How We Became Addicted to a Mouse...A Family's First Trip!

[imama]

It’s here! It’s here! It’s here! Disney day had finally arrived! The countdown calendar had been filled, the bags were packed, the kids and the parents were stoked and excitement filled the air! We were PREPARED. We were READY. Let’s get this show on the road!

It was the trip that had taken years to plan. And the trip that, the week prior, had almost been cancelled. It was almost unbelievable to think that we were ACTUALLY getting ready to go!

But wait...you’d probably like some background information first, wouldn’t you?

I’m Malinda, a 35 (how did THAT happen??) year old, stay at home mom to three mostly fantastic kids. Between my mommy duties, I am also active in the elementary school PTA, a Sunday school teacher and a blogger. I am also the resident Disney planner and obsessor. My love of Disney REALLY started when I was in the 11th grade and got a Beauty and the Beast movie for Christmas. I watched that movie EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for the next year. Really and truly. When I was in college, my parents were stationed in Oceanside, California, which meant that I got to take my first trip to Disneyland for the day. Hooked. For life. But now I really wanted to experience Disney World...the fever had begun.

Jamie is my husband. He is caring, compassionate and a great husband and father. AND he also loves Disney with me. Bless him...! His first Disney experience was Disneyland with me in college. Pirates of the Caribbean, along with a Monte Crisco sandwich, had him hooked. While Jamie was excited about this first trip I planned, he had no idea about what really awaited him. He went from excited and thinking Disney would be “fun” to carrying his Mickey mug to work every day, filled with coffee. He downloaded Orlando’s weather as a bookmark on his phone. He sends me texts with wait times for Soarin’. I got him Minnie’s Bake Shop Supreme Chocolate Chip Cookies for Valentine’s Day. I love that man. And I love that he wants me to plan another trip.

Since we have a “fancy schmancy” camera that only I can work, I am usually behind the lens and therefore, found it hard to find a recent picture of the two of us together. So, here’s one of us from Christmas. We were at church while my parents were visiting. I am in in the pink sweater, holding the two year old. Jamie is in the sweater next to me. On the other side of me are my parents.

Jay is our ten year old. While he is the oldest, he has more tendencies towards acting like a middle child. He is fun loving and happy most of the time with not a care in the world. He is into drama, flag football, piano, cubscouts and karate. Jay is a good student, but he is a good student because HIS MOTHER STANDS OVER HIM AND MAKES HIM BE ONE. SHE ALSO MAKES HIM PRACTICE PIANO. Officially the Meanest Mother Ever.

Annie is 7, going on 35. She is mature, compassionate, competitive, and extremely driven. She loves to laugh and have fun, but only after she has done her homework. I actually have to tell her that, no, we do NOT need to go over spelling words again. She knows them perfectly well. She is a soccer player and is just incredible on the field. I have a hard time remembering that she is JUST seven. She is very good at keeping her brother on track, which he looooooves. I’m still not sure how I ended up with children on such opposite ends of the spectrum, but they balance each other well.

And then there’s Jane. Hurricane Jane, as she is more aptly known. Jane is a thousand miles an hour, hard headed as granite, two year old who is rarely clothed, loves to climb and get into EVERYTHING. There is a reason that God waited until my third child to give me Jane. Had she been first, she might have been an only child. Up until she was potty trained she had to wear duck tape on her diaper at all times. Don’t report me to CPS, she just removed that darn diaper one too many times with a surprise in it. And did you know that they make STYLISH duck tape now? In LEOPARD. It goes with EVERYTHING. Not that Jane will keep clothes on long enough to NEED to match anything. So...needless to say, Jane’s attitude on our Disney trip was a bit of a concern for me.

And yes, that is, in fact, marker all over Jane. Don't ask me where she FOUND the marker. She may have magical powers. Just proving my point.

So...there’s your background. In my upcoming posts, I’ll fill you in on the details of the trip, and also how the trip was almost cancelled at the last minute...cliffhanger!! Then we’ll move into our days of Disney fun at Ft. Wilderness Cabins! Be patient with me as I figure out this whole posting thing...I’ve already managed to delete my first post and had to rewrite it. Not a stellar start, but hopefully this will get easier as I go along.

 

[sharona]

What a great start. Can't wait to read more.

 

[clayfolks]

Jane and the marker! OMG!! subbing...
Too funny. Thank you.
Sue

 

[imama]

What a great start. Can't wait to read more.

Thanks so much! Glad you're reading! I am having so much fun reliving all of the fun we had!

 

[imama]

Jane and the marker! OMG!! subbing...
Too funny. Thank you.
Sue

Welcome!!! Jane is an unbelievable mess. Quite literally, most days. Funny story...went for a looong walk the yesterday with her in my running stroller. A few miles into the walk, I decided to take a peek at her. As I peered around the canopy of the running stroller, I realized that she had taken off her shirt and was naked from the waist up. I'm not sure why I was surprised, but I was glad to understand why everyone I passed was laughing at me. She keeps me on my toes!

 

[imama]

So, this trip that had been years in the making...how did it come to be? When Jamie and I had Jay and Annie, we began talking about a Disney vacation. At the time, it was just talk, with no action. He was in graduate school, full time, and we were living off of student loans while we waited on him to finish up his Masters Degree in Nurse Anesthesia. When he finally graduated and we made the move to Oklahoma, I began to price packages in earnest. We set a date for our first trip...July of 2008.

But then...I got pregnant.

And judging from the difficulties of my last two pregnancies, we knew that the Disney trip had just gone out the window. True to course, I spent 25 weeks on bedrest and delivered Jane six weeks early.

Then I spent the next 6 months trying to figure out where I had placed my brain.

When I DID finally find my brain, we started planning in earnest again. Mind you, I had A YEAR AND A HALF TO PLAN because we had decided on a date of October 2010.

But ya’ll...is there ANYTHING more fun than planning a Disney trip? Short of the ACTUAL Disney trip, I can’t think of anything.

I started with books. The Unofficial Guide, to be exact. Which led me to websites. Which led me to THIS website. Which led me to trip reports, which I read and read and read. I am a biiiiiiig reader, and I looooove getting sucked into a good trip report.

So, at the start of our plans, we had decided to stay off site at the Double Tree in DTD. We were going to SAVE MONEY. And also? It had a kitchenette, so we were going to pack all of our lunches to SAVE MONEY. Oh...and we planned to drive. From Oklahoma. TO SAVE MONEY. We would leave on a Saturday, arrive on a Sunday, leave the following Saturday after five park days and arrive back home on a Sunday. Not that there is anything wrong with this plan, but it is so far from what we actually ended up doing, that it’s laughable.

I thought the Double Tree Suites sounded nice because I knew we would have a napping two year old and need the space. But the more I read, the more I wanted to stay on property. And the more I wanted to stay on property, the more the cabins at Ft. Wilderness appealed to me. Not just for the space, but also because the resort had so many fun things for Jay and Annie to do while Jane slept in the afternoons. It seemed like a great solution. And hello? Boat ride to the Magic Kingdom??

Plus...with a full kitchen, we could not only pack our lunches, but also COOK OUR OWN SUPPER!

Well...we could have. Except that we decided to get the Quick Service Dining Plan instead.

And then, one night, a few months before our trip, Jamie looked over at me and said, “I’m really dreading the drive.” And with those few words, we booked plane tickets. And added an extra day to our stay.

We went back and forth on the park hopper option. In the end, we decided just on base tickets and we would forego MNSSHP. We weren’t sure how Jane, who normally goes to bed at 7:30, would last.

So, breakdown for you...base tickets, Ft. Wilderness Cabins, QS dining plan, flying into Orlando and getting in six park days.

The plans were set, the trip was booked and with 55 days until Disney, I hung up our countdown calendar. Painstakingly made at midnight, with 55 little Home Depot Mouse ears glued down and then laminated over. Each day the big kids took turns crossing through one of those numbers.

I made t-shirts for the kids, booked an ADR at Chef Mickey’s at the last minute when we decided we would pay OOP as a surprise, arranged luggage tags, watched endless youtube videos of rides, packed suitcases and arranged a “Disney Box”. And with two and a half weeks remaining on our calendar, our household was over the moon with excitement.

Until...

****Ack!! WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?? Did we get to go to Disney? Was the trip cancelled? Was all the planning for naught? Well, obviously not, since this is a TRIP report and not a NON-TRIP Report. You’ll just have to wait and see...

 

[imama]

“Mom, my stomach hurts. It’s been hurting all day.”

Those were the words that greeted me as I picked up Annie and Jay from school two weeks and a few days before our trip was to take place.

Those are never good words.

But, de-nial ain’t just a river in Egypt. I asked a few questions about Annie’s stomach and decided to dismiss it as a fluke. We went home, she wanted a snack. She said her stomach wasn’t hurting anymore, so I figured she was just hungry. We went to soccer practice where she ran for a while but then came over to me crying and saying her stomach was bothering her again. Home we went, where she was in too much pain to take a shower and just wanted to lie down.

And hour later, she was fine. I fed her some dry toast and applesauce. It all came back up. So, now I’m figuring that we have a stomach virus going on. Code red! Containment! Wash hands! Everybody duck and cover! I don’t deal particularly well with stomach viruses, and this one was causing Annie a LOT of pain. It was, frankly, scaring the crap out of me to watch her moan and thrash around on the bed.

After a few hours of the pain and thrashing, but only one bought of throwing up, she was sleeping. I left her in my room, fully prepared for waking up in the middle of the night with her.

She slept all the way through the night. She was fine the next day. We started back on liquids slowly and by lunch time had worked up to dry toast and some broth. I figured maybe this was just a light bug or maybe something had just upset her stomach the day before.

And actually, writing about this? Makes me feel all panicky inside because THIS is where things turn rough for us. And it makes my anxiety (which is usually non-existent) kick up to super high levels.

But about an hour and a half after the broth, the pain started back. The screaming and the thrashing. I began to be worried that this was not a virus and could be appendicitis. Jamie came home from work and looked at her and decided that a trip to the ER was warranted. This was like nothing we had ever seen from Annie. She had never handled a stomach virus like this before. Something was just “off”.

So, off to the ER they went. And a few hours later, returned with anti-nausea meds and a diagnosis of a stomach virus. “Should be a 24-48 hour thing”. Annie made the comment, “I’m glad I got sick now since I’ll be well in plenty of time for Disney!”

Things went on like this for the next two days. Screaming. Crying. Thrashing on the bed from the pain. Then she would sleep all night long and wake up fine the next day. I would give her sips of water and then a few hours later the pain would start back. Lather, rinse, repeat.

It was on a Thursday afternoon that I HAD HAD ENOUGH. Jamie got home from work to find Annie screaming and moaning in pain and me crying because I was helpless to do anything to help her. Back to the ER they went. He called me a few hours later saying that they were going to admit Annie to give her fluids overnight. Thank goodness. He wanted to stay at the hospital that night since I had been up for several days (not able to sleep because of worry). Of course, I still couldn’t sleep at home. I was too keyed up from watching her swing back and forth from a happy little girl to one who was in severe pain. I was very afraid for her.

On Friday morning, I got Jay off to school and then Jane and I immediately headed up to the hospital. We were going to relieve Jamie, who needed to shower. I would spend the day at the hospital with Annie and Jamie would take Jane. Most likely, they would release Annie that afternoon.

Except that on my way to the hospital, Annie started throwing up again. We knew that we had just bought ourselves another day in the hospital. I was dreading the scene when I arrived, thinking she would be in pain again, but I was greeted by my happy girl. Jamie took Jane, and Annie and I spent the morning doing crafts and playing games.

(this is where Annie is pretending to be a "little old lady" and playing around.)


But by that afternoon, she was in serious pain again.

This cycle repeated itself over and over and over. I could give you a play by play on each of our days in the hospital. Because honestly, I remember Every. Single. Moment. Some of them were lots of fun...to be able to spend one on one time with one of my kids is always a gift, but many of those moments were spent with me out in the hallway, crying on the phone to my mother and father or Jamie as Annie, tired from one of her bouts with intense pain, was knocked out.

My wonderful mother drove in from Mississippi to help with the other children so Jamie could go back to work. Special friends drew close to me to keep me afloat. There was blood work (normal). There were x-rays and MRIs scheduled (all normal). Endless consultations with doctors who had determined through blood work that this WASN’T viral, but that they didn’t know WHAT it was.

I felt like I was on Mystery Diagnosis.

I could have cared less about our trip. It went from being The Most Important Thing, to so far down on my list of wants that it almost didn’t register. I just wanted my normal back.

(This was my bed for our stay. Pretty comfortable for a hospital room.)

The doctors were discussing putting in a tube that would drain her gastric contents, with the theory that this may have started as a virus that damaged her stomach lining and her stomach needed to rest from everything. This was our next step. I didn’t tell Annie this because the tube would have to be inserted through her nose and would stay there for ten days. I wasn’t going to give her THAT information unless it was going to happen.

But then, six days into our stay, it just stopped. I kept waiting for the pain to come back, but it didn’t. Annie ate broth and it stayed down. She ate a popscicle and didn’t scream from pain an hour later. She had crackers. And then I took her to the cafeteria about bought her dry toast because she wanted out of her hospital room so badly. All of it stayed down and she said, “Mom...it doesn’t hurt anymore”.

They kept us in the hospital another day, just to make sure that she was really able to eat on her own. We were released seven days after we entered the hospital for what was supposed to be a quick, overnight stay to get fluids.

We were supposed to leave for Disney in a week. At this point, I couldn’t even imagine. I was so traumatized from our hospital experience. My mother had to leave to go back home to Mississippi, so my mother in law came in to help. She stayed through the weekend and helped me get my house back in order. Though very weak at first, Annie was getting better and better every day. Suddenly, by the Monday before our trip, it almost seemed possible that we might get to go on this trip. We marked off something like 12 days on our calendar all at once. We hadn’t been marking when Annie was in the hospital and even when she first came home...I think we were all too scared to think about it.

***We will not mention the 103 fever that Jane spiked when Annie came home that then sent me rushing off, in tears, to the urgent care center where Jane was diagnosed with a UTI. Or the fact that my head almost exploded. Not mentioning...not mentioning...not mentioning.***

But suddenly, the glimmer of light came back. A little Disney sparkle in everyone’s eye. And really, it seemed that if ANYONE needed a Disney vacation, it was probably us. And so, Annie and I got our Mickey Mouse toes on as a celebration, “Annie’s out of the hospital!” pedicure.

And then we marked the very last day off our calendar.

 

[ABtwinmommy]

Oh my! What a rough time leading up to the trip! Poor Annie How miserable! I'm glad she got better. And best yet, in time for your trip! Can't wait to hear about it

 

[cadek]

I'm in! Looking forward to reading about your trip, and hoping the rest goes much better!

What a horrible thing to go through, and not even know what is wrong! It's so hard to watch your children when they are sick or in pain, and feel helpless because you can't do anything to help them. You definately needed a vacation after that! I want to say at least it happened at home, and not on vacation, but then it seems like I'm saying something positive about what happend, and there is nothing positive about going through that!

 

[DisneyDianna]

I'm in too! I Hope that after everything that happened before your trip that you had a magical time!

 

[Tegan_Shade]

I'm in! Man, I know all about driving from OK to DWD. I may not have had to do the driving but being stuck in the car... well I'm used to it by now. With younger children, it was probably a good idea that you flew. Can't wait to hear more... Or rather read more.

 

[tyniknate]

Definitely in

 

[BlueEyes78]

Count me in, too! Can't wait to read the rest of your report, hopefully all the scary stuff is done!!

We also stayed at Fort Wilderness on our first trip, LOVED IT! Looking forwarding to reading about your experience in the cabins. We've had two trips as a family of four, our next one will be as a family of five, so I'm also interested to see how that works...

 

[jessidoll]

LOVE IT!!!

 

[imama]

I'm in! Looking forward to reading about your trip, and hoping the rest goes much better!

What a horrible thing to go through, and not even know what is wrong! It's so hard to watch your children when they are sick or in pain, and feel helpless because you can't do anything to help them. You definately needed a vacation after that! I want to say at least it happened at home, and not on vacation, but then it seems like I'm saying something positive about what happend, and there is nothing positive about going through that!

Welcome! And thanks for joining in! You know, in all this time, I never thought about all that happening AT Disney. THAT would have been awful! Disney was such a great way to unwind after the drama of the previous week. And I'm one who always looks for the positive in a situation, so those were great words!

I'm in too! I Hope that after everything that happened before your trip that you had a magical time!

We had the BEST time! It was absolutely AMAZING. Better than we ever dreamed of...you'll just have to keep reading!

I'm in! Man, I know all about driving from OK to DWD. I may not have had to do the driving but being stuck in the car... well I'm used to it by now. With younger children, it was probably a good idea that you flew. Can't wait to hear more... Or rather read more.

We were SOOOO glad to get those plane tickets. My kids are road warriors since our family lives pretty far away, but that long of a drive, plus touring the parks with a two year old started not to sound too fun after a while.

Definitely in

Welcome! Glad to have you!!

Count me in, too! Can't wait to read the rest of your report, hopefully all the scary stuff is done!!

We also stayed at Fort Wilderness on our first trip, LOVED IT! Looking forwarding to reading about your experience in the cabins. We've had two trips as a family of four, our next one will be as a family of five, so I'm also interested to see how that works...

The scary stuff is all over with and it was pretty smooth sailing from here on out. Ft. Wilderness is FANTASTIC, isn't it? For our next trip, we were thinking about staying elsewhere at first, but after a while, just knew we had to go back to the Fort. It was so relaxing and there is NOTHING better than sitting on the beach at night with a drink, kids playing in the sand and watching the Magic Kingdom fireworks! And I'll give you all the details of traveling with five. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it might be.

LOVE IT!!!

Thanks so much!! And welcome!

 

[imama]

So the last set of Mickey ears had FINALLY been crossed off the ever present calendar. My kids would later be soooo sad to see that calendar taken down off the door to the pantry. It wasn’t pretty, but it sure was fun having it there! When we go back, we have decided to surprise them, but because that calendar was such a big deal, we will use it to mark down the HOURS until we leave for Disney.

With the bags all packed and the car all loaded, we headed of to...

A football game.

Jay had his last football game of the season and decided he really wanted to play in it. And since our flight was leaving from DALLAS the next morning, we had time to spare before hitting the road for the four hour drive. And in case you’re wondering, the plane tickets from Dallas were much cheaper than what we found where we live, even with the expense of a hotel added in. However, the four hour drive HOME after Disney, made us think that the money saved might not have been worth it.

Evidently, the impending trip had Jay all fired up and he made tackle after tackle. I had a hard time concentrating on the game because I was READY TO GO!! Finally, the game was over and we headed to the car. As the coach discovered where we were headed, he stopped to talk to us to give us hints and tips since they had been to Disney before. Thanks to all my disboards research, I already knew about what he was telling us and even got to correct some of his outdated information. I got a real kick out of that. It would seem that my research had paid off...but we were about to find out for sure!

After a quick lunch at Burger King, we hit the road for our four hour drive to Dallas. The kids were content with a movie playing, and Jane (who is not much of a car sleeper) even napped for a little bit. We made it to Dallas in good time, but got LOST trying to find our hotel. Mapquest steered us in the complete wrong direction, but after a few phone calls to the hotel, we managed to find it.

We stayed at a Homewood Suites, which was right by the airport. It was a GREAT place to stay. Free parking for the week we were gone, a nice (though small) suite with a kitchenette, and great customer service. As I checked in, the lady working the front desk gave me great tips about where to go for dinner, and then wanted to send up milk, juice and cereal to our room, free of charge, for our early morning wake up. She was very sweet and even gave the kids rubber ducks to take a bath with.

We got settled into our room and let Jane explore a little bit before deciding that it was time for an early supper. We knew we needed to have everyone in bed early since we were leaving the hotel at 4:30 the next morning for our flight to Orlando. Jane is a 7:30 bedtime girl and usually sleeps over 12 hours. She is a GOOD sleeper. I was worried that the lack of sleep would really throw her for a loop.

We ended up eating at Bostons. We had never been to one before, but it was a great choice for us. No wait, fast service, good food. And the best part? We had Jane back to the hotel, bathed and in the bed by 7:30. We let the big kids stay up a little later in the other room (hence the need for a suite for one night) but before long, even they were headed to bed. And Jamie and I had the lights out by 9:00. You know...so that we could pretend to sleep.

I had my iphone in the bed with me, and my alarm set for 4:30. I pulled up my eticket app and logged onto the boards for one more time before I would actually BE in Disney! And with my ear plugs in, and a benedryl, I fell asleep pretty quickly.

For exactly two hours.

And for the rest of the night, (can you even USE the phrase "rest of the night when you're alarm is set for 3:30??) I dozed on and off until I finally decided to get up and showered at 3:00. Jamie was snoozing away. This is not unusual in our house. For every newborn baby that we brought home, he managed to sleep and sleep and sleep between feedings. Also during feedings. And whenever the baby cried. I, however, have always had the hardest time sleeping if I am the least bit keyed up.

But with me showered and dressed, I finally got Jamie up so that he could do the same. We got all the kids up and ready to go as well. Jane was veeeeeery delicate. This is a nice way of me saying that she was ready to fly off the handle at any given moment. And when she didn’t want to put clothes on, I decided that jammies were perfectly acceptable articles of clothing for travel at 4:30am and JUST WENT WITH IT!

Now...on to the airport!

 

[cadek]

Excellent addition! I'm ready for more!

Yes, with all the research we do here on the Dis, it's hard not to correct people that try to offer WRONG advice!

Welcome! And thanks for joining in! You know, in all this time, I never thought about all that happening AT Disney. THAT would have been awful! Disney was such a great way to unwind after the drama of the previous week. And I'm one who always looks for the positive in a situation, so those were great words!

I've experienced it, so I know to think of it! Minor in comparison to your situation, but on our first trip with the kids, we ended up with an 18 month old with an ear infection. In Disney, no car, and no idea where to take him. Disney was very helpful, even at 4 am, but still never a fun thing. After getting confirmed what I already knew, and a getting a prescription, we were back to the resort before my Mom and other son even woke up. A pharmacy delivered the prescription to the resort for us, and I spent the day staying back at the resort with him exploring and taking it easy. I had called our pediatrician the night before, hoping she could get us a prescription since it was a recurring thing for him, but they can't do that out of state, so I learned something new there.

 

[Andrea34]

Love your trip report so far! Can't wait to read more!

 

[phnguyk]

Enjoying your trip report so far.

Your jane sounds like my 3yo boy. He's been a "strong willed" child since day 1!

We normally drive from New Jersey and it seems like every trip home we have some crazy issue happen, such as er visits, hurricanes, snow storms, emergency dr calls. Glad it always seems to happen at end of trip, can't imagine that stress beforehand. Glad your DD is fine now, must of been scary!!

 

[v.t.]

I'm in! What is it with the youngest? My DS #3 is a bit, ummm, challenging to say the least. Can't wait to read more.