Was the pool warm enough to use in November?
Looking forward to reading the rest!!

P.S. 'I Chose My Favorite Son in Disney World' is an AWESOME title. Just awesome. My husband and I were cracking up when we read that last night.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

Thanks for the link! Since I read your post last night, I've been looking at all kinds of Windsor Hills and Palms homes. They're about HALF what Disney is charging us for two cabins, where we'll be crammed into Murphy beds and sharing one bathroom. I am just about ready to change my reservation. A few questions for you - one reason why we wanted to be on Disney property was due to nap time. But these look pretty close, so I'm guessing the drive wasn't too bad. But how was it waiting in lines of traffic at the Main Entrance?
What kind of stroller did they provide?
Was the pool warm enough to use in November?
Looking forward to reading the rest!!

P.S. 'I Chose My Favorite Son in Disney World' is an AWESOME title. Just awesome. My husband and I were cracking up when we read that last night.

The stroller that our house provided was just an umbrella stroller. We rented a double stroller from Orlanda Stroller company and it was delivered and picked up and cost $101 dollars for the week (including rain cover.)

I would think you could definitely use the pool in November, but you would want to purchase the heat.

Our time from our door to the parking lot entrance to the parks varied:

MK - 15-20 minutes (still need to factor in your monorail/boat time)
Ak - less than 10
The others in between.

There is a back entrance that you can take into the parks. We made it to RD every morning, and we never had a wait at any of the gates to get in.

There is a forum on here dedicated to off-site properties that I found very helpful. You might want to check that out too. I don't mind answering any other questions, though!

I wouldn't hesitate to stay off-site again. Next year we are strongly thinking about staying at Wyndham Bonnet Creek because my mom will be joining us again.

Hope that helps!

 

[#1hoosierfan]

Well by the time that we decided to head to WDW and got our house booked I only had 7 weeks to plan this entire WDW vacation. I knew my first order of business had to be deciding which parks to visit on which days and get my ADR's ASAP!

I decided to head over to Tour Guide Mike's site and join. Can I just say that I TGM???? Seriously, I spent so much time on his site researching and reading that dh teased that he was jealous of my "relationhip" with Mike.

So here is the itinerary for our trip:

Fri. June 18th leave Indiana around 4:00 pm. Stop for the night when tired
Sat. arrival day. No plans for the evening
Sunday 8:05 Crystal Palace ADR and day at MK
Monday MK day - Liberty Tree Tavern 11:20 ADR
Tuesday DHS day - Sci Fi ADR 11:10
Wednesday Epcot Day - San Angel ADR 11:30
Thursday AK Day - Yak and Yeti 11:00
Friday - MK Day 7:50 breakfast ADR at Ohana
Saturday - Departure day

In the weeks leading up to our departure I learned all about rope drops, Dole Whips, mid-day breaks, the Orlando Stroller Company, free ice-water in the parks, Photo-Pass pre-purchase, and many other things.

I purchased shirts for both boys to coordinate with each day in the park and even got a few for dh and me.

A few days before heading out it was time to get the van washed and cleaned and then get a pedicure. I asked the girl if she could put a Mickey Mouse on my big toes, and this is what I got. NOW I was ready to go to Disney World.

I hope you can see the picture OK. I made it a bit smaller for anybody that may be freaked out by toes. I have a friend that would simply die if she opened a post and saw a big set of toes staring her in the face.....

Next Up: The Departure - How will the drive be with a 14 month old and a 3 year old?

 

[shelbys mommy]

I love the Mickey on the big toe!!!! That is adorable! I wanted to paint Shelby nails red & do black dots on them, until I realized that her nails are so tiny, the black dot covered the entire nail! LOL! I hope your drive with a 14 month old was better than mine was!!!!

 

[#1hoosierfan]

So the day had finally come. After weeks of building up Walt Disney World to Owen and countless hours of planning on my part, it was FINALLY TIME!

It was Friday, June 18th. I had the van packed and was just waiting for my dh to get off from work. I had packed magazines for me, snacks, drinks, and the all important portable DVD player. Owen doesn't watch many movies at home, so I made sure to include "Beauty and the Beast," "Cinderella," and "Toy Story." I wanted him to be familiar with all of the characters when he met them.

I was not as concerned about Owen in the car because he has always been a good traveler and he had his DVD player. Kaden, however, was another story. I still have him rear-facing (we rear-face until age 2) so he wouldn't be able to watch tv, and he rarely sleeps in the car. My mom was going with us, however, and she was sitting in the third row, so I figured she could help keep him entertained.

Dh arrived home about 3:00 and we were on the road by 4:00. This is a picture of the boys as we were setting off.

Now, like I mentioned before I had been talking Disney "up" for weeks, but in all actuality, Disney World was a totally abstract concept to Owen. I could have said to Owen, "Guess what honey we are going to Timbuktu, and we are going to travel there on a 3-legged donkey!" and it would have elicted the same response. He was picking up on my excitement.

Shortly after our adventure began is when I began to channel Papa Smurf. Do you remember when the smurfs would set out for their numerous adventures with Papa Smurf leading the way? The smurfs would call out, "How much further Papa Smurf?" and he would answer "Not far now little smurfs." This would repeat itself several times until Papa Smurf would finally answer (a bit huffy) "A long way!" This is what I felt like. The questions about when we would be in Disney World started approximately 30 minutes into our 16 hour drive and persisted the ENTIRE WAY!!!!!

We ended up stopping in Bowling Green, Kentucky about 6:00 for dinner. We ate at a Ruby Tuesday and I went ahead and changed the boys into jammies there. We were back on the road quickly. Thankfully Kaden surprised me and conked about 8:00. Owen watched Toy Story and Cinderella and was asleep by about 10:00. Ben (dh) continued to drive until he was tired (about 1:00 am) We were in Macon, Georgia and found a Super 8 motel right off of the expressway. It certainly was "no-frills," but it was clean, and we only planned to be there a few hours. Thankfully we were able to get the boys settled back in fairly easily..... we went ahead and let the baby sleep with us, and my Mom took the other bed with Owen. We planned on being up about 7:00 and then driving to Walt Disney World!!!!!!

Next up: The rest of the trip and our arrival to Windsor Palms

 

[jaci-h]

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[#1hoosierfan]

subscribed

Thanks for joining in.

 

[kathie859]

Sounds like an interesting trip...can't wait to read more!

 

[#1hoosierfan]

Sounds like an interesting trip...can't wait to read more!

Welcome! Where are you located in Kentucky? We are just across the river from Louisville.

Happy 4th of July to everyone!!!!!!