FINISHED! 7/2 The magic (and not-so-magic) memories Jan29-Feb4 Disney/Universal

[sarahcor]

Hi and welcome to my first trip report! I stumbled upon the disboard trip reports four years ago when I decided we needed to do a Disney trip with our then 5 year old daughter, Mia. Our first trip was January 2009, booked with the buy 4/get 3 free plus $200 gift card promotion. It was a practically perfect vacation and I was hooked on the magic. I have enjoyed reading the reports and learning tips and secrets from everyone on the boards. I am mostly a lurker but I want to share our trip and preserve the memories while still fresh in my mind. Feel free to lurk along…

I convinced my mom and grandma to come with us the next year, January 2010:

This was when the super cold weather hit Florida, but I still prefer freezing Disney to winter in PA.

We did another short trip right before school started in August 2010:

We skipped Disney in 2011 because of our new addition:

Suffering from major withdraw, planning began on a first trip for the new guy, Westin, and joining us this time would be my friend since fourth grade, her brother and her mom. Please relive the magic (and not-so-magic) memories with us!

 

[sarahcor]

Introductions
My husband Paul, his favorite thing about Disney is the food and drinks:

Our daughter Mia, 8 years old, her favorite things about Disney are swimming and Figment, her least favorite would be Expedition Everest, Dinosaur or Bugs Life:

Our son Westin, 8 months old, his favorite things about Disney were the characters and people watching:

My best friend since fourth grade Bridget, her brother Rob and her mom Grace:

They all have a wheat allergy (celiac disease) and Disney certainly went the extra mile as far as accommodating their food allergy. It was also interesting to experience the rides with Rob and see how the ride vehicles could fit his wheelchair. Not on all the rides but a lot had a dedicated vehicle so he wouldn’t have to transfer from his chair.

And me, Sarah, my favorite thing about Disney is how the real world disappears and it’s just me and my family. I love Disney tshirts and got my ears pierced two years ago just so I could wear Disney earrings. I also like this hat, it may be slightly dorky and Paul would rather I not wear it but it is so pink, plaid and happy I must!

 

[KatMark]

Joining in.

 

[sarahcor]

Joining in.

My first reader, thank you so much!

 

[aadaneboy]

I'm a lurker too, but since we leave for WDW in a month from today, I'm getting very excited...so I'm joining in too! Can't wait to read more!--

Todd

 

[sarahcor]

I'm a lurker too, but since we leave for WDW in a month from today, I'm getting very excited...so I'm joining in too! Can't wait to read more!--

Todd

I love the weeks before a trip, there is so much to look forward to. Thanks for joining in!

 

[sarahcor]

The drive begins.
Rita found a nice spot to sit while I finished packing:

I was loading the truck and Paul was trying to get some sleep because he was driving first. Westin is not a good sleeper and he woke up in the middle of loading the truck. I put him in the jump a roo and popped in his favorite tape, the next time I came through he was out:

We stopped for a fill up before starting off at about 12:30a.m., hoping Mia and Westin could sleep about 8 hours

They actually did very well on the drive down. Mia has her movies to watch and she also had a lot of homework to keep her busy. Westin stayed busy with toys and cookies.
Me super excited for the adventure ahead:

Paul, not as excited for the drive ahead:

We made it through the night, stopping along the way for gas and bathroom breaks. I almost didn’t want to take Westin out of his seat because he hated being put back in.

We stopped for breakfast at McDonalds somewhere along the way and around 2:00p.m. we arrived at Kingsland, GA to check in at Days Inn, it was a good place to stop for the evening so we were fresh for our first day at Disney.

Mia and I did our nails, hers were white with black mickey shapes and mine were the opposite. She wouldn’t cooperate for a picture but here is mine:

We got a lot of comments on our mickey nails, even the check in guy at the Hard Rock Hotel in Universal liked them.
We had some dinner at a nearby chick-fil-a, Mia continued to work on her homework. We were all in bed by 7:00p.m., driving all night is very tiring, who would have thought!

Next up, we’re almost there!

 

[cah5525]

You guys look like a fun bunch! Can't wait to hear more! We will be making the long drive down I-95 in 16 more days and I love reading trip reports...It fuels the excitement and anticipation...

 

[sarahcor]

You guys look like a fun bunch! Can't wait to hear more! We will be making the long drive down I-95 in 16 more days and I love reading trip reports...It fuels the excitement and anticipation...

I love trip reports too, it makes the time between trips more tolerable. Have a great trip!

 

[KatMark]

Great update; love the cat watching you pack. As much as I hate flying, I don't miss the drive.

 

[sarahcor]

Day 1
We were up and out of the Days Inn by 7:00 and off to start the fun. It took us about 3 hours until we turned in to:

We have stayed at Pop twice. I really like that their buses have one stop at the hotel, we stayed at Port Olreans on our second stay and the loop around the resort seemed to take forever. However, with 4 people in our family now, I am thinking we may need to check out a different resort on our next stay. I would love to stay at the Poly or the Beach Club, not too sure if I can justify the price difference though.

We headed to check in:

I had done the online check in a few days prior and was really hoping for our room to be ready…it wasn’t. Pop seemed very crowded, I guess that’s what happens during free dining. Oh well, off to the first park. We went out to the bus stop to catch a ride to Epcot.

I had a touring plan for each day, some of our not so magical moments occurred when we didn’t follow the plan. Trying to keep everyone happy is hard because I want to go, go, go and do everything I can. Paul would rather take it slow. Mia wants to swim, all the time. Now, with our friends along, I wanted to show them the best of Disney. This would eventually lead to the major blow up of the trip, but that’s for another park on another day.
We made it through the finger scans and started off for Soarin fastpasses:

Since we were in the Land we decided to try Sunshine Seasons

I got the reuben, Paul and Mia both got chicken, and we had strawberry shortcake and chocolate mousse cake. I really liked the sandwich and would definitely get it again. Bridget, Grace and Rob were able to get the pork chop meal, none of the sauce had gluten. For their dessert they got packaged gluten free chocolate chip cookies and brownies. They really liked the meal but the dessert was like any packaged goodie they’d had. To let our food settle we did Living with the Land next.

I got a new camera a few months ago, our old one broke. Taking pictures with a camera I am not familiar with while holding a wiggly baby don’t go together well. As a result, I don’t have a lot of on ride pictures, boo.

We left the Land and headed to one of Mia’s favorites, what could it be?

 

[KatMark]

It is hard traveling with other people, even if friend because we all travel/vacation in our own way. Lunch looks yummy. U am guessing Nemo for where you headed next.

 

[sarahcor]

Great update; love the cat watching you pack. As much as I hate flying, I don't miss the drive.

We will definitely be flying next time. I didn't want to be that family with the screaming baby on the plane. The extra baggage charges for all of our luggage also deterred me from flying. I will have to become a better packer.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Joining in ! You have a cute family and I can't wait to hear about your trip!

 

[MelMel11]

Count me in!!!

 

[sarahcor]

Previously: We left the Land and headed to one of Mia’s favorites, what could it be?
Figment, yay! Mia loves this ride and was very excited to ride through the smelly part with Bridget, but Bridget caught on when Mia was plugging her nose.

At this point we took a bathroom break and watched this little guy steal a bag right out of a stroller

He didn’t like that we were watching him so he drug the bag behind the tree.
We did Nemo next

Mia wanted to do Turtle Talk but Westin had fallen asleep on the Nemo ride and they wouldn’t allow me to bring the stroller inside. Paul and I took the opportunity to do a little shopping. I wish I had been there because she got picked to ask Crush a question! She asked him what his favorite food is and he told her sea kalp,that is what makes him green. He asked her what her favorite food was and she told him pasta, he then asked her if she was pasta colored, she told him no. Yay for Crush!
I had been looking for a Mickey ring to wear on my right hand. When Paul and I first started dating he gave me a girlfriend ring, I wanted to keep the girlfriend ring but mostly wear the Mickey ring. According to Paul, I love Mickey Mouse more than him anyways! I found one that I really liked but they had it zip tied onto a plastic card so it could hang on the wall display. We bought it and then Paul ripped it off the plastic card and bent the ring, it was now an oval. The cashier was very nice and told me to get another ring. She said the bad one would go to damaged goods. I don’t have picture but I’ll include one later.
We met back with the rest of the group and started over to club cool.

We ran into this lovely lady with no line so we had to stop and say hi:

Westin got to try some gingerale, Mia liked a pink drink but I don’t remember which country it was from:

We went shopping again, Mia had some birthday and Christmas money that she was dying to spend, she got Duffy the bear and Westin got some rubber Cars toys for the bath.

We wanted to try KimPossible so we got a ticket for later in the evening and then went for dinner at a new restaurant we had never tried, The Garden Grill.

 

[sarahcor]

Joining in ! You have a cute family and I can't wait to hear about your trip!

Thanks for joining, I just added a new update, hope you enjoy!

Count me in!!!

Thanks!

 

[KatMark]

Dang, I should have gone with my first instinct which was Figment over Nemo. So cool that DD got to ask Crush a question (the 5-year old I was traveling with earlier this month also got to ask Crush a question); it's such a great experience.

I love the picture of Westin with Aurora....such a cute baby.

We've not been to Garden Grill in probably 15 years so I can't wait to hear all about it.

 

[sarahcor]

[

Dang, I should have gone with my first instinct which was Figment over Nemo. So cool that DD got to ask Crush a question (the 5-year old I was traveling with earlier this month also got to ask Crush a question); it's such a great experience.

I love the picture of Westin with Aurora....such a cute baby.

We've not been to Garden Grill in probably 15 years so I can't wait to hear all about it.

She was so excited about Crush, she counted it as one of her best parts of the trip.
Aurora was very nice, we felt bad for her because she was stuck off to the corner and no one seemed to notice her.
Garden Grill was good, I may have that up later tonight.

 

[jc040404]

I knew it would be Figment! I love that this is her favorite. And how awesome that she got picked by Crush, too.

Sounds fun so far. I'm in!