home again, home again ...back from wdw/ds's 1st bday

[lynetteSC]

Just returned from our 1st wdw trip with ds. This was a major difference from our usual trip (usually dh & myself). We took ds and my parent's. My parent's are not exactly WDW fans, they mainly wanted to go to see ds on his 1st bday and to see all of his 1st's! I will say they were good sports, albiet we did have the comments about their vacations not requiring planning/scheduling/or walking as much. AND, this was certainly a more laid back trip b/c we had ds with us. Overall, it was the best trip ever. It is amazing how much joy you can get from watching a one year watch firewrks/Illuminations/characters/etc. I will give a rundown on the highlights. If you have questions please ask! I will try to answer them!

Drove down from SC on Sat ... stayed at Pop one nite (nice place for the $$$)
Sun ... moved over to Port Orleans French Quarter (excellent moderate resort) for 6 nites

High lights:
-DS's 1st birthday ... he got soooo much attention and lots of freebies (mainly desserts and cards to save for his scrapbook)

-DH being "Veteran of the Day" at MK. He got to participate in one of the last flag ceremonies on the original flag pole in MK. They retired the flag pole two days later (5/5/05).

-Baby Centers ... can't say enough wonderful things about these. They have anything and everything you could possibly need and not to high $$$. Also, a great place to cool off, escape the rain storms, potty break for you and baby, and get some ice cool water.

-Food was great everywhere we ate: Le Cellier, Whispering Canyon, House of Blues, Prime Time, Marrakesh, Crystal Palace on ds's bday ... also had counter service and food court often.

-All cast members with the exception of ONE security guard/parking lot were awesome! Everyone seemed to be happy and glad to be at WDW. The one security guard, we later found out it was his 1st day, so he was showing his "authority".

-POFQ was great! The hotel has been renovated and is so pretty. Rooms are very nice. We were in bldg 5, so close to boat route to DD and also closer to Riverside. Not too far from main bldg,food court and shopping. Food court was good!

-It was a "different" trip than our usual trips because of the baby. We seemed to be fine with doing things at a slower pace. We still did everything we wanted (Wishes/Illuminations/Spectromagic/1st haircut on Main St/saw all important characters), so we didn't feel like we were missing out on anything.

-We tried to do a mid-day nap or rest for baby (and parents ).

Thanks so much for all the tips (espcially baby ones) we read about on the boards!