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

[courtneybelle]

HA school buses are strange aren't they? The state is so stringent on car seats and yet they load a bunch of kids on a bus without seat belts

The beach looks really fun, and that's the tiniest lizard I've ever seen!

All the pictures of Emma are adorable but the top left one in that collage is the CUTEST.

 

[amazingact21]

Glad to hear the flight to Orlando went pretty smooth. Could have been a lot more hectic, considering. Flying out of a smaller airport probably cut away a lot of that madness, I'm sure.


And it sounds like visiting family went well, too. The kids looked like they were having a blast at the beach. Had to laugh at the bath water comment. As someone who lives in FL, I actually find the water cold most of the time.


I'm sure your DS will appreciate that picture down the road.



Really great picture of all three of your kids at the Hampton Inn. Your DS and DD look like they are great big brothers and sisters.

 

[klacey1]

Late but joining now
LOVE the Magic Bands-- especially Peter's! The colors work really well together.
I just moved to CT from Brewster and this CT traffic really is something else! Ugh. I long for 684 haha. But you guys eventually made it to the airport, which is all that matters!
Definitely seems like you had some wonderful family time in Boca-- Emma in her little red bathing suit is too adorable!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

HA school buses are strange aren't they? The state is so stringent on car seats and yet they load a bunch of kids on a bus without seat belts

The beach looks really fun, and that's the tiniest lizard I've ever seen!

All the pictures of Emma are adorable but the top left one in that collage is the CUTEST.

It really is funny - and Olivia was telling us that there are seat belts on the bus but nobody wants to wear them so they don't and we are trying to explain it would be safer, etc. ... oh well.

The beach was fun! Fun to see the kids be excited about it especially Olivia who loved going in the ocean. There were so many of those tiny lizards around it was crazy! The one in the picture is one that found it's way into the house

Thank you! She is very good at making faces

Glad to hear the flight to Orlando went pretty smooth. Could have been a lot more hectic, considering. Flying out of a smaller airport probably cut away a lot of that madness, I'm sure.

And it sounds like visiting family went well, too. The kids looked like they were having a blast at the beach. Had to laugh at the bath water comment. As someone who lives in FL, I actually find the water cold most of the time.

I'm sure your DS will appreciate that picture down the road.

Really great picture of all three of your kids at the Hampton Inn. Your DS and DD look like they are great big brothers and sisters.

Flying out of the small airport definitely helped and really was the only reason we were able to make it out given how late we arrived. If we had gotten to, say, JFK only 1/2 before take off no way we would have made it

Definitely funny how ones sense of "warm" changes based on where they live. I know one October we were down there visiting and went in the pool and everyone there thought we were insane because it was only 65 degrees out - but the water was still warm and it was like 40 degrees where we lived so it all felt fine to us

Late but joining now
LOVE the Magic Bands-- especially Peter's! The colors work really well together.
I just moved to CT from Brewster and this CT traffic really is something else! Ugh. I long for 684 haha. But you guys eventually made it to the airport, which is all that matters!
Definitely seems like you had some wonderful family time in Boca-- Emma in her little red bathing suit is too adorable!

Thanks for joining!

Thank you! Funny thing it Peter wound up not really wanting to wear his so I just had his and Emma's in my backpack in case we ever needed it / he changed his mind (never needed them)

Wow, roads must be bad as I684 can get pretty bad at times!

yeah, the tine bathing suits are pretty cute - I think we only got her a little bit in the pool (mostly Judi holding her by the edge) but still gotta look good

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Enjoying the trip report so far! Excited to hear all about the Disney part of your trip! I am so impressed you guys did it with a newborn plus a 2:3 adult to child ratio. We had a 4:1 ratio and it was still challenging at times!

 

[Dugette]

Wow, how did I end up missing 9 pages already?! Ha, well all caught up now!

I got so stressed just reading about the travel day and airport scramble! I find it hard to travel with one toddler and all of her accessories, so doing it with three kids, one a newborn, is intimidating! Sounds like it all worked out okay, though, so glad for that!

Glad that Peter did well in his carseat, by the way. That's what makes it worthwhile about lugging it on the plane for me - comfort, familiarity, and containment.

Ah, we always like Hampton Inns - nice rooms and hot breakfasts. And free is good too! That is a precious picture of the kids all together on the bed there.

Sounds like a nice way to start your trip - relaxing on the beach and visiting family. If you ever find yourself in MN, we have Buca here, by the way. Love that Peter made friends with the mannequin!

Looking forward to your Disney arrival and the Contemporary!

Oh, and congrats to your two oldest for starting their respective school years!

 

[khaleesi]

Awwwwwwwwwwwww, the picture of Emma and her great grandma is so precious!

Traveling is so much fun. Not. I will never understand how people enjoy it. My dad thinks it's the greatest things ever, and it just makes me twitchy.

The beach looks fun, but I'm the same way even aside from my aversion to the hot weather. It's fun for a little while but then I want to DO something.

I have a question... how do you make your shirts? Do you just play around with Photoshop and then print on iron-on paper? I'm thinking of making something for when I got to Texas. Disney-themed, of course.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Enjoying the trip report so far! Excited to hear all about the Disney part of your trip! I am so impressed you guys did it with a newborn plus a 2:3 adult to child ratio. We had a 4:1 ratio and it was still challenging at times!

Thank you! Our last strip we had a 4:2 so flipping that directly to 2:3 was a bit of a challenge and forced us to have a very different touring style/focus ... definitely not worse or anything just different - definitely will cover that once we get to Disney as it became very apparent the first park visiting we did

Wow, how did I end up missing 9 pages already?! Ha, well all caught up now!

I got so stressed just reading about the travel day and airport scramble! I find it hard to travel with one toddler and all of her accessories, so doing it with three kids, one a newborn, is intimidating! Sounds like it all worked out okay, though, so glad for that!

Glad that Peter did well in his carseat, by the way. That's what makes it worthwhile about lugging it on the plane for me - comfort, familiarity, and containment.

Ah, we always like Hampton Inns - nice rooms and hot breakfasts. And free is good too! That is a precious picture of the kids all together on the bed there.

Sounds like a nice way to start your trip - relaxing on the beach and visiting family. If you ever find yourself in MN, we have Buca here, by the way. Love that Peter made friends with the mannequin!

Looking forward to your Disney arrival and the Contemporary!

Oh, and congrats to your two oldest for starting their respective school years!

:hi: Dugette! 9 pages but we haven't even gotten to Disney yet! (so following a similar trend to my Pre-TR )'

It was stressful to live the travel as well! Though I really think it was the running late due to traffic that caused the most stress. If we had gotten there even 20-30 mins earlier it really wouldn't have been bad. Going out of the smaller airport definitely helped.

Last trip Peter was all over the place on the plane - we had grandparents with us and were in two rows and he kept wanting to be passed over the top of the seats back and forth - so we knew we needed to contain him. Worked out really well as he was able to see better out of the window, etc.

I will keep that Buca in mind if we are ever in MN ... oh, and can visit you as well Both Olivia and Peter seem good at making friends - Olivia just tends towards the alive kind more than Pete

Next update will cover arrival at the Contemporary (hope to get to it tomorrow - we have another day of working the wine festival today) ... definitely was a fun experience and had the impact we were hoping on - but I am getting ahead of myself.

Thank you - they both seemed to have good starts and love school. We were a little worried about Peter but apparently he did great and listened to the teachers, etc. .... our kids definitely seem to behave better for other people and no one believes us when we say what pistols they can be

Awwwwwwwwwwwww, the picture of Emma and her great grandma is so precious!

Traveling is so much fun. Not. I will never understand how people enjoy it. My dad thinks it's the greatest things ever, and it just makes me twitchy.

The beach looks fun, but I'm the same way even aside from my aversion to the hot weather. It's fun for a little while but then I want to DO something.

I have a question... how do you make your shirts? Do you just play around with Photoshop and then print on iron-on paper? I'm thinking of making something for when I got to Texas. Disney-themed, of course.

Thanks Sue! Seeing Emma get to meet her great grandmother was the main point of the trip to begin with so we were glad it worked out well.

The concept of traveling I like - but I get so nervous about things working out and then when they trend wronging I really get stressed ... I think this trip was another lesson in trying to keep your worries in the right place and don't stress over what you can't impact

That is pretty much what I do as far as the Shirts ... kinda just do google searching for images that are along the lines of what I want and then add text, etc. Print some test ones on regular paper and then print on the transfer paper. Definitely important to note if the paper you have is for light colored shirts or dark - tried one on dark using the light color shirt transfer paper and it did not work out at all! That sounds fun to make shirts for your Texas trip! Let me know if you have any other questions/need help

 

[DisMom1981]

My Grandpa loves in Delray and BFF moved to Boca several years ago. So beautiful down there. We wanted to fit it in this trip but just too far since we drove all the way to Disney. If we ever fly again that would be a great way to fit in some south Florida beach time.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[IheartDDuck]

Eeeeppp! I missed the start of your TR. For that I am so sorry.

Onward!

I love that you had her as TBD on MDE. We have a not yet born kiddo on our upcoming trip in February and I went with the every creative.....baby.

Picard meme! Gotta love some Jean-Luc.

Ooooohh, that was cutting it close. I was sweating just reading about it.

Dinner at Buca di Beppo looks great! We don't have one in our area, but I've heard about them before.

Hahaha, that is a blackmail picture for Peter if I've ever seen one. My nephew Joaquin is actually terrified of mannequins, which cracks us up to no end. He asked what a manhole was once. We said "it's where mannequins go to die..." Scarring children for life. Priceless.

 

[Imagineer5]

Finally here to comment! I actually read through everything on the ipad last night while Aria and I were relaxing with some Disney Junior on, but I don't like typing on that thing so commenting now! Anyway, glad the trip out of Hartford was nice - it's really similar in size to Providence which is why we definitely try to fly out of Providence when we can - cheaper parking and just a much easier trip through the airport. Glad your flight went well and you had some wonderful family time. Nice that you had that rental to use for a few nights, I bet the kids absolutely loved that part of the vacation too!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

My Grandpa loves in Delray and BFF moved to Boca several years ago. So beautiful down there. We wanted to fit it in this trip but just too far since we drove all the way to Disney. If we ever fly again that would be a great way to fit in some south Florida beach time.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

It is nice down there and a lot to do - tons of shopping and restaurants, plus the beach, etc. Definitely easy to relax there

Eeeeppp! I missed the start of your TR. For that I am so sorry.

Onward!

I love that you had her as TBD on MDE. We have a not yet born kiddo on our upcoming trip in February and I went with the every creative.....baby.

Picard meme! Gotta love some Jean-Luc.

Ooooohh, that was cutting it close. I was sweating just reading about it.

Dinner at Buca di Beppo looks great! We don't have one in our area, but I've heard about them before.

Hahaha, that is a blackmail picture for Peter if I've ever seen one. My nephew Joaquin is actually terrified of mannequins, which cracks us up to no end. He asked what a manhole was once. We said "it's where mannequins go to die..." Scarring children for life. Priceless.

Truly not need to apologize - thank you for joining!

Glad to know I am not the only one with the "unknown" in their MDE. We also had the issue that when we booked our flights they needed the birth date of every member flying - including the lap infant - and they wouldn't let us put in a future date. So we had to call to get that updated after she, you know, had an actual birth date

So many good funny images out there especially Star Trek / Star Trek TNG related ... gotta love a good Jean-Luc image

Oh my gosh! That is some quality scarring there!

Finally here to comment! I actually read through everything on the ipad last night while Aria and I were relaxing with some Disney Junior on, but I don't like typing on that thing so commenting now! Anyway, glad the trip out of Hartford was nice - it's really similar in size to Providence which is why we definitely try to fly out of Providence when we can - cheaper parking and just a much easier trip through the airport. Glad your flight went well and you had some wonderful family time. Nice that you had that rental to use for a few nights, I bet the kids absolutely loved that part of the vacation too!

yeah! I know, iPads/tablets and phones are great for reading updates but not always easy to comment ... and I had to do the last three updates from my PTR on my phone which was ever so much fun

Having that smaller airport definitely helped. Then on the way back, while MCO is much larger they are probably more used to dealing with families than say JFK or something so from that standpoint I think we lucked out a bit.

The kids did enjoy the first part of vacation - especially the beach, etc. - but they were also very eager to get to Disney (as was I, not surprisingly )

 

[DaeHyFoog]

It looks like a great start to the trip. The picture of Emma with her great-grandma is priceless! It can be a bit frantic to travel with little ones, but it really is worth it.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It looks like a great start to the trip. The picture of Emma with her great-grandma is priceless! It can be a bit frantic to travel with little ones, but it really is worth it.

Thank you Stephanie. Fully agree - travel was stressful and hectic, but totally worth it as we will always have the memories and the photos - especially of that one with Emma and her great-grandmother. And were we to skip the trip and God forbid Judi's grandmother pass or something we would be kicking ourselves and wondering "what if"

 

[geckodani]

I'm late, but here! And already enjoying the ride.

I love that you had to list Emma as TBD! So cute!

I love you Magic Bands! Very creative. DH bought me a cover band for mine that has the Haunted Mansion wallpaper on it. I'm pretty stoked, but I like the even more personal touch of decorating them yourself!

gifs are always needed. Especially Picard gifs. You get extra points for those.

I'm so glad that after your less than stellar start to the ride the airport, security and flight went well for you!

Geckos! That's a gecko on your hand! I'm a fan...

Emma with her great grandma - I melt. ♥

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I'm late, but here! And already enjoying the ride.

I love that you had to list Emma as TBD! So cute!

I love you Magic Bands! Very creative. DH bought me a cover band for mine that has the Haunted Mansion wallpaper on it. I'm pretty stoked, but I like the even more personal touch of decorating them yourself!

gifs are always needed. Especially Picard gifs. You get extra points for those.

I'm so glad that after your less than stellar start to the ride the airport, security and flight went well for you!

Geckos! That's a gecko on your hand! I'm a fan...

Emma with her great grandma - I melt. ♥

Thanks for joining Dani!

I was thinking of going the coverband route but couldn't get commitment from others in the family as to what ones they liked, etc. so wound up just taking the decision away from them and making my own

I will gladly take those extra points!

Overall definitely can't complain - the travel as a whole was better than I expected and much, much better than I feared

They were all over! That little guy had gotten into the house though.

Thanks you!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Part 6 - Arrival / Review of Contemporary - Monday August 25th​

​

​

Ok, so we are on page 10 of a Disney trip report so probably should get to Disney

Monday morning we packed up, loaded everyone in the car and made the trip back up from Boca to Orlando, The trip for the most part was uneventful and we made pretty good time, and at not much after noon we were greeted with this sight:

Yeah, not the best picture. I mean, I gave Judi one job and that is the best she could do! I think the problem was she was trying to get pics on her phone and with the camera and instead of taking a picture she accidentally turned the camera off, tried to get it back on and that is what we got. Oh well, we were here, that is the important part.

And shortly thereafter we were greeted to this amazing sight as it was our destination and would be our home for the next 4 nights:

One of my favorite moments of the trip was as we pulled into the parking lot ... Peter had fallen asleep during the ride and only woke up once we arrived to he basically woke up to the Contemporary being in his face ... and his response?

"Whoa, this one?!?!?!?"

so I was roughly feeling like this at that point:

Upon walking in we were immediately met by some pixie dust as a family that was leaving decided to "pass along" their balloon to Olivia

The really cool part was that for much of the week Olivia would talk about wanting to give the balloon to someone else when we left, so I think she really got the concept

We had done online check-in and were directed to a desk at which they started to ask me all the questions that they asked when I did online check-in ...

After mentioning that he then checked and saw that I had already provided said information ... speeded things up a bit.

On the plus side he thought our magic bands were really cool

Another guy at the counter really liked my Mickey Mouse as Emperor/Darth Vader shirt and tried to get others to be really excited about it as well but they were all like "um, we get it, we just aren't as excited about it as you are, ok?"

Now, our room wasn't ready yet but I figured I would just cover the room and the rest of our experience with the Contemporary in this post and then get to a park in the next one.

First I will add that we received a text while in the park that our room was ready and when we got back to the hotel we went straight to the room and our magic bands work to open the door - not stopping at the front desk or anything, so that is cool.

Once we got in, this is what our room looked like:

... and the reverse view:

... close up on the Mickey towel (as required by law):

I must say that the room really were nice - very comfortable. Certainly wasn't over-the-top with the theming but I liked it. BTW - it is the couch that is to the left of Judi in the 2nd shot that folds down into the extra bed - that was super nice to have as Olivia felt like she had her own space a bit


And a view of the Bathroom for those interested:

The sinks looked really cool but they weren't super practical and took up so much room that there wasn't much area to put your "stuff" in/on

... they did, however, work our really well for giving Emma a bath:

Ok, ok - I know everyone wants to see the view ... and really, it is tough to beat.

Here is the view out the window of our room:

Zoomed in a little:

To the right a little to take in the Mine Train:

A little further to the right to watch a monorail come into the building:

and just kicking back enjoying vacation:

So here is my review of the Contemporary:

Pros:
* Location: you really can't beat being so close to the Magic Kingdom - I mean, Space Mountain is like right there
* Monorail: For us, having the big stroller, often with one or more sleeping children in it, and not having to fold it up to get on a bug was just invaluable
* Size of Rooms/fold down bed: The room felt very large and having that extra bed, for a family of 5, really is great
* Location: Listing again but being able to see celebrate the magic, Wishes, Electric Water Parade, etc. from your room ... really hard to put a value on that
* Feel of the hotel: Especially the lobby just gives you such a nice, open feeling
* Splash area: very nice splash area near the pool that was just the right level for my kids

Cons:
* Functionality of rooms: For us, more haning space than we needed, not nearlly enough draw space, no room in bathroom for toiletries, stuff like that
* Lack of theming: This is kinda of a pro and con as the rooms were very nice but didn't scream "Disney"
* Pool: Nothing wrong with it but I think there are better on property
* Price: No way around it, even with the discounts it wasn't cheap. For us, with the stroller, etc. it was definitely worth it for this trip though

Bottom line:
For us in our situation it worked out great and I don't for a second regret changing to this from POR and wouldn't mind staying here again. That said, I would also like to check out other resorts and depending on how the Poly shapes up after the construction would like to try that as another Monorail resort. So basically, loved it, was exactly what we needed, but didn't make me say "OMG we have to stay here again every trip!!!!"

Coming up next - a little Summer Frozen fun!

TTFN

 

[missangelalexis]

"Woah, this one" indeed!

Aw so sweet that someone passed along their balloon and even sweeter that she wanted to pay it forward too!

The room looks really beautiful. Adorable pic of Emma bathing in the sink!

The view from your room...WOW. I don't think anything beats that.

 

[KatMark]

I love Peter's reaction when he woke up and saw where he was staying.

That is so sweet that Olivia "got it" with the balloon.

We've not stayed at the Contemporary since 1989, so I've not been in the new rooms since then. I have to say, I'm not a fan of the decor, but I do LOVE those bathrooms. That sink could not have been more perfect for Emma for her bathtime. Too bad there wasn't a counter or something under the sink to store stuff.

But like you said, with little ones, you can't be the convenience of the monorail with the stroller or just walking to the MK from there.

And WOW...what a view!

I can't wait to hear about Frozen Summer Fun.

 

[lovedonaldduck]

OMG! You may not be sold on the Contemporary after staying there, but after seeing your pictures, I am! That view is amazing! We've stayed in BLT but we had a Lake View - I wonder if the theme park views are as good there as at the Contemporary? The Contemporary has just moved up on my list of places I really want to stay!

We have been blessed as recipients of balloons from departing kids a couple times - it is such a nice bit of pixie dust from kid to kid. And, the only way my kids are ever going to experience those ridiculously expensive balloons!

I am dying over the adorableness of the picture of Emma in the sink bath at the Contemporary! Seriously, one of my favorite baby pictures ever! If it fits your decor at all, that blown up in a frame in a bathroom at your house would be awesome. Sorry to be so weird and gush over this picture, it just combines so many awesome elements - the Contemporary, how tiny she is .
(just a wash cloth to cover all of her), plus it's a cute baby taking a sink bath!

How awesome that Peter was excited to be staying at the Contemporary! It's great when the kids appreciate the elements of the trip that aren't specifically designed for them.

Looking forward to reading how the Frozen Summer went for you!