My baby turned 5 at WDW!!

[Mom2JPL]

This is my first shot a trip report on the DIS...I'm excited and a little bit nervous, LOL!

Here's the cast (ages at time of trip):

Me, Ellen, 42, SAHM to three great kids, loves to plan our trips and I'm already planning our next trip for February 2010

DH, Marty, 35 (yes, I'm a craddle robber, lol!), works hard to support our trip habit

DD Janet, turned 5 on this trip, our oldest, she's the sweetest girl ever and loves the princesses and star wars!

DS Peter, 3 (turned 4 in February), he's all boy and loves, loves, loves Stitch!

DD Lydia, 2, she's a princess (and knows it!) she's sweet one minute and a little bugger the next, lol!

Trip schedule:

Friday, 10/31 thru Saturday 11/8/08

We live in NEPA (northeastern PA, about an 1 1/2 above Philadephia). I searched high and low for airfare and the best deal was from Philly if we left a day earlier than planned...it saved us over $1000!!! So, poor us, we had to enjoy Disney one extra day!!

We stayed at Old Key West and added on the extra night at POP Century. This is our first time staying at either resort and we were very excited! DH's parents own DVC and we get to reap the benefits!

So, on Thursday the 30th, we left for Philly after Marty got out of work and settled into the Comfort Inn in Essington, about 5 minutes from the airport.

Kids eating dinner in car on ride to Philly:

Can you tell they're excited to be on our way!?!

Our plane was leaving at 6am the next morning, so it was off to bed for the kids and then I got all the outfits ready for the morning.

4:30 am came very early!!! Ask the kids how excited they were to be up this early:

We were soon on the plane and headed to Orlando! Before we knew it we landed and were headed to the the Magical Express. These are a few of my favorite pics from the whole trip!

Peter and Janet

Daddy and Lydia

Mommy and Daddy (kinda cut off, but now you know who we are!)

Soon we saw the sign for WDW and POP Century...how exciting! We soon checked in and made a quick phone call to our friends Matt and Kelli who live in FL and were going to spend a few days visiting with us.

Next up: enjoying time at POP and dinner at 1900 Park Fare.

 

[Mom2JPL]

Our friends met us after checking into their hotel (they live about 2 hours from Disney) and we headed to the food court for lunch. Oh, I forgot to mention that we used the DxDDP for our first nights stay, and then the regular DDP for the rest of our stay (I wanted to give the DxDDP a try since we had never used it before and thought this would be a great way without the huge expense of a long trip...and it was nice to get the mugs! They're a great souvenir!). Anyway, we headed to the food court to use the DxDDP for the first time and really enjoyed our meal here. We had a variety of burgers and chicken nuggets with fries and everything was hot and delicious. Of course, everything tastes better on vacation...and on vacation at Disney makes it even better!

After lunch we headed toward the pool. We all had a great time swimming and just enjoying the warm weather. Our friends have two daughters, age 2 (almost 3) and 11 months at time of trip; Kelli and I decided to take the 3 little ones up for a nap after a while, but they really wouldn't have any part of it. Which was ok, I guess, they did rest even if they didn't sleep.

Soon it was time to get ready for our first ADR, which was dinner with Cinderella and Prince Charming at 1900 Park Fare. I dressed my kids in their matching Halloween shirts (it was Halloween after all!) (oh, a big THANKS to all the DISigners who made me up some wonderful shirt designs for our trip) and we took a few pics of all the kids before heading out. Janet put on her birthday button and it didn't come off the rest of the trip!

This is one of the better pics I got! It was hard to get 5 kids to all look at the camera at the same time and to stay still...those with kids know what I mean!!

We grabbed the MK bus while our friends drove to GF (they were staying at an off-site hotel so it was easier for them to take their own car). Soon we arrived and I have to say - GF is freakin' gorgeous! Someday we'll stay there...even if it's for only a night!

We checked in at the podium for 1900 Park Fare and were soon seated (we really didn't have any waits for our ADR's, except for AK, but we'll get to that later). We were seated very close to the buffet which was nice and convenient with 5 kids!

First up, Cinderella!

Janet - a little excited!

Lydia - a little nervous!

Peter - a little shy!

Lady Tremaine:

I think the step-mother was goosing Marty in the pic! LOL!

Step-sisters:

And finally, Prince Charming:

A dance with Cindy:

Dinner itself was just ok, but the interaction with the characters was wonderful!

Soon, it was back to the room and lights out!

Up next: We finally hit a park! It's MK day and dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern!

 

[Mom2JPL]

We were up early for our first day in the parks. Our friends met us in the food court at POP and we started our day with a good breakfast. After breakfast Marty and Matt drove to OKW to check in and Kelli, all the kids, and I checked out of POP and hit the bus to MK. Not the best ride, lol! 5 kids, 2 strollers and 2 adults on a CROWDED bus wasn't fun but it was an adventure for sure! We all stood, which was ok, I'm not complaining, but trying to keep your hands on all the kids is tricky at best. We survived our ride and made it to the gates of MK. Soon we were inside and our first stop was the baby center to take care of business for the kids before getting in line somewhere and having to hear "I need to go to the bathroom"! A pre-emptive strike, if you will!

We were waiting for our men to get to the park and thought we'd head towards Fantasyland. To our delight, we met our Fairy Godmother outside of Tinks store.

We decided to hit some rides while waiting for the men-folk to catch up with us, so we walked onto Small World.

We found Matt and Marty and then we rode on the Carousel and Dumbo. We took a quick snack break and then hit the Tea Cups before heading into Toontown and Minnie and Mickey's houses.

Stopping to smell the roses:

The kids played in the playground for a bit and afterwards we grabbed the train to Frontierland. We walked toward Adventureland and rode Aladdin's Carpet Ride and Pirates of Caribbean. We grabbed a quick lunch in Adventureland (can't remember the name of the restaurant, whoops!) and caught the show in front of the castle before finding a spot to watch the afternoon parade. This was our first time watching the parade and we really enjoyed it!

 

[Mom2JPL]

After the parade we headed back towards Fantasyland and decided to see Mickey's Philharmagic. What a great show! It was our first time seeing it and it was enjoyed by all of us.

As I'm remembering this trip, I'm finding it hard to believe that we didn't stop and take a break back at the hotel this day. But we didn't, which proves to be too much for our friends kids at dinner.

Anyway, it was time for our early ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern. I was so looking forward to this meal since it was our first time here and also our last chance to enjoy it since they were stopping the character meal in January.

We checked in at the podium and were quickly seated. I have to say, our meal here was wonderful - family style turkey dinner with all the trimmings - and the character interaction was fantabulous (as you'll soon see with all the pics I took!).

After this fantastic dinner we headed back to Fantasyland to ride Dumbo at night, a first for us.

After Dumbo we were all exhausted we decided to skip the fireworks and head back to the room.

Up next: AK with breakfast at Tusker House and night at Downtown Disney.

 

[Mom2JPL]

We had an early ADR at Tusker House this morning, 8:30 am, and arrived at the park in plenty of time. We were directed to Tusker House and checked in at the podium. This was the L O N G E S T wait for an ADR the entire trip. It took forever! We were still waiting when the park opened at 9:00 and Marty and Matt took this time to run and get us fast passes for the safari. They got back from their "run" and we still hadn't been called yet! Finally, we hear our name and we get led into the restaurant, past the buffet and to the left. It's a small room but that's ok, it's close to the buffet! We get everyone situated and start in on food for the kids. Breakfast food here is good, but I have to admit it is the noisiest character meal we've been to! The kids loved the characters (of course); we got to see Donald, Daisy, Mickey and Goofy.

Janet joined in the parade when Goofy led the kids around the restaurant (she's a joiner that one!) and just had a blast playing her musical instrument.

After we had our fill of food we decided to head to the safari. While heading there Marty realized he didn't have his park pass/room key. I said don't worry, you probably left in on the fast pass machine and a CM will have it. He didn't believe me...but guess who was right! As we approached the FP machine I asked the CM if he had found it...and yep, he had it! Marty couldn't believe it, but after all my research on the DIS boards I figured that's where it was. It's so nice to be right, lol! Can I tell you how much we LOVE fast passes!?! This was our first time using it (last trip we didn't) and it sooo made for shorter lines and lots more rides! Our friends never used it either and were loving it too.

The safari ride was great. Lots of animals to see - the kids loved it. After the safari we headed to the restrooms for a quick break and then decided to check out the Lion King show (we didn't get to see it last time we were here). Oh my gosh!! This was a fantastic show! It was like a broadway performance - spectacular! I'm so glad we saw it. The kids were mesmerized, as were the adults.

After FOTLK we hit a quick rain shower (about 1/2 hour, the only rain our whole trip) and then it was time for ice cream. We enjoyed our Mickey Bars and other sweet treats and decided to get the kids back to the resort for a nap/swim. I know, it doesn't seem like we spent much time here, but breakfast took forever and the kids were tired in the heat of AK.

We caught the bus, got back to OKW and presto-chango the kids were in their swimsuits in no time. Marty and Matt took the 2 older kids and Kelli and I stayed back in the room to get the 3 little ones to nap. Not a problem, they were asleep in no time! After naptime Kelli and I hit the hot tub while Matt and Marty watched the kids back at the room. It was nice!

We headed back to the room and got everyone ready for DTD. We were hungry when we got there and hit Earl of Sandwich...yum-o! I highly recommend this place to anyone. It's good food fast! Matt and Kelli wanted to get Janet a birthday present so we went into World of Disney and found this cute hat:

Speaking of hats, of course Peter had to try one on:

and so did Lydia:

We took a few pics walking around:

and headed to Goofy's candy co for some sweet treats to take back to the room.

Soon it was time to head back and we caught the boat back to OKW and we all passed out when our heads hit the pillows!

Next up: Epcot, breakfast with the princesses and anniversary dinner surprise for DH at Coral Reef!