It's kind of fun to do the impossible - Disney with a 1 month old *new 2/13/15*

[TheMaxRebo]

That is seriously the most empty airport I have seen in a long time!

I love reading Travel Day portions of Trip Reports! Everyone always seems to get there and do different things on their way! Some people take planes, some drive, some take auto trains, it is just fun reading all of that, at least it is for me anyway! I think that is why I spend so much time talking about what we do on our way down...hmm...maybe I should tone it down...LOL

We love to fly Jet Blue! It is definitely our favorite airline, if we had a choice, we also used to fly Air Tran a lot, but we have not flown anywhere since we flew to Seattle back in 2012. It is so expensive to fly from where we live now, and there aren't too many choices

Looking forward to the next post! My brother-in-law's family lives in Boca, have never been there, but curious about it nonetheless!

I know - it was crazy empty. We have a smaller airport near us (Westchester) that is certainly calmer thank JFK but never really empty ... it was almost creepy how empty it was. Definitely helped though. It was a bit more crowded when we returned but still not bad at all

Definitely don't tone down your travel parts of your report - especially since you seem to make stops and have mini-adventures on the way, etc.! Glad you found it interesting ... wanted to include it as I think it was quite the experience but also not drag it out too much in fear others would be all "um, when are you getting to the Disney part of this Disney Trip Report?"

One thing good about our area is there are a lot of choices to a lot of places - especially Orlando so generally there are some cheaper options - and we really like the service with Jetblue and the fact that the first checked bag is still free

Boca is pretty nice - close to the beach and enough to do ... definitely a different vibe than Orlando

Awesome start!

Thank you! Hopefully I can keep the momentum going

Oh my! I know things went relatively smoothly for you but you have made me seriously dread flying with my girls. We've never taken them both anywhere we've needed to fly and the logistics of the whole thing are intimidating. Plus, DH wants to be at the airport at least 2 hours before the flight leaves - I think he'd break out in hives if he read how close you cut it with 3 little ones

Trust me - I was stressing about it ... but it worked out in the end so can look back on it a bit with rosey glasses. Normally I am the same way and wanting to leave plenty of time (if things had gone according to plan we would have been there 2 hours ahead of time). It can be stressful but there are always people who can help and, especially if flying to Orlando, always other families on the plane too ... it's not like you would be the only one with kids and everyone else is business travelers or something

 

[Mousemommy1]

Sorry to make you cringe - you were definitely feeling (and not concealing) what I was feeling as just more and more traffic seemed to happen. So glad we decided to take that other way to get there though

yeah, not sure if that last person made it or not - they were paging him as we boarded.

It was funny when the guy at the counter tried to sell me on getting the pass from them . He was like "but you trip will be like $20 in tolls and this is unlimited" and I responded "but at $8 a day that comes to $80 so yeah, it doesn't make sense" - getting the mini-pass was a good compromise as we came out even/ahead money wise and so much easier to not have to go to the cash lanes.




Definitely great to meet you too - you all did such a great job with the meeting and looking forward to next year.

One more post of our pre-Disney activities and then onto The World!




Thank you! Given that we were not using ME and were getting a car, the big thing was brining 3 car seats with us as my wife had heard mixed things about the rental car seats (plus the extra cost).

Almost all of the kids gear we gate checked ... basically go up to the counter and tell them you want to gate check the baby items and they will put tags on the items and give you a receipt. Then when you walk down the connector you leave them on the ground right before you get onto the place. We gate checked 4 things: Olivia's car seat, Emma's car seat, the base for Emma's car seat, and the stroller. We took Peter's car seat on to the plane and attached it to his seat - again, largely to keep him contained.

When we landed we let everyone else off first (we were in the back anyway) and then just picked up our gate checked items right outside the plane. Worked quite well and no extra cost for this or anything. Good luck! Just remember, you aren't the first person to do this - and likely won't even be the only person on your flights and (unlike us) try to allow some extra time ... they usually let people with gate checked items on to the plane early

You make it sound so easy!!

You definitely had more stuff with the car seats....we will only have the stroller but we will use DME as always. Like you said, we won't be the first!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

You make it sound so easy!!

You definitely had more stuff with the car seats....we will only have the stroller but we will use DME as always. Like you said, we won't be the first!

Definitely not as easy as I wrote it out but definitely not mission impossible either

Two additional things I thought of:
1) Anything you want to gate check has to go through security - that means running it through the X-Ray machine like other carry-on bags or, if it won't fit, a security person has to manually check it - just something to keep in mind

2) In MCO on our return flight, seeing that we had the stroller, etc. they instructed us to go to the wheelchair security line - not sure if they always do that or just because they were kinda crowded but that helped a lot as the line was shorter and security people there were more used to having to handle things like that

 

[Mousemommy1]

Definitely not as easy as I wrote it out but definitely not mission impossible either

Two additional things I thought of:
1) Anything you want to gate check has to go through security - that means running it through the X-Ray machine like other carry-on bags or, if it won't fit, a security person has to manually check it - just something to keep in mind

2) In MCO on our return flight, seeing that we had the stroller, etc. they instructed us to go to the wheelchair security line - not sure if they always do that or just because they were kinda crowded but that helped a lot as the line was shorter and security people there were more used to having to handle things like that

Great, thanks!!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

You know, it always amazes me whenever it's actually cheaper to stay an extra day even with that added expense. Flight prices be crazy.

No doubt the use of the smaller airport had to be a huge bonus with all that to move through security. I can't imagine doing that at a busy airport (as I'm sure you did leaving MCO).

Honestly, I have a hard enough time getting just me though all the hurdles of travel, so to do it with three kids, one an infant, well done!!

 

[MarbleBob]

Sounds like a stressful trip to the airport, but it's great that you kept your wits about you and were able to find an alternate route with less traffic As the others have commented, the photo with all three kids on the bed is beyond precious! Your TR is off to a great start!

 

[Pixel Dust]

I'm late to the party! You're too fast! I haven't even touched my photos yet. Following along.

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm here, I'm here!

Glad to hear that overall everything went well!

Ah I'm sorry travel day was stressful, but seems once you got to the airport things were smooth!

Such a cute pic of the 3 kids at the hotel

 

[schmass]

I'm glad you guys made your flight! I was getting a little stressed for you while reading that.

The pictures of the kids on the bed is too cute.

 

[Leshaface]

I'm here! Wow good on your to already start!

....please don't embarrass me by finishing this TR before finishing mine


Subbed and will be back to read!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

You know, it always amazes me whenever it's actually cheaper to stay an extra day even with that added expense. Flight prices be crazy.

No doubt the use of the smaller airport had to be a huge bonus with all that to move through security. I can't imagine doing that at a busy airport (as I'm sure you did leaving MCO).

Honestly, I have a hard enough time getting just me though all the hurdles of travel, so to do it with three kids, one an infant, well done!!

having the Hilton points to use definitely made the decision easier ... but when you are talking about 4 tickets, even a $30/ticket price difference would cover a hotel room

The smaller airport definitely helped!

It's crazy how different a travel experience this was vs. when I travel for work and it is just me and *maybe* an overnight carryone bag

Sounds like a stressful trip to the airport, but it's great that you kept your wits about you and were able to find an alternate route with less traffic As the others have commented, the photo with all three kids on the bed is beyond precious! Your TR is off to a great start!

Thanks Matt! It was a bit of a stressful way to start off the trip - though knowing we managed that gave us confidence for the rest of the trip I think

 

[Leshaface]

Did you make Peter's shirt in the intro? Love it!

Good call on dropping off all the luggage first then going back to drop off the car. I think we'll be doing the same this next trip.

Already getting nervous about the flight and I have only one kid to three adults! Is it difficult to get the car seat situated? Can a flight attendant help you? I'm the one that is in charge of putting the car seat in vehicles so a bit anxious. Also, are all convertible car seats able to fit into a plane seat? Sorry for all the questions, trying to get prepared. I'm probably making a bigger deal than it really is.

Looking forward to the next update!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I'm late to the party! You're too fast! I haven't even touched my photos yet. Following along.

Definitely not late - just getting started! And I am sure going through all your amazing pictures must be quite the task! I mean, I took like 800 pics or something, but 600 of them are, um, not great

I'm here, I'm here!

Glad to hear that overall everything went well!

Ah I'm sorry travel day was stressful, but seems once you got to the airport things were smooth!

Such a cute pic of the 3 kids at the hotel

Yeah, thanks for joining Alexis! Overall everything did go well - definitely a lot different than past trips and didn't get to a lot of things we normally do, but in it's own way it was an amazing trip

Thank you!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I'm glad you guys made your flight! I was getting a little stressed for you while reading that.

The pictures of the kids on the bed is too cute.

Guess I painted a pretty vivid picture then It was stressful at the time but also a sense of "well, we get there when we get there and go from there"

Thank you!

I'm here! Wow good on your to already start!

....please don't embarrass me by finishing this TR before finishing mine


Subbed and will be back to read!

Thank you Alicia! and I will definitely not be done with mine before yours ... one of the reasons I wanted to get started was we have a few busy weekends coming up (including working for a winery at a big wine festival this coming one) and figured if I didn't get going on it then I would lose momentum

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Did you make Peter's shirt in the intro? Love it!

Good call on dropping off all the luggage first then going back to drop off the car. I think we'll be doing the same this next trip.

Already getting nervous about the flight and I have only one kid to three adults! Is it difficult to get the car seat situated? Can a flight attendant help you? I'm the one that is in charge of putting the car seat in vehicles so a bit anxious. Also, are all convertible car seats able to fit into a plane seat? Sorry for all the questions, trying to get prepared. I'm probably making a bigger deal than it really is.

Looking forward to the next update!

I did make Peter's shirt - thank you! I though it was super appropriate for him

Yeah - dropping everyone off was really the only way to do it without having to worry about car seats and stuff like that - definitely worked out well

Please feel free to ask any and all questions ... I got a ton of information from other peoples trip reports so happy to pass along anything I can
It really wasn't hard to get the car seat in - just ran the seat belt through where you would run a car set belt through. Only issue was the buckle part landed against his back and he complained a little - but his seat had 2 layers of padding so that helped a lot. If you are using one that doesn't have a ton of padding might want to think about bringing something extra. Not sure if every convertible would fit but Peter's is pretty big and it fit no problem.

And having him in the car seat was so much better than last trip where he was still a lap infant (under 2 years) and he wanted to climb over the seats, etc. ... definitely a kid that need to be contained

Thanks!

 

[ach222]

Joining in - just finished reading your last TR and looking forward to keeping up with this one!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Joining in - just finished reading your last TR and looking forward to keeping up with this one!

Thanks! Hope I kept you awake through that entire report!

Just subscribed to your PTR - sounds like it will be a great trip! If you have any specific questions or want more details on something don't hesitate to ask

 

[spoonfulofdole]

Joining in! Loved your last TR, looking forward to seeing how you handled WDW with the new addition

 

[Leshaface]

I did make Peter's shirt - thank you! I though it was super appropriate for him

Yeah - dropping everyone off was really the only way to do it without having to worry about car seats and stuff like that - definitely worked out well

Please feel free to ask any and all questions ... I got a ton of information from other peoples trip reports so happy to pass along anything I can
It really wasn't hard to get the car seat in - just ran the seat belt through where you would run a car set belt through. Only issue was the buckle part landed against his back and he complained a little - but his seat had 2 layers of padding so that helped a lot. If you are using one that doesn't have a ton of padding might want to think about bringing something extra. Not sure if every convertible would fit but Peter's is pretty big and it fit no problem.

And having him in the car seat was so much better than last trip where he was still a lap infant (under 2 years) and he wanted to climb over the seats, etc. ... definitely a kid that need to be contained

Thanks!

Wonderful thanks for the car seat information. DM has a smaller convertible seat in her vehicle that we will probably use for the plane, since ours is rather bulky and heavy.

I think we were blessed that the last time DS was on a plane, he wasn't able to walk, only army crawl so he was content in our arms. But now there is NO way that's going to happen. He'll also be over 2 years old so a seat needs to be purchased anyway. He's always happy in his car seat so i'm sure he'll be comfortable.

Thanks again!

 

[disfanforlife]

Joining in. I admire you traveling with three young children. We had one very stressful trip when our daughters were 1 and 3. As a result we didn't go on a vacation for almost 9 years. THen we went to Disney and haven't stopped since. Infact one of the reasons we became DVC members was to make sure we keep going back. And now that our oldest is 20 a she has applied for the DCP and anxiously awaiting her answer now!