Our First Trip to Disney!

[laughterkt]

Doubt I am near as witty and clever as many of you with your trip reports but thought I'd give it a try! Let me introduce the cast!
Me: The Queen Mother, 38 year old school teacher in Texas. Into organization, list making, ....you know the type
Hubby: King of our Castle, 46 year old who is NOT into organization, list making....you know the type.
Daughter: 3 1/2 year old Princess who we adopted when she was two weeks old. The love of our lives!!!
We went on our trip July 10th-16th....Can you say ummmm...HEAT? What were the thinking? Didn't stop us. Had the time of our lives.

Now....I have to figure out how to insert pictures into this trip report....Can anyone help me out????

Whoohooo! figured out how to post. Here is a picture of our daughter doing her 10 day countdown poster for Disney. We had her put a sticker on each day of Minnie Mouse.......

 

[DisneyBoundinDec]

you need to have them hosted someplace.. such as photobucket, or any other online source.. once they are there you click on the 'insert image' icon in the tool bar above the message box and enter in the link to that photo.

like this

hope that helps.. and good luck!

 

[laughterkt]

No one told us to go to Disney you had to be an expert until I started reading these boards! Holy Macaroni! I went right out and bought myself an accordian organizer to keep all our ressies and maps and all that other stuff in so I could calm my OCD self down! We booked our trip back in February for July. I am a teacher so summer is the easiest time for us to go. We decided to stay at All Star Music Resort. This was our daughter's first real plane ride and if you knew how chicken she is of everything, you would have been just as nervous as I was!!!! However, that big girl went right through security, rode the shuttle, and buckled herself on the plane. When we took off she kept saying, "we are flying...we are flying!"

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She thought she was so big. Surprised me .....maybe it was the magic of Disney

The day started pretty calmly. We were supposed to get up at 5:00 a.m. but I was like a kid on Christmas and I was up by 3:30 drinking my coffee....and going over last minute lists. Everyone else got up on time, we loaded the car, and headed out by 6:15. We needed to be at the remote parking by about 7:15 to catch the bus to get us to our terminal and be there the "required" two hours early. Our flight was supposed to take off at 9:40, but the A.C. unit on the plane was messed up so we had to move gates and wait another 45 minutes. H
Here is Princess Lily with her daddy...trying to be patient at the airport.

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The flight was pretty uneventful. For a three year old...she only had one two second meltdown and then it was over. We did take lots of toys, snacks, and DVD player which helped......By the time we landed we were all ready to GO!!!! After wandering all over the Orlando airport like idiots....it took us a while to find the Magical Express area. We found our "tickets" and got in the appropriate line. Now it was beginning to feel REALLY real.

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[Princess Sara's Mom]

Your little princess has a beautiful smile! Love the photo of you two!

 

[OThopeful35]

Your daughter is adorable!! Can't wait to hear more

 

[TanzUnited99]

Great start! Your DD looks adorable!

I'm going on my first ever Disney trip this September so am looking forward to hearing all about your first trip!

 

[FosterA]

How fun!! Can't wait to hear more. Your daughter is cute as can be

 

[lmbcdb]

I'm subscribing!

I'm also a TX teacher that's in to lists, organizing, etc. My husband mentioned the other day, "You're making grocery lists (garden grocer) for 6 months from now?"

Um, honey, October is THREE months away. I told him, "And your rear would be standing in line for 2 hours for Space Mountain if it weren't for me!"

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Queenofallthings]

Great start can't wait to hear all about your trip!

 

[johngoodman7]

That's fantastic! I know you all had a wonderful trip.

 

[laughterkt]

Where was I? Oh yes, we were finally on the Magical Express bus. It only took about 15 minutes tops in the ME line at the airport. Princess Lily was fascinated by being able to sit in a big girl seat with out a carseat on the bus.....I think that was her favorite part. About halfway through the bus trip, she succumbed to her exhaustion and fell asleep in my arms. She missed the whole countdown and going under the Disney World Entrance sign but her dad and I got to experience that together. What a magical moment! First hiccup of the trip was Lily had pink silly putty her in hand when she fell asleep and guess what, I didn't know it. It melted all over and ruined her custom made Minnie Mouse shirt!!!! I was so sad! We got to the All Star Music Resort and there was NO LINE to check in. We did online check in before we came. They had us in a preferred room, building ten, but a KING bed. We told them we had wanted to queen beds and they changed it no problem!!! Our room was already ready (yeah!) and we didn't have to leave any bags at bell service. We were told that they didn't think our Garden Grocer delivery was there nor would they deliver on a Sunday (huh?) but once we got to our room and I called them, they said it was already delivered, but was in our ORIGINAL room with King bed. In 10 minutes tops, we had all our groceries and our fridge we requested was already in our room. We new it would be a bit before our airline luggage would be delivered so we changed Lily's silly putty outfit (thank goodness Momma packed ANOTHER so cute Lily monogrammed outfit in our carry on bag) and we decided to head to Animal Kingdom. We knew we only were doing a few hours at this park so we decided to shoot for the Safari ride, dinner, and for sure the Lion King show.....To be continued.....

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[ShaylaLynn]

I'am Joining in!!! your daughter is beautiful!!!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Oh no on DDs Minnie Mouse shirt being ruined - am glad you had another top to hand. Yay on your room being ready and the Green Grocer delivery being there as well!

 

[laughterkt]

Thanks everyone. Glad ya'll are joining in.....Will write more later...heading off to choir practice at church!

 

[pooksma]

Great start and a beautiful girl you have there. First trips are sooo exciting with a three yr old. Looking forward to reading all about it

 

[tammz]

im joining in too! my first trip to WDW isnt booked yet planned for April 2012

 

[laughterkt]

Right when we arrived at Animal Kingdom it began to rain.....more like a heavy sprinkle but enough to break out the good ol' Dollar Store panchos. Um.....can I say spend the money on the thicker ponchos they sell at Disney? Within 20 minutes my daughter had hers ripped in many places but INSISTED upon still wearing it because she thought it was a princess dress! Ha!

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We walked right on to the Safari ride....no wait at all. A little bumpy for my taste but Lily loved seeing all the animals.

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We went to the Lion King which hubby and I absolutely loved. Lily is very sensitive to loud noises and new experiences.....you are probably thinking what the heck did we take her to Disney for then? Well, she had some minor meltdowns during the Lion King, but she made it through. It is for sure worth seeing, and again, we walked up 2 minutes before it began.

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As I said before, we didn't have much time at Animal Kingdom so we decided to eat at Pizzafaria (food is really good) and then just walk around in DinoLand. We found a few characters, but Lily was quite ready yet to take pics with them so I took a pic with Brer Rabbit while she watched from afar. Amazingly, beginning the next day, she loved pretty much ALL the characters and took pics with them. For a child that screams in terror at Chuck E. Cheese I thought she was pretty brave!

Of course we were all exhausted, but that didn't mean we were going to head straight to bed. We wanted to try out the pool which was great. They play a movie poolside at 9:00 each night. So much fun!

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Lily had a major meltdown when we made her get out of the pool and this Momma having been up since about 3:30 a.m. was done for the night. We headed back to the room and in about 15 minutes flat......the next picture shows you how Lily felt!

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We had to get to bed because we had a ressie at Cinderella's Royal Table at 9:10 the next morning....

To be continued....

 

[tybrilinja]

What a beautiful family you guys are. What a great start for your first disney visit! Princess Lily looks like she made the most of her day all the way to the end (I know how she felt, that is what I look like to at the end of the day) Can't wait to read more

 

[cam&phoebsmom]

a first trip is nothing less than AMAZING with your kids! My 2 ids are also adopted (from S. Korea). Your family is lovely and I can't wait to read more

 

[laughterkt]

BEWARE!!! This post is probably going to contain MANY pictures!! Our plan was 1/2 day Animal Kingdom (the day we arrived), Magic Kingdom next day, Hollywood Studios third day, then another day at Magic Kingdom on our last day. We decided to not do Epcot this time around because we didn't have enough time. We left our resort about an hour before our breakfast reservation to catch the bus to MK. We never had to wait for a bus more than 10 minutes tops at our resort .....It was GREAT! We went through bag check at the gate and then you go all the way to the farthest left line if you are getting in before rope drop to have a breakfast before the park opens. I loved having breakfast reservations both days we were there .....main street with hardly any people and good pictures of the castle without being trampled by crowds of people. We turned the corner and had our first sighting of the castle. Lily just kept pointing and saying "I see it! I see it".....It was a moment this Mommy won't soon forget.

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We arrived a little early to our reservation, so we decided to walk around for a second by the castle. Well, they CONVENIENTLY put the Castle Couture princess dress shop RIGHT THERE.....Lily goes running in. I had bought at home this really cute Cinderella shirt and shorts. Hmmmm....She runs up to the Princess Belle dress and says "I want to be her". I tried to explain she looked soooooo cute in her outfit, but she REEEEEEEALLLLY wanted to be her. After reviving my husband from the shock of seeing the price tag, he pulled out the money and not only bought the dress but a crown to go with it. I admit it.....I cried when we put it on her. She was so extremely happy. They put fairy dust (glitter) in her hair and she was ready to meet the princesses. Forgive me for posting a million pics here, but they are my favorite ones.

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I think one of my favorite moments was seeing her with Cinderella. She just had that look in her eyes like I cannot believe she is actually here!

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We walked up the winding staircase and were seated right next to the window!!! What a great view! The food was incredible but Lily hardly ate at all. She was so busy watching all the princesses come out. They came out one by one. We took a picture with each one and they signed her autograph book. Each child gets a wishing star and a wand for boys/sword for boys. It was a spectacular breakfast. One we will cherish forever. I think often of what Lily's life may have been like if we were not blessed with adopting her....and how much richer our lives are because of her.

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Breakfast was done....now it was off to find some rides....

To be continued...