Quest for an Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich: 9 Days of Free Dining

[momtolandm]

Here goes nothing! I haven't posted in seven years (our honeymoon) so please bear with me. I wrote this part a few months before we left.

The cast of Characters:

Cardell – 30 - Not nearly as unusual as his name, my husband spends his days working hard to take care of us. He is excited to see his little girls see Disney.
Kim – 29 - I spend my days as a day care provider. Glamourous, it's not. I am desperately in need of this vacation.
Libby – 3 - I have no idea how someone who spent her childhood trailing after her outdoorsy, duck hunting father is managing to raise such a girlie girl. She loves the princesses, and Minnie and Daisy, because they're girls. And she loves wearing dresses. I think the first dress I wore willingly was my prom dress.
Maggie – 15 months - Our sweet little "baby cute". We're hoping she has fun, too. She'll be spending a lot of time in the stroller.

Well, I certainly couldn’t start a trip report without a little background. In this case however, little is a bit of a misnomer. Get comfortable, there’s a lot of background.

Just as a quick aside (there will probably be a lot of aside’s as well) I’m actually starting this report before we leave. And it’s going to be long, and detailed, because I love remembering every single thing about my vacations. All vacations. In fact, after originally writing a trip report for my Disney Honeymoon in 1999 I’ve written one for every trip I’ve taken, before and since. I have found, though, that the Disney one is much more entertaining (not that it was all that entertaining, I’m just comparing it) because my audience was someone other than myself. So that’s how I’m writing this one, too. As though my audience is someone out there in the internet world. But I hope my family likes it too. That first trip report was also posted here, but I’m not sure it’s still accessible after seven years. Man, I’m old.

Anyway, back to the background. I first went to Disney World in January of 1994 when I was a junior in high school. I went with a science club group and we had an absolute blast. I loved every minute of it. We were with a company called Earth Shuttle and they had arranged a few private tours for us. In particular, we got to go to MGM an hour before it opened and go on a bunch of the attractions. We also had a guide take us through Epcot. It made everything so much more fun to know all the background. (not that I remember any of it now) And one of the two science teachers that was with us was an absolute hoot. He was the football coach and he was very intimidating. I remember being terrified of him when I was a freshman. And then we went on this trip. And he sang along to the song in the Carousel of Progress and he volunteered to be an extra in the Indiana Jones parade and wore a turban and a toga and he was actually jumping up and down in excitement when we were about to see Illuminations for the second night in a row. He was definitely infected with the Disney Magic, and I’m pretty sure he passed it along to me. I also wasn’t afraid of him anymore.

So, that was my first trip. My husband’s first trip was around the same time, but he went to Epcot with his mom while they were in Orlando visiting his brother in the hospital after a bizarre Navy accident. So, it wasn’t the happiest of times for them. And they were so clueless that they thought the World Showcase was a bunch of hotels and they never even walked around it.

Our next trip was in 1999, for our honeymoon. I don’t remember how we ended up deciding on our destination but I’m pretty sure it was my idea. And when I found the Dis and Brian Bennett’s trip report section, I was hooked. I planned and planned and planned. In fact, I had only a little less fun in the planning than I did during the actual trip. My husband joked that if you asked me I could tell you what he would be eating for lunch on any given day. (And that was BEFORE the dining plan.) But the planning paid off because we had a wonderful time. We stayed at Dixie Landings for ten days and the only complaints my new husband had were that the groom hat I made him wear was too hot and we stayed too long. My complaint was that we didn’t stay long enough. And also that Disney World has too many bees. I got stung by a bee twice which was very strange considering it put my grand total of bee stings up to three. It’s still at three, actually, and it had better not go up on our next trip either.

That's the extent of the "far back" background. The more recent background will be coming up next.

 

[momtolandm]

After that the trips stopped. We’ve now been married for seven years and have two beautiful girls. And for the last two years I’ve been answering the same question, nearly every day, from the oldest. It started out as, “Sumpen else, Didney Word?” and has progressed into, “Mommy, tell me all about Disney World! First, (as she holds up one finger in possibly the cutest gesture ever given by a human being) tell me all about the rides!” But she doesn’t really need me to tell her because she already knows all about the rides. And the shows, and the movies, and the treats. I know she knows because I’ve told her approximately 2,457 times. And, just to defend myself, this Disney World obsession was not started by me. I think she inherited it directly through my genes or something, but I have not (as my husband would have you believe) been purposefully trying to get her to join in my Disneymania. In fact, my Disney obsession is fairly limited in the grand scheme of things. I’m really only obsessed with the trips and the planning of them. We have very little Disney related home décor, there are no pillows with Mickey heads on them and I do not have a Mickey antenna topper on my car. I just like, well, love, Walt Disney World. Anyway, back to my daughter. It all started innocently enough. We live in Minnesota and the Marshall Fields store which has now become the Macy's store, which I still call Dayton’s about 80% of the time, has an annual holiday show in its auditorium. As part of our Christmas tradition, we go every year. In 2004, when Libby was barely two, the theme was Snow White. Libby really liked the show, but through the whole thing she kept saying, “Where’s Cinderella?” We have a Cinderella book but she’d never seen the movie so I wasn’t sure where this fascination with Cinderella was coming from. The book wasn’t one of her favorites. She asked me about 43 times and finally, to give her a real answer, I told her Cinderella lived in Disney World. And she said, you probably guessed it, “Sumpen else, Didney Word?” And there you have it. (Oh, the theme for the Marshall Fields show in 2005? Cinderella!)

Naturally, you can’t refuse a cute two year old, so I started trying to figure out when I could take her to Disney World. Soon was out, since I was due with baby number two in June, but I was trying to convince my husband that taking a baby to Disney World wouldn’t be a big deal. I wasn’t having much luck, but it didn’t matter in the end because the baby was a big deal. We expected that, of course, but she was a big expensive deal and after an unplanned cesearean followed by hip dysplasia for her and a maternity leave for me that we hadn’t saved up for (I’m a home day care provider so there sure wasn’t any paid leave) we were swimming in debt. The baby also cried for the first four months of her life. Straight. (Okay, okay, I’m exaggerating. She did stop crying constantly for about a week and a half when she was two months old.) We didn’t take her out of the house, let alone on an airplane. Trips were out. In fact, leaving the house was pretty much out. We needed a plan. And I found one. Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover. I read a lot of books. And this one should probably be at the top of my list of favorite books of all time. Because it changed our lives. For the better. I’m pretty sure my husband thought I was going to leave him for Dave Ramsey at one point because I couldn’t stop talking about him and his plan. Things started looking up. My husband got a second job (that was actually kind of a nightmare but it was a means to an end), the baby finally stopped crying and is now about the happiest little thing you ever saw, we paid off the credit cards, my husband quit the second job and we devised a new budget in which one of the columns is: Disney World!

So, we had to decide when we thought we should go. The original plan was for early December of 2006. I’ve always wanted to go back to see all the Christmas stuff and I thought the baby might be getting big enough to be able to get something out of it. So, I started looking into that and we really thought that’s what we were going to do. We had the dates picked and I signed up for Tour Guide Mike. (My new boyfriend. Sorry Dave.) Then I started getting a little nervous. Would my barely four year old and 18 month old be up for any of the stuff I’d planned? Would they sit through the Candlelight Processional? Would they have meltdowns every single day because Mommy was trying to cram too many things into their vacation? I thought about going over Libby’s birthday so the extra Christmas stuff wouldn’t be an option but when I priced that out it was a lot more expensive. So, it was back to December with a new attitude from me. If they had meltdowns, no big deal. If I missed something, no big deal. We would do whatever we needed to do to make this a great vacation and if that meant getting to see less stuff, so be it. There’s always next time. (I’d just like to throw in here that I’m not one of those unselfish parents that goes to Disney World “for the kids.” I’ll be the first to admit that I’m going for me just as much as for them. And while I’m going to try to make this a great vacation for both of them, I’m not riding It’s a Small World seventeen times just because Libby loves the song. And I’m not going to feel guilty about going on rides she’s too small for, either. This is going to be a vacation for all of us, not just them. I do however, have a plan. Our last day of the trip is going to be Libby’s Day. She’s only three so how much of this trip is she really going to remember? Probably not too much. And she’s most likely to remember the end, right? So that last day we are going to do whatever her little heart desires. Ride Dumbo 45 times until we have to leave? We’ll do it. Swim in the pool and waste a day on our park hoppers? I’m not stressing if that’s what she wants to do. I’m hoping that in the end she’ll remember getting to do whatever she wanted and she won’t remember that it was only that one day at the end and that she also spent two hours sitting in the stroller while Mommy and Daddy were riding Expedition Everest.) Poor Maggie won’t remember any of it anyway, so she’s out of luck. But don’t think I’ve forgotten her. I purposely didn’t plan a meal in the castle so there will be something very special left to do when she’s old enough to remember it.

Up next: Some more specific planning.

 

[Montana Disney Fan]

Our kids have been to Disneyworld or Disneyland every single year of their lives starting when my oldest, Trey, was 4 months old. There was a trip a few years later when my daughter was 11 months old where we rode ZERO rides and visited very few attractions yet STILL had a wonderful time. Expectations were kep low, and we were surprised at what the kids were willing and able to do.

Now they are seasoned Disney Vets at the young ages of 7 & 4. Both have been to WDW more times than they are old.

I would like to offer a tip that is expensive, but worth it in my book. Rent the DISNEY stoller. We took ours for the first few years and one night at Epcot, without any stoller, a cast member gave us a dbouble that had been abandonded. Well, that was it for us. It was so easy to wheel around you could do it with one hand while occupied both kids. In fact, even though our kids don't need it anymore, we still get one every single day. There is no wait after the first day since you purchase all the days at that time. After the first time, you just walk up and grab one. It's a lifesaver.

Anyway, sorry for the OT. Did you say you're getting ready to go or are already back? Sorry, I looked twice and couldn't find it. Post the dates of the trips so we know.

Great report. Keep 'em comin!

 

[momtolandm]

Hi Montana Disney Fan,

Thanks for your reply. We are already back. We went Sept 22-30. I think I'm going to edit the title to include that.

 

[momtolandm]

So, December it was. I had all my days planned out with the help of Tour Guide Mike and I knew what restaurants I wanted to eat at. And then one day I logged onto Tour Guide Mike and I saw this: Free Dining. Free Dining!!! Now, that sounds right up my alley. We had already been planning to do the dining plan but I was a little worried that it would be a waste of money considering my three year old eats next to nothing and we weren’t sure either of them would sit through long meals so we would even be able to make it to dessert. (Both my girls are very well-behaved for the most part but they’re also real kids which means they are completely unpredictable.) But if it’s free… I don’t need to feel a bit guilty. I e-mailed my husband at work and by the time he got home I was on the phone with Disney booking eight nights in September with free dining. Poor Maggie will only be 15 months old and I’m a little worried that she won’t have a good time, but her sister was a pretty easy toddler so I’m hoping she’ll be the same way.

My phone call to Disney went off without a hitch. I was calling a little early since we have the Disney Visa, so the general public wasn’t able to get the free dining package yet. I got us in for eight days at All-Star Movies (Libby wanted the puppy hotel) with a preferred room and eight day hopper passes. We were leaving on September 23rd and returning home on the 30th. I’m not really sure why I chose the end of September. I think I was thinking it might be a little cooler as well as a better time for my day care families since the kids would have been in school for a couple of weeks already. Those hopper passes were another thing I’d agonized over. I wanted to skip the first day in a park and fly out later in the day so we wouldn’t have to start our trip at the crack of down with two exhausted kids and two even more exhausted parents. But the only day that Spectromagic would work out for us was that first day, so I ended up deciding to go for the early flight and doing the parade and fireworks that first night. The nice lady on the phone who booked my package was about as excited as I was. The baby was talking in the background and the lady kept talking to her as if they were talking to each other. I hated to tell her that the baby couldn’t actually hear her because I was the one holding the phone. She gave me the number to call to make my dining reservations and I ran outside to hug my husband and do a little dancing around the yard with Libby because we really, truly are, “GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!! She was a little confused because she already knew we were going to Disney World but she thought the dancing was fun anyway.

Now came the next thing I was worried about. Dining reservations. I have to admit I was a little disappointed that I’d already missed my 180-day mark for making reservations. I remember when I was planning our honeymoon, getting up at the crack of dawn every day for a week making those reservations. Then I think it was 90 days out (which makes a lot more sense if you ask me, the park hours are barely out at 180 days) and I had to call each day. The anticipation was exciting. This time there was no anticipation. As soon as we finished dinner I called Disney Dining and prayed that I would be able to get the restaurants I wanted. Would everyone else who was going in September have already figured out their dining plans and mess mine up? The only ones I was really worried about were the Princess breakfast and 1900 Park Faire. I wasn’t trying for the breakfast in the castle but my little Libby had her heart set on breakfast with the princesses. Luckily, I got everything I wanted without a hitch. Princesses here we come.

But then we started talking. Isn’t there always a but when it comes to planning Disney World trips? I was really nervous about that first day being so long. I didn’t want to start our trip on a bad note. And I really wanted to plan our trips so that all the days would be “green” as Tour Guide Mike calls them. (Go ahead and order Tour Guide Mike. I haven’t even gone on the trip already and I can tell it’s worth it.) And with going with that philosophy, our first day at Magic Kingdom, and our first trip on our daughter’s most anticipated ride, Dumbo the Flying Elephant (“I’ll ride with Daddy and Maggie can ride with you. I want a pink a one.”) would be a long four days into the trip. This little girl’s Daddy just couldn’t stand the thought of her having to wait that long for Dumbo after we got there, so before too long we’d talked ourselves into an extra day. After all, the food is free. I called and they could add a day to the front of our stay. We are now leaving on Friday the 22nd and coming home nine days later on Saturday the 30th. I’ll have to take one more day off work, but we will now stay out of the parks on the first day, going only to Chef Mickey’s for supper, and our first morning will be spent at the Magic Kingdom, riding Dumbo where I will sit with Maggie and Libby will sit with her Daddy and please God let her get a pink elephant. You do know pink and red are her favorite colors, right? (I’ll probably be sitting in a green Dumbo, Maggie’s favorite color as decreed by her sister, unless she has learned to talk and has picked her own favorite color. I just hope she doesn’t pick purple. That’s MY favorite color and everyone knows that each person in a family has to have their own favorite color.)

A few days later I began to stress out about plane tickets. I’d been checking the fares and one of them jumped nearly a hundred dollars overnight. And it was the flight I wanted naturally, so I was nearly panicking. That flight was no longer in our budget. I managed to find the same flight on Northwest Airlines direct website and we booked it. We were leaving at 10:15 am which would mean we could get up at our normal time and would still be in Disney World early enough to make a grocery stop and settle in to our hotel room before heading over to celebrate our arrival with Chef Mickey and his friends. A few days after that I began stressing about a rental car (after already having stressed about the decision of whether or not to get a rental car) and we booked a mid-size SUV through Alamo.

The big stuff was done now, but if you hadn’t noticed I’m a big of a worrier, so I was daily going over my plan and trying to decide if it was perfect. I was also checking the Dis daily for tips and religiously reading Tour Guide Mike. I was thrilled to discover that even though I had had to give up Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party when our dates changed, I would now be able to attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party on the 29th. I was even more excited when I discovered that the Food and Wine Festival was going to start before we left. Oh, I’ve always wanted to go to the Food and Wine Festival. I’m a little bit of a paradox within myself in that I love to try new food, but I’m also very picky. I’ll try just about anything once, the problem is I almost never like it. It’s surprising I still like trying things since my success rate is so poor, but I do, so this is perfect for me. I can try something for just a few dollars and if I don’t like it, no big loss. And, if that item happens to be on the dining plan and we still have snack credits left, it’s FREE, so that’s really no big loss. I love free dining already.

That was the first of my reworkings of my itinerary. I continued studying it and eventually came to the conclusion that it just wasn’t perfect enough for me. I had us going to Fantasmic, Spectromagic and Illuminations three nights in a row. Who was making this plan anyway, the Disney Commando Nazi? I started trying to figure out how to switch it around and eventually came up with something that I like, but don’t love. And here is my appeal to Disney. Please have the parades earlier in the day. My little children need a nap and there is no way I can get them back to the hotel, to sleep, and then back up again and to the park by 4:00. Have the parades at one or two and I’ll just give them a later nap, please? But since Disney hasn’t heard my pleas yet (and I'm sure they won't since they want people to stay for the whole day) I settled for two long days, one at MGM and one at Animal Kingdom, where we will stay all day so that we can see the parades. And if the kids just can’t take it, we’ll skip them. No big deal. (My husband is rolling his eyes big time at that one. He can’t believe that this is my new mantra since last time I wanted to go on EVERYTHING!!!) I still do, but I want to go on everything with happy children, so that’s just going to be the way it has to be. I’m a mom now, I can handle missing a parade or two.

So I spent a Saturday afternoon rearranging our trip and calling Disney Dining about twelve times trying to reschedule everything. And I got it all to work so I guess I didn’t need to worry about everything filling up so fast. I also added a dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern since we hadn’t yet added an extra table service meal to go along with our extra day, but I may change that once more if the rumors about a Playhouse Disney character breakfast turn out to be true. I know a lot of people aren’t excited about that one, but my Libby was JoJo for Halloween last year and she just can’t wait to tell her about it.

At this point there isn’t much left to do. I have to book an in-room baby-sitter and order tickets for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. I also need to find costumes for said party, as well as princess dresses for the girls to wear to the princess meals. I was hoping that Libby could get a Cinderella dress and another princess dress and then just choose one of them to wear to the party. But her daddy took her to Target one day and she saw a Tinkerbell costume that she must wear for Halloween. So, she’ll probably be Tinkerbell. Maggie should be satisfied with one costume. I don’t think Cardell and I will be dressing up. So now there isn’t much left to do except read other people’s trip reports, obsess over my itinerary, and continue answering my daughter’s plea to tell her all about Disney World even though she knows the name of every ride there and very possibly which color ride vehicle she hopes to ride in. But since I’m me, I’ll find plenty of stuff to obsess over before the trip comes. Such as:
-Will I gain 40 pounds eating all the food you get on the dining plan? I’ve just started Weight Watchers and I’m doing really well. I’m hoping to have lost all the weight I need to by the time we go and although I don’t want to start all over I’m also not worrying about what I eat while I’m on vacation. I’ll worry about it now instead.
- Will the girls scream the entire plane ride because their ears hurt? Will I? Will the baby be a nightmare on the plane regardless of her ears?
- Will Maggie be totally scared of the characters and scream bloody murder every time she gets near one? Will we have to cancel all our character meals and eat fast food burgers all week?
- Will Libby, who doesn’t like “people she doesn’t know” make that annoying whiny sound to every person who smiles at her, causing my eardrums to pop at the annoyance of it. Will she, even though she promises she won’t be shy, clam up in front of all the characters?
- Will bringing our own stroller be annoying, or do we really need it so that Maggie can have the option of laying down to take a nap?
- Will my feet hurt so bad by the second day that I have to sit in the room with the baby while my husband and daughter go on all the rides? (I have plantar fascitis. This is a legitimate concern.)

Up Next: A mid planning update

 

[pumba]

it is hard to plan ......but so easy once you go and get down to business......thanks for your good info and your pre trip report......can hardly wait for it...
Oh yah......we took our grandkids when they were 2 and 4 and the four year old would hide under the tables or chairs if one came to our meals

 

[momtolandm]

Time for a small update. We now have less than four months until our trip. In fact, tomorrow is our 100 Days Until Disney Party, where we will be making a paper chain, eating mickey mouse sundaes that I have copied from all the pictures of Beaches and Cream on the food picture thread on the DIS, receiving matching, personalized Disney T-shirts for our first day at the Magic Kingdom (have I mentioned that I love my husband? Because I really, really do. Any guy who will wear matching t-shirts for vacation deserves a lot of love) and watching a Disney behind the scenes TV show I’ve Tivo’d from the Travel Channel. Not too much has changed from our last update. That character meal at MGM came through, so we will now be dining with JoJo, Goliath, and June and Leo from Little Einsteins. Not only that but there will be Playhouse Disney singers or something like that. I’m hoping that the fact that I can sing the entire theme song to Little Einsteins will come in handy. I also ordered tickets to the not so scary Halloween party. They came in the mail this week so now I have almost four months to worry about losing them and/or forgetting them. Wahoo! I also changed a couple of my dining times around, but nothing major. Now it just seems like we’re going to be waiting forever. But I’m sure the summer will just fly by as summer seems to do when you’re an adult. And considering we have Maggie’s first birthday, an anniversary weekend away, a small camping trip, a wedding in which Libby is the flower girl (too cute!) and a million other small things going on, I certainly can’t complain about not having enough to do. I do, however, have one more small thing to worry about: treats. Specifically, Libby asking for treats. We took her to the zoo last weekend and she spent the entire time, seriously, the entire time, asking for a treat. We told her she could have one treat, and only one treat. So, every five seconds, we heard, “Is it time for a treat yet?” I was about ready to lose my mind. And then when she finally got the treat, we heard, “I’m hungry” for the rest of the afternoon. (She knew she wouldn’t get another treat if she asked for one since we had told her only one treat, so she was going for sounding pathetic. It didn’t work.) But really, you would have thought none of the animals were even there. We really need to work out some kind of solution to this problem before we go on our trip because I will lose my mind if Libby would rather eat some Skittles than talk to Mickey Mouse. I’m hoping there will be so much going on that she won’t even think about treats. And she will get one snack a day from the dining plan, plus desserts at nearly every meal, so let’s pray it’s not an issue. However, I have a feeling that she knows it bugs me and that’s what’s making it an issue in the first place. Ah, the joys of parenting. I’m sure it gets a lot easier when they’re 13, right?

 

[momtolandm]

And now, on to the final update because we leave in THREE DAYS! I’m already so excited I can’t sleep and my daughter is refusing to take naps so I think we’re both ready to leave. Pretty much everything is done. We had our 100 Days til Disney party, then a one month ‘til Disney party that involved princess suckers, the reworking of the paper chain and a show about the Animal Kingdom. The paper chain turned out to be a bit of a waste of paper. Maggie is obviously too little and Libby just really wasn’t into it. We should have started it at thirty days instead of a hundred. And we have a cute little song that goes along with the ripping of the paper chain and everything! Even so, Libby really wasn’t interested until we got down to ten days and she could count them on her fingers. Now she really knows that it will be soon. That party also included the possession of two princess dresses, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. Somehow I talked her out of the Tinkerbell one. And Sleeping Beauty has now outdone Cinderella in ranking for her favorite princess. She will tell you that she has two favorite princesses: Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella, but I think she's just trying not to hurt Cinderella's feelings. That pink dress puts Sleeping Beauty in the top spot. Maggie has a little Cinderella outfit that she is going to wear. It’s not really a costume but she doesn’t care and it was 11.99 at Wal-Mart. Then, just four days ago we had our one week until Disney Party. It included a trip to Chuck E Cheese so we could see if Maggie would be terrified of Chuck E and if we would need to make some kind of pre-meal strategy for our character dining. Wow. We’ve never taken our kids to Chuck E Cheese. In fact, I’ve been there exactly one time, in college, for my roommate’s twentieth birthday. We had a grand time, if I remember correctly. As a parent? Not so much. Our first trip to Chuck E Cheese was also our last. We did find out that Maggie is definitely uneasy about the characters but as long as we keep her back a little ways and she doesn’t think they are going to touch her, she should be okay. We’re hoping that after she sees Libby playing with them, she won’t be scared anymore. But she didn’t scream in terror so we should be able to make it work.

Many of my worries have managed to ease up in the past four months. I’m still worried that I’ll gain too much weight, but I’m just worrying about that now so I don’t have to while I’m there. I’ve lost almost thirty pounds so I’m hoping to get away with only gaining five back. We’ll see. At any rate, I’ll still be way ahead of where I started. Libby will not be afraid of the characters, I’m sure of it, and we figured out at the wedding where she was the cutest flower girl ever that bribing can stop her from making that irritating whining noise. I’m still worried about the ears on the plane, even more so now that we can’t bring liquids on board, but we’ll just have to wait and see. My poor husband has a headcold so he’s probably the one I should be worrying about. Mostly, I’m managing to keep my worrying to a minimum (my husband is rolling his eyes again) because I’m too excited to spend much time on it. I can’t wait to see Libby’s face when she finally sees Cinderella’s castle in person. And Maggie, who has turned into a bit of a bully over the last four months and refuses to be left out of anything, will probably be dancing right alongside her at the parades as long as there are no giant mice trying to touch her. I’m packing plenty of Kleenex for all the sentimental Mommy tears. We did have one disappointment, in that our pool at All Star Movies is going to be closed. I was sad about that and tried to switch but it wasn’t happening. Everyone else was trying to switch too and I couldn’t get another value resort. We probably won’t be using the pools that much anyway and we’ll still have the quiet pool so hopefully it will work out okay. I’m a little worried about the crowds at the restaurant since they seem to be booked solid. And I’m also worried about holding Maggie in the lines. Maggie does not like to be held when her sister is on the ground. But it will all work out and we are going to have the best vacation ever!!!!!! And once, again, just to remind myself: my new mantra for this trip: If we miss something it’s no big deal! Remember, we’re making memories for our children and we want them to be happy ones. Happy memories of the motel room are better than memories of meltdowns at the parks. My children are really well-behaved for the most part so I have high hopes that it will be smooth sailing the whole nine days. And now, time to start packing!

Up next: Hopefully, the last of the planning segments.

 

[momtolandm]

Chapter Six

And now, we’re home. In fact, we’ve been home for close to a month now. In short, it was a great trip. The long is going to take much more explaining than that. For starters, those last three days:

The packing was supposed to start on Monday. We left on Friday. The packing actually started on Thursday. Thank goodness Cardell had the day off work. I did not. I only had two kids for day care, but one of them was celebrating his fifth birthday. Have you ever spent the day with four kids under the age of five, when one of them is having a birthday and two of them are going to Disney World the next day? It went about as well as you are thinking. I let them watch the Disney Channel all day, with a little Pocahontas thrown in for extra measure. I normally try to keep it down to about an hour of TV a day, but desperate days call for desperate measures.

The house was also supposed to be spotless before we left. We went camping in July and came home, after three days of camping in over 100 degree temperatures, to a house that looked like it had been hit by a tornado, due to the packing for the camping in the first place. I swore that wasn’t going to happen this time. I was going to come home to a house that shined like the top of the Chrysler building! Housework is not my strong suit. I just can’t get that interested in it when there are cute kids to play with and pictures of food I haven’t eaten in seven months plastered all over the internet. Food that I will be eating in the very next week. So, the house wasn’t spotless. It didn’t, however, look like it had been hit by a tornado. It was passable clean and that was good enough for me.

Frankly, those last few days are mostly a blur to me. And I hadn’t started writing trip report notes yet, so my memory is going to have to do. Thankfully, it’s my memory and not my husband’s. I wrote my first trip report in hopes that he might actually remember some of our honeymoon. Anyway, I remember a shopping trip to Target with the girls in which we bought more snacks than can possible be eaten by four people in nine days. We also bought jelly bellies. Yum! My favorite treat, which I’ve had to give up in order to meet my weight loss goal. I’ll be eating my fill on the plane. Libby got her own bag. I do not share jelly bellies. There was also dance class, a boring class I had to take for day care about transitions, my last Weight Watchers meeting, and lots and lots of counting down. I have a strange system for counting down to things. It started with my wedding. First, I counted down in months, then when it got to two, I counted down in weeks, then when it got down to two I counted down in days, then hours, then minutes. Usually the minutes didn’t really surface, although on one trip with did count down the seconds in the kitchen before leaving. Anyway, I refuse to lower my number until the next week has passed, so at fifteen days, I’m saying three weeks. It drives my husband nuts. Also, I feel the need to announce when we’ve reached a new milestone. This doesn’t have too many repercussions when I’m only announcing it every month or every week or even every day. Every hour, I think it gets a little annoying. I do it anyway. I think it’s fun. And my announcing did lead to one of the cutest comments Libby made the entire trip, before we even left.

We were having our last supper, frozen pizza, the night before we left. I announced that it was thirteen hours until Disney World. Libby, whose mouth is full, holds up two fingers and makes a sad face. I say, “Oh, do you wish it was two hours until Disney World?” Libby, who has swallowed her pizza, announces, “Yes, and then it will be one and then it will be none and then we will do our yelling.”

Yelling? I haven’t heard about any yelling. In fact, with at least two and sometimes as many as seven little kids running around here all the time, I’m pretty opposed to yelling.

So I say, “Yelling?” And she says, “Yes, Disney yelling. We will say “Hurray, Disney World!” (at this point her tone drops and she becomes very serious) and we will yell…like no kids….and no grown ups…and no grandparents…have EVER yelled before!” She was so serious we couldn’t laugh. But I did decide that yelling for that next morning was a go.

And then there was the packing. I had decided from a tip I read somewhere to put the girls clothes in Ziploc bags: one outfit for each day in each bag. Cardell thought this was crazy and a waste of Ziploc, but I thought it would work out great. It did. Their clothes weren’t all over the place, and the bags were numbered for each day so all the planning that went into decided which Disney character on the shirt went best with which park wasn’t wasted by my husband putting the wrong clothes on. I don’t think he was fully invested in making sure Maggie wore the Nemo shirt on a day when we would be in Epcot. That went well. In fact, all the packing went well except for the fact that we had so much stuff. I went a little overboard in buying little surprises for the airplane. It was looking like they would be two very surprised little girls. Also, there was so much stuff that I’d forgotten all about that we had to do a little reworking. Some new Disney socks didn’t get put in the Ziploc bags because the girls were already asleep and some hairbows with princesses on them got left out for the girls to find the next morning. But it got done with minimal stress, almost no arguing and in a reasonable amount of time. Success!

 

[momtolandm]

Chapter Seven: In which we finally leave the house

Bedtime the night before our trip went much better than expected. We expected stalling upon stalling due to the excitement. Instead, Libby seemed to have an attitude of responsibility about the whole thing and thought she better get a lot of sleep because the next day was going to be a long one.

The girls did better than their parents, in fact. First, we had to watch The Office because I certainly couldn’t wait ten days to find out what happened after Jim kissed Pam. And then I had to watch Grey’s Anatomy because I CERTAINLY couldn’t wait ten days to find out if Meredith chose Derek or Finn. And then I had to convince myself that I didn’t need to watch ER to find out what happened to Abby’s baby and also to ponder the fact that I just may watch too much TV. I did give up ER in favor of a shower.

Everyone knows that commercial, right? The one where the dad is too excited to sleep right along with his kids? And everyone else reenacts it about twenty nights in a row before their trip, right? Well, in our house we do. Or at least in our bedroom. And I definitely was too excited to sleep. It actually wasn’t that late when we went to bed but I woke up so many times to check the clock that it didn’t really even feel like I was sleeping. I was pretty much awake at 4:30. At 5:15 I was totally awake. I laid there and watched the clock until 5:30 when the alarm went off.

Unfortunately for my husband, who was basking in his moment of not having to get up first (I am NOT a morning person) I forgot to shut the alarm off. He said he was awake anyway. I guess I wasn’t the only one too excited to sleep. By the time I was out of the shower he had already checked to make sure our flight was one time. I checked Tour Guide Mike one last time, packed up what we hadn’t used yet, watched while my husband started packing the car (it was raining and he said I didn’t have to help) and then….sat there. It was six thirty. We didn’t need to get the girls up until seven.

And that was how, on a morning when I expected to be running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I sat next to my husband (actually I think I may have been bouncing next to him) and watched ‘til Death, a new sitcom with Ray’s brother from Everybody Loves Raymond. So, we’re sitting there trying to watch but really just waiting for seven. And then…

The phone rang. It was my mom. I almost peed my pants. I had been certain that something was going to go wrong. And here my mom was calling me at 6:30 in the morning. What happened? Who died? Who was in an accident? I think I kept my panic to myself while I answered the phone and heard her ask me if we were ready to go. She just wanted to say good-bye. SHE COULDN’T HAVE DONE THAT LAST NIGHT! She was probably watching ER. I come by the too much TV watching naturally. Also, I keep most of my manic worrying to myself so it’s not surprising that she didn’t anticipate her name on the Caller ID would make my blood pressure go up twenty degrees.

By the time I got off the phone it was almost seven. And that show we were watching; it was bad. So I deleted it off the Tivo, grabbed the camera and we went in to wake up the girls. Libby was awake, lying on the floor. I have no idea why my daughter feels the need to sleep on the floor. She has a perfectly nice bed. It is a toddler bed, though, due to the fact that they share a room and a small one at that. She isn’t going to get out of the toddler bed until either she outgrows it or her sister outgrows her crib. And I think she may think that sleeping on the floor could possibly spur her parents to buy a new bed in hopes that she would actually sleep in it. She’s said more than once, “Mommy, when am I going to get a BIG GIRL big girl bed?” So far, her ploy isn’t working. Although I do feel strange saying to her at naptime, “Now, you be quiet or you’re going to have to sleep in your bed.”

I expected Libby to be dancing in excitement. As you’ll see, many things I expected from Libby turned out to be unfounded on this trip. This was the first. She seemed to be in a state of shock that after all this time we were actually going. We couldn’t believe how slow she was getting dressed. We ripped apart our last little link on our paper chain, sang our song, and finished packing the last couple of things we needed for the girls, minus the spray bottle for Libby’s very curly hair. That ended up being left on the bathroom counter. Libby was very excited about her new ponytail holders and chose the Snow White one because it was pink. Maggie just kept looking around trying to figure out why everyone else seemed to be so excited.

Since it was raining, Cardell carried the girls out to the car one at a time. We checked out list one final time, turned off the lights, locked the door, and FINALLY, we were on our way. The screaming Libby had talked up the night before was a little subdued. I think some grandparents have probably screamed that loud before. But I didn’t tell her that.

 

[momtolandm]

Before we got to the airport we had to drive to the airport. In the rain. In rush hour traffic. It seemed to take forever, but it really only took about an hour. There was a moment in Plymouth where I got a little nervous but once we got to the freeways it was actually pretty clear. Libby entertained herself by asking us what town the airport was in and if we were in that town every five seconds. Maggie entertained herself by taking off her shoe and then whining because she didn’t have her shoe to play with anymore. I entertained myself by worrying about how hungry we were going to be when we got there since we’d forgotten the Lunchables we planed to eat on the plane. Oops. That and the spray bottle for Libby’s hair were the only things we forgot so I think we did pretty good.

When we finally got to the airport we managed to miss our turn and did a little loop of the airport. I think poor Libby thought that might be the whole trip. We pulled up to the sky cab and checked in our eight million bags. Really. I think there were eight million. Plus the two kids, one of whom was freezing and being quite vocal about it. In her defense, there was a very cold drizzle and I think she probably was freezing. When all eighty bags were taken care of I took the girls inside to wait while Cardell took the car over to the other terminal where the parking was cheaper.

Oh, waiting for a half an hour in an airport with a very excited three year old and a very bored one year old. We watched the flight times, we took a little tour over to a very interesting statue of Charles Lindberg which spurred a conversation with my three year old in which she insisted that he was definitely not in Heaven, like I told her when she asked me where he lived. I’m not sure what she knows about Lindberg, but according to her he did not make it through the Pearly Gates. I should have told her he lived in Toledo. When all else was failing I finally let poor Maggie get out of her stroller and crawl around on the chairs. That turned out to be a very bad idea when she managed to spin herself in a circle and land on her back under the chair. Luckily, she wasn’t hurt but she also wasn’t the least bit pleased about going back in the stroller.

I was very glad when Cardell finally came walking up and we were able to get in line for security. The line wasn’t too bad. Libby entertained herself my trying not to look at any people who might be trying to talk to her. She isn’t big on strangers. Then we got to do the whole, take off your shoes, fold up the stroller, get everything on the conveyor belt while still managing not to lose your children dance. My favorite. We made it through barely scathed.

And now, time for breakfast. Since we knew we would probably have some time to kill at the airport we decided not to eat until we got there. We did give the kids some milk and graham crackers in the car but us grown-ups were starving. At least I was. I’m used to eating as soon as I wake up. There weren’t many choices down by our gate and we seemed to be limited to Wolfgang Puck Express, Caribou Coffee, and McDonalds.

Here’s a little aside. Exactly what does McDonald’s put in that food that makes every child of eating age instantly attracted to their restaurant. We managed to hold Libby off on McDonalds for a little while. She was probably about twenty months old when we took her there for the first time. The restaurant didn’t have a playland or any toys or anything, we didn’t get her a happy meal, and she has not stopped asking us to go there since. The experience wasn’t that great. I’m not sure what about it spurred such an undying love for the place. Of course, since then she’s been exposed to the playlands and the happy meals and she know deems McDonald’s her favorite restaurant. (She used to call it Old McDonalds, like Old McDonald had a farm. They grow up so fast.)

Anyway, I’ll bet you can guess where the three year old wanted to go. Me? Not so much. This is my first off-plan (that’s weight watcher speak) meal and I do not want to waste it on McDonalds. We are off to Wolfgang Puck where I am already drooling over the French toast that is, um, not on the menu. What is on the menu? Eggs, scrambled eggs, or well, eggs. My youngest is allergic to eggs. All right, Libby, McDonald’s it is. She was so excited it was almost worth it.

Cardell sat down with Maggie while Libby and I figured out what we were going to eat and then he ordered while I waited with them both. I had to take the opportunity to take a picture of Libby getting to eat at her very favorite restaurant. Libby chose to just get the fruit plate that came with yogurt. I got an egg and cheese bagel and a water (those Weight Watcher habits die hard, I can’t believe I didn’t get chocolate milk) and Cardell got a sausage, egg and cheese McMuffin and hash browns. Poor Maggie, as was the case the entire vacation, shared with everyone. She didn’t mind. She loved the hash browns. My bagel was a little chewy so I was a little disappointed.

While we are eating, Cardell decided that right before we get on the plane would be a great time to tell me about a conversation he overheard on the shuttle back from the long term parking lot. Apparently, a couple of pilots were discussing the training they had just taken on how to operate the new Airbus airplanes. I’m not sure of the specifics but the gist of the whole thing was that they really liked the way the new airplanes displays were laid out, but they didn’t know what half the buttons did. WHAT? I would really prefer that the pilots know what every single button does before I get on the plane. After I gave him a panicked look Cardell tried to tell me that they were probably the second on command pilots, not the ones in charge, but still. He probably could have told me that story after we landed, back at home, safe and sound.

We took our first bathroom stop of the vacation and then headed to the gift shop: another first of many. Cardell picked up the paper and a bribe for Libby, who he was sitting with on the plane: Starburst, otherwise known in our family as Star Bars. We have found that Star Bars can get our girl to do pretty much whatever we want her to do. Libby tried to carry her own backpack but there were so many surprises in there that she practically toppled over. She let me take her picture and then I had to carry her bag.

We finally made our way to the gate. Even Maggie was excited to see all the airplanes. Maggie was getting very restless. I took her to the bathroom in the hopes that changing her diaper would prevent me from having to do it on the airplane. We spent the rest of the time figuring out how to gate check our stroller and trying to keep our kids occupied. A nice lady took our picture in front of the window with the plane in the background.

Finally, right on time, they announced that families with small children were welcome to board!!!!!!

Up Next: The airplane ride.

 

[momtolandm]

I was really nervous about the airplane ride. I was nervous the girl’s ears would hurt, I was nervous my ears would hurt, I was nervous they would be bored and scream the whole time. I was just really nervous. Neither of them has flown before which means neither of us has flown with kids before. We made our way down the gangplank, left our stroller, and tried to get ourselves, our two kids, and what seemed like twenty carry-ons plus a car seat, into the plane.

Libby was very excited that she got to sit in the seat and use her seat belt like a big girl. Cardell got Maggie’s car seat all buckled in and we settled down. Libby wanted to sit with her daddy, so I got Maggie. Cardell was already exhausted from all of the dragging of bags around and managing of children. I didn’t have anyone else sitting in my row, which was nice because I needed the room for all the extra stuff we brought. It also made me nervous. You always hear those stories about how planes that crash are mysteriously empty. People for whatever reason change their planes or don’t get on. I like a full plane.

I got some milk from the flight attendant for the girls before we took off so they would have something to help them pop their ears. It took a very, very long for us to take off. Maggie entertained herself by eating a lot of snack, good thing since we didn’t have any lunch, and then kicking me. Oh, the hilarity of reaching her foot over and kicking her mom. I think she did that for fifteen minutes straight. Then she fell asleep right before we took off. The flight actually went very well. There was only one trip to the bathroom, with Libby. Maggie managed to wait for a diaper change. Maggie slept for quite awhile and then was entertained by stickers and books for the rest of the time. Libby liked her new surprised and was very entertained by the journal I got her, so we could both have one. Both girls started melting down a little right before we got off. I’m not sure if Maggie’s ears hurt or if she was just tired of being in the car seat. I took her out as soon as we landed and I think that may have been the problem. Libby was just bored and decided to entertain herself by playing with the tray table despite Cardell repeatedly telling her to leave it alone.

Speaking of that landing, I am not fond of landing. I have no problem with riding an airplane except for the landing. I’m always certain we are going to crash despite the fact that I’ve never had anything close to a bad landing. To make my fear even stranger I can somehow convince myself to forget all about it right up until the pilot comes on and tells the flight attendants to prepare for landing. Up until then, I just don’t think about it. So the landing is always a very tense fifteen minutes for me. And it wasn’t made easier by Maggie’s whining. But it went fine. We waited for the plane to pretty much clear out so we could get the car seat out without too much trouble and we were finally in FLORIDA!!!!

Up Next: We may actually make it on property!

 

[jordansmomma]

Speaking of that landing, I am not fond of landing. I have no problem with riding an airplane except for the landing. I’m always certain we are going to crash despite the fact that I’ve never had anything close to a bad landing. To make my fear even stranger I can somehow convince myself to forget all about it right up until the pilot comes on and tells the flight attendants to prepare for landing. Up until then, I just don’t think about it. So the landing is always a very tense fifteen minutes for me. And it wasn’t made easier by Maggie’s whining. But it went fine. We waited for the plane to pretty much clear out so we could get the car seat out without too much trouble and we were finally in FLORIDA!!!!

Up Next: We may actually make it on property![/QUOTE]

Ok i am right there with ya, I HATE LANDING!! Taking off sometimes also, but landing ughh....... or turbulence. I am glad you had a good flight. I thought that a 7.5 hr flight with 2 kids would be trouble but it was ok, it went a lot better than i thought it would.

 

[emh1129]

I'm enjoying the trip report

 

[momtolandm]

Thanks for the replies!

Our flight also went much better than I thought it would, both ways.

emh1129: We also stayed at All Star Movies. I really liked it and would stay there again. We were in the Toy Story section and my kids loved running around the courtyard.

 

[momtolandm]

So, we make our way off the airplane, antsy toddler and whiny pre-schooler in tow. The toddler was distracted by being confined in her stroller instead of her car seat, but the pre-schooler.. She had just been informed that we would be stopping at SuperTarget on our way to our hotel and she was not happy about this turn of events. Although we had gone over our itinerary for this day about seventy times. I think she felt the same way about the grocery stop as I did about landing the plane. Don’t think about it until you absolutely have to. And I guess she decided she had to think about it when we were still in the airport.

We made our way onto and off of the tram, down the elevator and over to baggage to pick up our luggage. We got a cart and stood there thinking about how hot we were for a while. I briefly considered changing into the shorts I had in the carry on bag but the luggage started coming down much more quickly than I expected. Being last off the airplane, waiting for our stroller and then lugging five carry ons and two kids through an airport does have a benefit, it seems. Not a long wait for your bags. Cardell went and stood by the conveyor belt while I stayed with the kids and monitored our first time out of the vacation, given after a certain three year old refused to stop climbing on the luggage cart and then started screaming when her father physically removed her from said cart. It was not a pretty scene, but I couldn’t blame her too much. It had been a long day and she was hot and tired and ended up with way too much sugar after we forgot our lunch at home.

We collected our bag and then headed out to collect our rental car. We had one reserved with Alamo and had the paper that we had to hang on to for four months with us so we could bypass checking in and go right to our car. Unfortunately we didn’t know where to go to get our car so we went to the check in counter anyway. They directed us to a parking ramp across the street, where I found my first need for tissues. Cardell was walking in the front with Libby right behind him. I was pushing little Maggie in the stroller. There was a silver Mickey Mouse statue next to the information desk for the rental cars. Maggie took one look at Mickey, stood right up in her stroller as far as the safety strap would let her and SCREAMED in delight until we passed it. That certainly seemed to be a very good sign and I got a little teary thinking about how many times I would get to see both of my girls screaming in delight on this trip.

We got to our area of the lot (mid-size SUV) and picked out a bright blue Saturn Vue. I really wanted a red one that we passed first but another family was standing in front of it so I thought they’d already chosen it. This turned out to come back into play as we were driving out and my husband, who didn’t bat an eye when I said I wanted the blue one (it was very bright so it was also very easy to spot in the parking lot) complained about my having chosen such a boring car. Now, when I chose it I did so specifically for the color. Cars are really not something I’m interested in. As long as it works, I’m good. But I guess Saturns are boring. It turns out he wanted the red one, too. When I told him he probably should have said something if he was going to complain about it he said he thought another family had already chosen it. Hello! I guess we think alike after seven years of marriage.

We packed our car, gave up that paper we had saved for so long and headed on our way to SuperTarget with directions I had printed off the DIS in hand. Libby was still whining about our grocery stop in the back seat, while spinning a fan that I had brought along. A fan that made a very annoying noise and got taken away in about five seconds. Great purchase that fan. She was also disrupting my sense of what is right in the world by having decided that she would sit behind me instead of where she normally sits, behind her dad. I guess she thought I was ready for a change, but I was about giving myself whiplash swinging my head around when I glanced back to talk to her and saw her sister instead.

Our directions were good but we were getting a little nervous because there were absolutely no people on the road we were on. And then we got to our first toll. Oh, here’s where all the people are! We waited a while at the toll and then made our way straight to SuperTarget. Wow! It was hot out. Naturally, we wanted to get in and out of Target as fast as humanely possible so we split up. I took Maggie to look for snacks and Cardell took Libby to get a stroller and baby products. It didn’t take me long to and I went in search of my family. I found them in the baby aisle choosing wipes. There was a small search for lollipops which turned out fruitless and we headed to check out. My only disappointment was the umbrella stroller we wanted. The decision to purchase one there was made because the one we have is old and ratty and doesn’t have a sun shade. Unfortunately, there was no one stroller for sale at Target that had a sun shade and they also didn’t have storage bags on the back. I was wishing we had just brought the one from home. At least it has a mesh bag. By the next day, I was REALLY wishing we had just brought our own.

We picked up drinks in the way out and I was really feeling the need for some food. The kids had eaten their weight in snacks on the plane but I’ll I’d had was Jelly Bellies. I was starving. I wished we had more time. I wanted to try the Steak N Shake across the street, but we also really wanted to get to our hotel and we also had a buffet restaurant on the agenda for that evening. I settled for a pretzel from the SuperTarget food court. I got parmesan garlic, Cardell got plain and we headed back to the car. I was really enjoying my pretzel, but Cardell said his was dry and hard which seemed strange since I assumed they were both made at the same time. When I got halfway through mine I realized the problem. One half of the pretzel was yummy and delicious; the other was dry and hard. I’d just managed to start on the right end.

There was one more toll on our way to the world and this time Cardell managed to drop a quarter so he grabbed a new one and we were on our way. This led me to wonder: do kids who live near toll roads sneak out in the middle of the night to see if they can score any change that people have dropped trying to throw it into that bucket? That sounds like something kids would do.

Our drive was much shorter than I anticipated and our directions were very good. It was so much fun seeing Libby get so excited about all the different billboards. Her sister was getting in on the act as well, although she had no idea what she was excited about. Before long we were driving under THE sign: Walt Disney World. And there it was: that screaming she was talking about the night before. I still think some grandparents may have screamed that loud before, but not many. We were finally ON PROPERTY!!!

Up next: the Buzz Lightyear hotel and Maggie’s first kiss

 

[eargal]

I love hearing about a child's first trip to Disney! My DS first went just before he turned 4 and LOVED every minute...we did big thunder 20 times that trip.......ah, memories.

Can't wait to hear more.

 

[momtolandm]

After our grand, loud entrance to the World it was a short drive to All-Star Movies. I was actually a little worried that it would be hard to get around on property but we only got lost once the entire time we were there and that was an easy fix. We drove straight to the All-Star Movies gate and had to show our photo ID for the first of many times which would annoy my husband greatly each and every time. He did have a point. It’s not like they looked at it very closely. They didn’t check it against some kind of list and they didn’t write anything down so it’s not like they could go back and look up the information if there was a crime. Maybe there is a camera that is secretly taking pictures of everyone’s driver’s licenses. I doubt it. Maybe they think that people who are willing to show their driver’s licenses aren’t as likely to commit any crimes. Whatever the reason, we showed ours and drove down to All-Star Movies.

All Star Movies is the last resort on the road after All Star Music and All Star Sports. Libby was just amazed by the giant staircases. “That is the biggest football I’ve ever seen!” That is the biggest cup I’ve ever seen!” The airplane we rode in had also been the biggest one of those she’d ever seen. It was a very amazing day for her.

We parked in the main lot and headed inside. I was so ready to get to our room and feel settled in. This traveling with small children is exhausting. We got in line and sent Libby over to a little ampitheater where they were showing the Disney Channel on TV. She was so proud to be able to sit there herself. We could see her the whole time but she still thought it was neat. The staying by herself thing didn’t last too long though. Her sister was very restless so I took her over as well. After catching her eight million times while she tried to crawl up on the little chairs I decided it was time for a little walk. Oh, look, the gift shop. That was a bad idea. Taking too kids to the gift shop is not a lot of fun. Maggie tried to grab everything she saw and Libby ran around exclaiming, “I’m certainly getting this for my birthday!” about everything that had a princess on it. Or a fairy. They’re almost like princesses. We didn’t last long and I should have known better. We got out of there, peeked in the food court, glanced at the arcade and then headed back to see how close we were to checking in.

On our way we had a very monumental moment: Maggie’s first kiss! We were walking along when this little boy who looked just shy of two came running up to Maggie and hugged her. Then he planted one right on her face. She looked at him like he had about three heads. I don’t think she though kissing a stranger was very appropriate. I asked his mom his name so we could always remember who Maggie got her first kiss from: it was Trevor. The best part was when I told her father that Maggie got her first kiss he didn’t understand. He thought I was talking about some kind of Disney character and was like, I don’t even know who Trevor is. When I explained that Trevor was a real person he looked like he might like to go find him and give him a talking to. Easy there, I don’t think it was a serious commitment or anything. The kid was only two.

When we got back from our little walk Cardell was up at the check out counter so I sent Libby back to watch TV and Maggie and I went up to see what was going on. The lady said we were in the Toy Story building. I didn’t really have a good idea of which building would be best. I was just hoping it wouldn’t be Fantasia since the pool was closed and I didn’t want to look out the window and stare at it every day to remind myself. I also didn’t want Mighty Ducks but we had a preferred room so that wasn’t an issue. Toy Story sounded fine to me and the CM said we were in the better room because Woody was covered up. She failed to mention that that really made no difference since Woody and Buzz are both in the same courtyard. It really wasn’t an issue, though. There was a wall up around Woody’s lower half but you could still see his face and the wall came down before we left. The CM also gave Maggie some stickers of Mickey Mouse. At the time, I was thinking a sort of vague, “stickers, that’s nice” By the end of the trip we had more of those Mickey Mouse stickers than we knew what to do with. Every single person we saw was handing them out and I think my daughter was actually tired of them.

We collected Libby, unwillingly, from the children’s area. I think she would have stayed there happily for the rest of the afternoon. We went back to the car and she was having a fit. “But THIS is where we’re staying!!!!!” It did seem like we’d been getting in and out of the car an awful lot. We explained that we had to park our car in a different spot and headed over to the Toy Story building. We were in building 9, I believe, but I can’t remember the room number.

Our room was on the third floor so we schlepped as many bags as we could while also carrying a one year old and monitoring a three year old and headed up the bucket of army soldiers staircase. For some reason, I thought there was no elevator. We checked out our room, took some pictures and Cardell headed back down for the rest of the bags, finding the elevator this time. Libby was very excited about the room. I was also very happy with it. I expected it to be really small, and it was small but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I was a little worried about the beds because they looked very, very tiny but we slept in ours just fine. The only problem we had was that they were so far off the ground Libby couldn’t even get into hers without using the nightstand as a stepping stool. I was worried she would fall out, but that never happened. There was already a crib in there for Maggie and we had plenty of space to store our suitcases.

Once we got all the bags into the room we had our first slight disagreement. I wanted to unpack our clothes into the drawers, Cardell wanted to leave them in the suitcases. I’ll admit I was a little snippy about it. We normally don’t use the drawers in a motel when we’re traveling but I had pre-discussed with my husband every detail of this trip, including the one in which we used the drawers. Tripping over three suitcases in such a small room, and keeping the dirty clothes separated from the clean ones, did not seem like a fun idea. Plus, WE ALREADY DECIDED THIS! I won and we unpacked, but I also apologized for being snippy. We were both feeling a little frazzled from all the traveling.

We took a little rest, got our bearings, and then headed out. We were on our way to our first Free Dining Plan dinner at Chef Mickey’s, but first we had to stop and check out our courtyard, which Cardell had seen when he went back for the rest of the bags. The girls were so excited to see all the larger than life Toy Story icons. Buzz and Woody were there along with huge building blocks that spelled out their names – Woody only had the Wood part of his name. The Y was behind the construction walls. There were also slightly smaller statues of Little Bo Peep and the dinosaur and there was a huge checkerboard on the ground. One side of the courtyard had a big window and the other had a half open door with a sign that said “Andy’s room” on it. The girls loved it, especially running around inside the blocks.

It took us awhile to get them corralled and out of the courtyard but we finally managed it and we were on our way to our first real Disney event: dinner at Chef Mickey’s!!!

Up Next: Why we need to start saving for our daughter's therapy sessions.

 

[momtolandm]

We headed to the car and drove to the Magic Kingdom. I thought that since we weren’t going to a park on this first day it might be fun to take the monorail to the Contemporary, especially since it goes right through the resort. In retrospect, the monorail isn’t all that fun and it probably would have been easier to drive right there. Oh, well, live and learn. We made it to the parking lot a lot faster than I thought we would and with no problems. We were a little confused, though. I knew we had to take the monorail from the Ticket and Transportation Center and there wasn’t a sign for that, only for the Magic Kingdom. Also, when we made it through the gates we were sent to an area marked Special Events. There was a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party going on that night and we were being parked with all of them. When we got close enough we asked someone and she assured us we were in the right spot.

We parked and headed over to wait for the tram. It was a lot of fun seeing all the people dressed up for the Halloween party. There were princesses and pirates everywhere we looked. Cardell was nervous that all of this was taking too long and we were going to be late for our ADR but I assured him we had plenty of time. This did not stop him from checking his watch every four seconds. Cardell does not like to be late. We folded up Maggie’s stroller and got onto the tram. There was a family with a cute little boy on there with us. He was chattering about something I said to Libby in his cute Southern accent. He was holding a sword so I asked him if he was going to the Halloween party. He nodded, his mom looked over and said, “Yes, Ma’am.” He quickly corrected himself. I guess manners have not died in the South. It was sort of funny but I also felt like I got this poor boy in trouble. I didn’t say anything else to him.

We made our way from the tram to the Resort monorail which was filled with people all dressed up. When we stopped at the Grand Floridian we saw some Ketchup, some Salt, and a Toilet all get in one of the cars. They were together but I’m not quite sure what their theme was. A pirate also stopped in our doorway and said “Arrrh!” to Libby. It nearly scared her half to death but she tried to pretend it didn’t. She loved seeing all the little girls dressed like princesses. She kept shouting, “I see Cinderella, I see Jasmine!” I couldn’t wait until she saw the real deal.

After making stops at the Grand Floridian, the Polynesian, and the Magic Kingdom (we got to see the castle!) we were ready to get off at the Contemporary. It was exciting to see our restaurant as we drove through. We got out and headed with the mass of people to the stairs. Except they weren’t stairs. It was an escalator. A very tiny escalator. Cardell folded up the stroller and we prepared to go down with me trying to hold onto Libby and carry Maggie at the same time. Yeah, that wasn’t happening. That was an accident waiting to happen. Obviously there had to be some other way to get down there. We went back to where we started and a man led us in the direction of the elevator. Much better. And safer.

We found Chef Mickey’s and checked in. I was excited already. It was really cute. We could see some of the characters in the restaurant so I held Libby up. She was so excited I think she was forgetting to breathe. The lady told us we could get in line to have a family photo taken before we sat down. We got in line but there was no one there taking pictures, just a family standing in front of the plate. Before the photographer ever made an appearance our buzzer went off. No photo for us.

We met our hostess who told us that Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale and Goofy would be making their way to our table and that Donald Duck was in the lobby and we could go talk to him whenever we wanted. Wait, what did she say? Did she say Minnie? I asked her and yes, she did say Minnie. I have been researching this trip forwards and backwards and upwards and I have not once heard anyone say they saw Minnie at Chef Mickey’s. I couldn’t believe it. Libby would be so excited to see her favorite character. I still wasn’t sure I believed her so I didn’t say anything. I actually thought she might be wrong.

We were seated in a back room just on the other side of the buffet. Libby made my day by actually letting me sit next to her. Normally she has to sit next to her daddy. Our hostess said the chef would be out in a little while. I assumed to talk to us about Maggie’s egg allergy. Since we were all starving I sent Cardell to the buffet with Libby. We probably should have waited for the waitress, but we didn’t. The chef came out and was very nice. He offered to walk me through the buffet but I was okay with him just explaining which pasta Maggie could have. Thankfully, she could have the mac and cheese. She loves it and it can be a problem when her sister can eat it and she can’t.

Libby and Cardell came back with their food. Libby had pizza, mac n cheese and an apple. Cardell had prime rib, a piece of sausage and some parmesan mashed potatoes. Pretty skimpy for a buffet if you ask me. I went back up and managed to get plates for myself and Maggie at the same time. Maggie ate pizza, mac n cheese, peas (she devoured the peas), applesauce and cheese cubes. I had corn bread (a little too dry), Italian crusted chicken wing (yum) parmesan mashed potatoes (oh so yummy!) Mickey ravioli (very good) and some cornbread stuffing that I didn’t really liked. The girls both ate well. Cardell didn’t really like the food but I thought everything I tried was really good. Cardell was just getting over a cold so maybe that skewed his opinion. Also, he only had three things on his plate so that also could have had something to do with it. I’m guessing he didn’t quite have his appetite back yet. I couldn’t believe he didn’t like the mashed potatoes, though. They were sooooo good!

Our waitress came while I was up at the buffet so Cardell ordered strawberry smoothies for us, chocolate milk for Libby and white milk for Maggie. Unfortunately, when our smoothies came they were orange juice instead of strawberry. I should have sent mine back because I hardly drank the orange one but there was so much activity and our waitress was so scarce that I didn’t ever remember it when I had the chance.

Speaking of all that activity, it was so much fun to see Libby with the characters. I think we saw Chip first. I thought Libby would talk to them but she seemed a little awestruck. She would get down and hug them and get her picture taken but she wouldn’t really say anything. She would just grin with big, wide eyes. When Dale came he put his nose on her cheek and she thought that was the funniest thing she’d ever heard of in her life. She covered up her cheek and giggled for about five minutes. When Minnie came over she still wasn’t up for talking but she did point to her shirt so that Minnie could see herself, as the Statue of Liberty, right there on Libby’s shirt. We also saw Goofy and, of course, Mickey himself. All the characters signed the pieces of cardstock I had brought with so I can make Libby a jump ring scrapbook out of the autographs when we get home. And twice while we were there we had a celebration and the characters all danced around and we waved our napkins.

Unfortunately, little Maggie did not have as good of a time as her sister. When Chip came around the first time she kind of whined while he was talking to Libby. Then he came over tried to talk to her and she started crying. As each character she cried a little more. The poor little girl was terrified. Cardell ended up holding her for much of the meal while I took pictures of Libby. That may have added to his lack of love for this restaurant. At one point, during the dancing, I thought poor Maggie might literally pass out. You had to feel for her. Every way she turned there was another huge, giant animal dancing around and her parents were doing nothing to get her out of the situation. I was a little worried about the rest of our character meals. Luckily, the next one was the princess breakfast and we thought that would be okay since they look like real people.

After most of the characters came around I went back to the buffet one more time for some prime rib, which I thought was a little too dry. I also got some chicken, potatoes and ravioli. Cardell took Libby up to make herself a sundae which she naturally thought was the best part of the meal. When it was my turn for dessert I went up and got Maggie some M&M’s. I also tried to make myself a sundae and had an unfortunate incident involving a little girl who was about seven or eight. She was up there with another girl who wasn’t much older than her and wasn’t paying any attention to her anyway. She was trying to get herself some ice cream and didn’t really know how to work the machine. Her solution was to stick her finger up inside the twist cone part, lick it, and then start to reach her hand back inside. It all happened so fast that I couldn’t react until that point. I reached out for her arm and told her that really wasn’t a good idea. She didn’t really look receptive to me showing her how to use the machine after that. She did manage to get it to work but left it on and ice cream was all over the place by the time she was done. Let me tell you, my children will not be going up to a buffet by themselves until they are much older than this girl. I got my own ice cream (vanilla, not twist) and made a sundae with oreos. I also tried a lemon tart that I don’t remember, a chocolate chip cookie that wasn’t very good (bummer, because I LOVE chocolate chip cookies and I was really looking forward to eating a lot of them on this trip) and a Mickey shaped oreo mousse thing. That was soooo good! And cute too. Cardell tried one but didn’t like it. I couldn’t believe it. I was wishing I could eat two but I was already feeling full and I didn’t want to move into that so full my stomach hurts territory.

Sometime during our meal I took Libby up to get a picture and autograph from Donald Duck. We took the picture and when we went to leave Donald tried to get Libby to get him a kiss. She didn’t really get it and instead put her nose on his beak. Which she found hilarious! She laughed about that for days. Dale made his way back to our table a second time as we were packing up to go. Then Libby insisted she had to say good-bye to Mickey. We also said good-bye to Donald and I felt as though I won a small victory by getting Maggie to wave at Donald from a safe distance far on the other side of the room.

Up Next: A very sleepy girl heads back to All Star Movies

 

[momtolandm]

After our exciting dinner with Mickey and friends we gathered our stroller and headed for the elevator. Our three year old drama queen reared her head and we got a very pathetic, and lengthy, sob story. “I’ve had a very long day. I’m so sleepy. Look at my eyes. I’m so sleepy my eyes are only a little bit open.” It was pathetic. And because, miracle of miracles, she managed to convey all of this drama without whining, it was also very cute. I did have to keep a close eye on her, though. It’s hard to walk without running into things when your eyes are only a little bit open.

We made it up the elevator and onto the monorail in record time. Our trip was much shorter this time since we only had to go to the TTC and get off. Then we took the tram, which we would come to despise by the end of our trip, back to our car and headed back to the resort. The All-Stars aren’t on any of the signs on the main road back from the Magic Kingdom so we ended up taking a little tour of the area and getting back to the resort the same way we came in that afternoon. Luckily, or possibly due to the skill of my husband, that was the only time we got turned around at the world on our entire trip.

Maggie had fallen asleep in the car, so we had a whiny baby on our hands when we got back to the room. We got the girls ready for bed and then I called my mom to check in and let her know our flight had gone okay. For some reason, the signal would only work from the top of the bed so we got disconnected when I tried to give the phone to Libby. We reconnected and then tried to settle down for bed. For all her, “I’m so sleepy”ness earlier in the evening, Libby had a hard time falling asleep. The strange surroundings combined with her excitement made it hard for her to relax. Luckily, I had brought a book light from home so I was able to write in my journal and read a scrapbook magazine while the rest of the family settled in.

Up Next: We actually go to the parks on this trip! A morning at the Magic Kingdom.