Our wonderful trip with lots of unexpected twists

[mamamac]

This vacation was a lot of fun, but it did have some crazy adventures - ER visits, stolen shoes, a tropical storm, tornado warnings, and just traveling with the inlaws. Don't worry, I'm not going to sit here and bash them, that's not what this is for. Yes I would get frustrated with them (as well as dh), but when we looked at the smiles on our girls faces, it really didn't matter!

So here I go with my first trip report!

Day 1 (right here in this post)
Day 2

Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7 -
Day 8 & Day 9

Here's our intro and our first day

Hello. I would like to introduce our family. I am Sarah, the Disney Planner. I am married to my dh and we have two dd’s, 4 & 2 ½. We took this adventure with our neighbors, whose son is also 2 ½ and their grandma, as well as my inlaws, who will never be invited to go on a trip with us again.

Our trip started off with the typical airport chaos, checking in our luggage, going through security, ect. The plane ride was uneventful. There was no screaming, no crying, no kicking the seats infront of us, they were just happy to be going to Disney World. We arrived in Orlando around 2pm, grabbed our rental car, and headed to our rental home in Windsor Hills. We arrived at the house, quickly unpacked our stuff, and then we started to plan our afternoon/evening. We decided to go to Downtown Disney and attempt to go to T-Rex for dinner. Of course it started to rain but we figured it wouldn’t be that bad, what’s one little shower? We walked into T-Rex and were told it was a 15 minute wait. While we waited we tried to reassure the kids that the dinosaurs were pretend and that they weren’t real. Once our name was called we headed to the table right by the bar and basically under the great octopus in the ceiling. The kids finally started to feel comfortable with the surroundings. I will say that the restaurant decor is incredible, but the food was way overpriced. I also didn’t think that the food was all that great. I don’t think that I would eat there again. After dinner we dodged the raindrops and ran over to the Lego Store and played at the lego tables while the dh went for the van. Did I mention that we parked at the opposite end of T-Rex?

 

[mamamac]

Day 2 – Our first full day at Magic Kingdom and it’s not raining!

We had reservations at the Crystal Palace for breakfast at 8:15am. Our goal was to leave the house at 7:30am. Well to get 10 people out the door on time is nearly impossible. I made a note to myself that for the rest of the week I would tell everyone that we needed to leave 15 minutes earlier than what I had originally thought. So yes, we were late. It was no big deal, they didn’t seem to mind. And since we were already late, why not spend a few minutes and get some pictures taken with no one in the background.



Finally we got to Crystal Palace. When we walked in the smiles that I saw on my dd’s was incredible. There was Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, and Piglet right there in front of their very own eyes. They were very excited. The buffet wasn’t too bad, the Mickey Mouse waffles were awesome. I would definitely do this meal again. I know I read reviews about it being loud in there, but it wasn’t that bad.



As we walked out of Crystal Palace there was a show going on in front of the castle. The kids seemed to really enjoy it.



We then hurried to Fantasyland. Having a plan really worked, we never waited more than 15 minutes in any line this day. We went straight to Winnie the Pooh, rode Dumbo, the Carousel, saw Mickey’s PhilharMagic, headed to It’s a Small World, then did the Carousel again (we did this a lot). The kids started getting crabby and needed a well deserved rest, so we headed home.

For dinner we cooked at the house and then headed back to MK for Wishes. We first went to see Minnie and Mickey in Toontown and again, waited maybe 10 minutes. Then we stopped at the Teacups and Indy Speedway. After that by dumb luck we ended up in front of the castle as people were starting to gather around. My dh and neighbors grabbed a spot while I fought the crowd and grabbed some ice cream for the kids. Of course while waiting in line I missed the entire show. Oh well, it sounded cool. My dh said it was the best show he has ever seen, especially with the music that went along with it.

 

[mamamac]

Day 3 – Animal Kingdom. Guess what? It’s still not raining!!!

It was hot! I was told that being from St. Louis, where our Zoo is one of the top Zoo’s in the Country, that I may be disappointed with Animal Kingdom. I kept an open mind and we went to see for ourselves. We all agreed that ours was definitely better than AK. However, the Safari ride was cool. My dh got some really cool pictures with his camera.



After the Safari we decided to bypass any of the trails, mostly because of the heat, but also because the paths weren’t real smooth. I have a broken foot and decided to just tape my foot instead of wearing my boot. We did go to Camp Mickey and found Pocahontas, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, and Chip & Dale. It was nice that there really wasn’t that long of a wait to see any of them. We waited maybe 5 minutes at each one. We had lunch at Pizzafari – very good Italian sandwich there, and the pizza wasn’t all that bad either.



Then we went over to Dinoland and was disappointed that there wasn’t more for the kids to do (remember they are 4 and 2 ½). We did the Triceratops ride and that was it. Everyone was hot, my foot was throbbing, my mil was really starting to get on my nerves, so it was time to leave.



We just hung out at the house this evening and watched Cars for the 4623'd time.

 

[mamamac]

Day 4 – Went to the beach on the East Coast – Our last sunny day! 

I have family over in the Melbourne area, so we met up with them at Paradise Beach. It’s about 15 miles south of Cocoa Beach and it was really nice. Clean bathrooms, lots of picnic benches, a nice playground, but some loser that took my dh’s shoes. Yes, my dh had his shoes stolen in the bathroom. He took them off the top of the bag to get his clothes out, left them, walked to the car about 30 feet from the bathroom, realized he left them, walked right back to the bathroom where some guy was running out of there with his shoes in his hands. He wanted to run after him, but this day in age you just never know what that guy could be capable of. He was pissed and the only thing that got him laughing was that I told him “Don’t worry. The poor guy will probably get a blister in a day or too because you have such a weird size foot”. So if you do go there, hold onto your shoes. The weather was perfect, the water had quite the under current, but it was still fun. We then headed to my cousins house for some dinner and then headed back to our Disney house. This is when the rain started.

 

[mamamac]

Day 5 – The day of Princesses!

Our family (the neighbors went to MGM this morning) had a hair appointment at BBB for the our little Princesses. We arrived at 8:45 to get the first walk-in appointment. We had a reservation for 9:15am, but the Fairy Godmother on the phone said that might be cutting it close to our 11am reservations at Akershus, so she told us to come early. I really cannot explain how cool this is. DD2 was a little unsure of having someone work on her hair, but after some reassurance from her big sister, she was good. I may be a little biased but they were the most beautiful princesses in the entire Disney area that day. As we were walking to the car it started to sprinkle. We were prepared with our umbrellas and ponchos, so we weren’t scared.

We arrived at Epcot and headed toward Norway. We stopped to take some pictures of the flowers that were made into characters. I have never seen anything like that before and it was incredible. I wish I had that kind of talent to do that in my own backyard. When we arrived into Norway, we parked our stroller and snapped a large poncho around it to protect it from the rain. Our name was called and we went in. I really enjoyed this late breakfast. As we walked in we were directed to wait in a very short line to get our picture taken with Princess Belle. The girls were once again in awe. I think I heard dd4’s jaw hit the floor. And the smiles! Oh the smiles! I had no idea that they would give us these pictures later either. The food was ok It was your typical breakfast food (eggs, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns) with lots of fruit at the buffet, something that my kids love to eat. We were greeted at the table by Cinderella, Snow White, Mary Poppins, and Princess Aurora. I loved how each character called them Princesses and my dh and I were called the King and Queen. It was very cute.







When our late breakfast was over we went outside where it was raining, and it was raining hard! And guess where our poncho is that was covering the stroller…it was on the ground. We had one very wet stroller. This is where we had to buy two more ponchos at the little gift shop. (I think by the end of this trip we had 20+ ponchos.)
We headed over to The Seas with Nemo & Friends. WOW! I loved this! Oh and so did the girls. The Turtle Talk with Crush is a MUST see! So cute! We spent over an hour in here.



We left in around 3:30pm and headed back to the house. We met up with our neighbors, discussed our plans for the evening and trekked back out into the rain to Magic Kingdom for dinner and the SpectroMagic Parade. We ate dinner at Casey’s Corner, great hotdogs, but very little seating. It is truly a counter service. It also had a wonderful little topping bar for your hotdogs.

A view of most of our stay


Once dinner was over, we headed towards Toontown to check the line for the Fairies. It was showing a 60 minute wait, but the end of the line was all the way up by where the first TV is that shows the cartoons. I think we waited 40 minutes. Time was passed by handing out pretzels and blowing bubbles. I think a lot of parents were very appreciative of the bubbles. It really is a great boredom buster. Then came our turn. DD4 was so excited. She told Tinkerbell “I have waited so long for you to come out of the TV so I could see you”. I will never forget her excitement. DD2 was just as excited but kept talking about Spiderman. The fairies just kept talking and didn’t miss a beat. I love how they all interact. Oh and again, the girls were called “princesses”. Tinkerbell even gave them more pixie dust for their hair.



As soon as we were done here we walked over to Main Street to grab a spot for the parade and of course ice cream. We ended up sitting right in front of the Ice Cream Store. Great seats! The rain was more of a mist at this time.



The girls were kind of scared when they turned off all the lights to Main Street, but once the parade started they were fine. This was again something that everyone who goes to MK must see. The details on the floats are incredible. DD2 could not stop smiling. I really think her cheeks were starting to hurt.

 

[crzy4my2]

The girls are adorable. The trip sounds like FUN.
It's funny because AK was where I wanted to Kill my MIL too and I agree, Dino land didn't have all that much for the little ones.

 

[mamamac]

Day 6 – Our not so good day and it wasn’t because of the rain

We had some passes for Sea World tickets and decided to use them. We brought all the ponchos, 4 umbrellas, and 3 beach towels. But before we left, dh was feeling horrible and thought he should go to an Urgent Care to get some antibiotics for a sinus infection. Of course the UC didn’t open till 8am, but he still managed to get in and out pretty quick. When he came back to the house we were waiting to leave. We got to Sea World and went straight for the Shamu Show.




Everyone seemed to enjoy it, or was it that we were sitting down under an overhang not getting wet. I don’t know. What I did know was that my dd4 was really whiney, more than usual. She didn’t even want to eat a snack. I told her that when the show was over she could get in the stroller and relax. Of course she didn’t want to, she wanted to keep whining. She told me her belly hurt. I thought maybe she was hungry. We stopped to eat lunch at one of their restaurants. She tried about 1 bite and left her fries alone. I told her again to try and relax and close her eyes that we would be leaving soon. She fell asleep within 10 minutes. While she was out, we stopped at a few of the exhibits on the way out. Did I mention it was pouring down rain this entire time? We were able to see some sharks, pet a dolphin, and feed the stingrays.





By this time, we were back by the entrance and decided to go back to the house. DD4 stayed asleep and when we got home, she woke up being even more grouchier than ever. She still complained that her belly was hurting. For some reason, unknown to me, dh packed our thermometer. We took it again and it was 103. She wouldn’t stand up straight, so of course I’m thinking she has appendicitis. We called our pediatrician and he wanted her to be seen. We went to Florida Hospital in Celebration and it was a complete joke – they forgot about us in the room, they lost her urine sample, and when we were discharged the RN said that she was diagnosed with Bronchitis. Hmm…let me think, no cough, no stridor, no asthma related problems, and she’s being diagnosed with that??? Needless to say we left, drove to Arnold Palmer and was told it looks like she has a virus to wait it out and if her fever gets any higher to come back. That night the poor thing threw up several times. By morning she could keep water down and her fever hovered around 102. Her fever finally broke around late afternoon that next day.

 

[mamamac]

Day 7 Disney MGM Studios

DD4 and dh stayed back at the house with the inlaws, while the neighbors and I (with dd2) headed for the MGM Studios. It was actually a dry morning, the sun was trying so hard to peak through, but it just remained very cloudy.



There were a few shows that I really wanted to see but only got to see The Little Mermaid and Playhouse Disney. My neighbors went and rode the Aerosmith ride as soon as we got there. They said it was incredible, but I’m a chicken so I passed. While they were on that the two kids and I walked around and found Goofy and Pluto. For some reason dd2 was very shy with them. Then we headed to the Great Movie Ride. I liked it, but it definitely is not for small children, the gun fight and dark scenes kind of freaked dd2 out. We then went and saw Playhouse Disney. It wasn’t bad, but you do sit on the floor and they pack you in there. Then we headed to the Vine and Dine for our character lunch with Playhouse Disney friends. The character interaction was ok, but the buffet was awesome. The “adult buffet” had some great flank steak, teriyaki chicken, incredible corn bread, an awesome shrimp pasta, and the list goes on. I would go back there but only for the buffet.



After lunch (still no rain) we headed to The Little Mermaid, while the neighbors went to the Lights! Motor! Action! The Little Mermaid was very good, but if you do go, sit at least 6 rows from the stage so you can see the laser show that goes with it. We were 3 rows back and it was hard to see.


When dd2 and I came out of the show the sky looked a little dark. My dh called and said that there was severe weather at the house and that we should try and find a place to take cover if we could. Slight problem – my neighbors were still at that show and we weren’t suppose to meet until 2pm at Lightning McQueen. I headed over to the Cars (by this time it was thundering but the rain was just a drizzle) and jumped in line without them. While in line they showed up.



Their show was cancelled due to the lightening. I told them about the storm back at the house, we looked at the radar on our phones and decided to head to the car. We actually made it to the car, folded up the stroller and it started to pour!!! Perfect timing. We drove home in some nasty weather and standing water. We got back to the house and part of the screen was ripped off that surrounded the pool, the pool was over flowing, a tornado warning was scrolling across the tv, it was fantastic. By this time dd4 was starting to feel better, but still had a low grade fever. We all took some great naps. Ordered Papa John’s for dinner and just stayed at the house. There was no point in going back out for the evening, so we watched Cars again and called it a night

 

[mamamac]

Day 8 – Our last full day and the sky is very cloudy

Yay! Another morning that it’s not raining. We quickly packed everything up and went to MK for the day. It was our last day to go to the parks. DD4 wanted to see the Princesses again, so we headed to Fantasyland so we could be close to Toontown for when it opened. We jumped right onto Dumbo, waited for 10 minutes at Peter Pan, took another adventure on Winnie the Pooh and even did the carousel before 10am.



We made it to the tent with the Princesses and the line showed 30 minutes, we waited for maybe 15. The girls were once again so excited. Again, I love how each character was very friendly and personal with the girls. After that we rode the railroad to Frontier Land. Our goal was to go on the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Alladins Carpet Ride, and take a break on the Liberty Belle. We were sad to see that the Jungle Cruise had a 50 minute wait and the fast passes were for later in the day at Parade time. So we passed on it. Got on Pirates of the Caribbean. Again it was a little scary for the girls, but we just kept telling them that it was all pretend. I honestly think that they thought those were real people in there. We ate at Peco’s Bill Café which was very good. I had the BBQ sandwich and dh had the cheeseburger. I will definitely eat there again. We then went to the Liberty Belle and never made it to Alladins Carpet Ride. After our boat ride, we headed to Main Street to stake out our seat for the afternoon parade. We sat right on the curb at the turn for the circle in front of the Castle on Main Street. The sky was looking really dark but thankfully there were no rain drops. The radar showed everything going to the north of Orlando. Finally, an afternoon/day without any rain. The parade started. Again, this is a must do! The girls were so excited. Snow White even got off in front of us to dance and dd2 could hardly contain herself. If you didn’t see how excited she was you would have thought she was having a temper tantrum. She was flapping her arms and trying to tell me to look at Snow White. I have never seen her so excited before. She could hardly get the words out of her mouth.



When the parade was over we headed towards the front. We stopped at a few of the stores to pick up our Mickey ears, saw the Main Street Marching Band, and as we were in front of the main gates, Pluto and Chip & Dale, showed up. Of course we got their autographs and pictures taken one last time. It was sad to leave knowing that was our last day at the parks, but we were very thankful for the rain free day.

Day 9 – Our journey home
It was an early, early morning. We had to leave the house by 6:30am, not fun. We made it to the airport and boarded our plane. It was an uneventful flight. We got home and all 4 of us crashed for a 3 hour nap. The best nap in over a week!

 

[mamamac]

The girls are adorable. The trip sounds like FUN.
It's funny because AK was where I wanted to Kill my MIL too and I agree, Dino land didn't have all that much for the little ones.

Thank you. If the kids were 5+, I think they would've liked that area a lot more.


I also want to add that we went to Downtown Disney on Saturday night, which was Day 3. We went mostly to shop and have the kids run off some energy. If you are a chocolate fanatic, you need to stop by at Ghiradelli. Oh my!!! Very yummy stuff there!

 

[mmeb144]

Thanks for sharing! Your DDs are so adorable! My DD14 and I liked seeing the pictures of them made up as princesses. Of course, they are always princesses.

 

[mmmbop]

Your little princesses are so adorable!

Too bad it rained so much. But it looks like you definitely had fun! I guess Disney has that effect on people. Making the best out of the situation, even if it is raining buckets!

And it's funny you mention about the best nap you'd had in a week. That's exactly how we feel! It's great to be in the world, but you're so excited from being there, it's hard to sleep!

 

[Disneyvirg]

I loved your TR! Thanks for all the pictures - they're great!

How did you manage to get your 2 year old scheduled for BBB? I think I had problems just because we're staying onsite and they saw that we don't have to buy her a ticket. I tried calling in at the 90 day mark and BBB was already filled up. I've tried twice more with no luck. The worst is that she'll only be 2-1/2 weeks shy of her third birthday. Any tips?