The C of C joined DVC! 9/16-9/21 Day one finished!

[2Princes2Princesses]

Okay, our cast for this trip is:

Me-33- Mom of 4 and totally nuts.....okay, not totally, but I have anxiety and OCD. Really. Told you this would be gripping. My first trip to Disney World was in 1976 with my parents and older sister. I have been to Disneyland once when I was 11, too. Then, in 2002, my cousin, who is a cast member, took me down to the World. A love was born. Took DH the next year. Our bank accounts have not been the same since.

DH, John -turned 35 on this trip - Stepdad to Murphy and HRH, Dad to Sybil and Johnnie. Kind of cranky........but loves Disney and Mickey. Especially since he throws his clothes in a suitcase the night before we leave and I point him in the direction he needs to go. Voila! Instant vacation. Very sarcastic, so my soulmate....really.

DS, Johnnie - 21 months old - Loves Mickey, Stitch, and Buzz. Starting to talk pretty well and learning to monopolize on his cuteness. Sometimes is so sweet we actually gag. Very mellow 90% of the time. When he gets mad though, LOOK OUT. Thrower of heavy objects and has better aim than you would expect.

Bit players for this trip, but needed for background:

Jerry-33-My ex and the Dad of my 2 oldest children. We have a love/hate relationship. I love him now as a friend but hate 90% of the things he does. We are pretty good friends. DH cannot stand him. Decent Dad, so I let him live.

HRH-my 13-yr-old DD- Currently in the mode of knowing everything, including that DH and I are idiots. Good kid when it suits her. Trying her best to get choked before her 14th birthday. HRH is short for "her Royal Highness" I love her.....which is why I want to choke her when she acts like.....insert bad word here. She loves villians, especially Malificent. Go figure.

Murphy- my 11-yr-old DS - I dubbed him Murph after Murphy's Law. If it is going to happen, it happens to him. The brunt of much of HRH's anger. We spend large amounts of time saving him from her. Unfortunately, he seems to be a glutton for punishment and instigates. He is in his own world. Very sweet and tries to be helpful, but usually is out in Murph-land. Also a devotee of Stitch and a mama's boy through and through.

Sybil- 3-yr-old DD- Yes, Sybil, as in the Sally Field character. Goes from syrupy sweet to PMS in less than 2 seconds. Sybil thinks she is a princess. Not LIKE a princess. ACTUALLY one. She is below the 5th percentile for height and the 20th for weight, so she is very little, smaller than her 21-month-old brother, but has the vocabulary of a PhD in English. Perfect example of her personality:
SYbil: Daddy, how do I look today?
John: You look fine.
Sybil: <growl> (yes, she really growled), NO! You say BEAUTIFUL DADDEEEEE!
<proceeds to stomp into her room>
(Hmmmm........wonder why I have a shrink and medication.)

This trip was only John, Johnnie and myself. Murph and HRH are only allowed to take off school once per school year, and they chose the February trip this year. This was a last minute vacay for us, my sister asked to take Sybil to Sea World for a few days and John's bday was 9/18 and he had taken the week off, so we decided to use it and our new DVC membership wisely and scamper down to Orlando. We would have done a no-kids trip, but noone in their right mind is willing to take more than 2 of the kids at once.....we are frantically searching for crazier friends.

Okay, so......John woke me up at 4:30 on Saturday, the 16th. Jerry (my ex who was staying here with Murph and HRH for the week) was on the floor, snoring like a bear. Swell. I hauled my butt up and showered. Then I packed all our last minute things. So far, so good. I double checked that all Sybil's stuff was ready. My sister was picking her up at 6 pm to head to the Nick Hotel and SeaWorld for 5 days. I then wrote HRH a dissertation on what to give my sister, what to put on Sybil, what to do while we were gone, etc. You would think I would leave that note for my ex..........obviously you have never met him. HRH is the more organized of the two. And she sometimes pays attention to me.

We woke Jerry up, because we felt like ruining his day. Johnnie took one look and freaked out. He is still in the anxiety stage. Plus it was dark and we woke him up. We loaded the car while Johnnie wailed like Jerry was John Wayne Gacy or something. I chose that moment to wonder how we were going to drag 3 suitcases, 3 carry-ons, one 550,000 pound carseat and the stroller through the Buffalo Airport. John thought I had that figured out. Silly man. I didn't even pack until Thursday. If we all have underwear when we get there, we will be lucky.

John gets Johnnie in the car seat and we are off, I was wishing we had bigger travel mugs. The coffee was running low quicker than I thought. We made it to the airport and John dropped me, Johnnie, the stroller and luggage in front of the door and headed off to park the Expedition. He also had to lug the car seat from hell on the airport parking shuttle. I stood out in the early morning darkness, freezing, and decided next time, he would drop us INSIDE. Luckily, the Buffalo Airport is not the biggest facility in the US. In fact, it is the "Buffalo International Airport" because you can fly to Toronto. Wooohooo. Other international flights?? Nope. For those, you have to change planes at JFK. Just a little tidbit for you. But, standing on the upper level out front, you can see the planes. So I kept Johnnie busy by saying over and over, "Wow.....look at the planes. They are loud. Are you going on the airplane?". I am one exciting mom at 5 am.

After what seemed like a million years, especially since I had no coffee, John climbed off the parking shuttle. We dragged the stuff inside and by the grace of the Airport gods, Southwest check-in was right inside. I left John, Johnnie, stroller, car seat and carry-ons, and checked our luggage. We then snuck outside to have a last cigarette because I really WANTED to carry the car seat even more than necessary. It is an Evenflo Triumph. They have no carry handle and weigh about 40 pounds. I weigh about 105 pounds. We ended up with John carrying Johnnie and I put the car seat on the stroller.

After our little smoke break, we went back inside and headed through security. Happy happy joy joy. I got everything in the bins, took out the camera. Uh oh. Car seat from hell will not fit through the x-ray machine. Grrrrr. They hand inspected that for us. I almost forgot to empty my pockets of my cell phone before going through the scanner. Then, after, I forgot to grab it out of the bin. John was more awake, though and grabbed it. Needless to say, he immediately bought me some coffee.

We traipsed down to the gate, and I gate checked the stroller. We stood in the "preboard" area. All the Southwest people were very nice, even to us and our caravan of chaos. I kept wondering what kind of circus we would be in February with all 4 kids and only 1 extra adult to help out. It is not going to be pretty.

They called us to board and on we went. John snagged Row 1 seats for us and buckled Johnnie in. I put our cameras and carry-ons up in the overhead and settled in. I had put my Ativan in my pocket. After everyone had boarded, I reached in and pulled it out as the pilot fired up the engines. This is the conversation that followed:
Me: Uh oh. None of these pills are cut in half (I have 1 mg pills, but only take 1/2 since the full mg makes me tired).
John: So don't take one.
Me: We are flying.
John: Don't the whole ones make you sleepy?? You can't be knocked out all day. We left early so we could do stuff.
Me: We have to FLY.
John: You'll be FINE (he tells me that ALOT).

okay, have to stop for this installment. Dinner calls.

NEXT TIME: Did Steph make it without a panic attack or projectile vomiting? What did Johnnie do that surprised the people behind us? And the arrival at the Boardwalk Villas and EPCOT.

 

[Cass]

Whoa! This is going to be fun.

LOL at your DD13 - I have one of those too

 

[pumba]

I hate to fly too but it is the only way to go from maine. We have that dinky type of international airport too.......SMALL.....
Thanks for the beginning of your trip.....anxious to read more..............

 

[2Princes2Princesses]

Okay, so there we were, on the plane, sans Ativan.

So we start to taxi out to the runway. Johnnie is eating Mickey cookies and having a swell time. He then proceeds to fall asleep in his car seat. We get ready for takeoff. John holds my hand, I lean back in my seat, close my eyes, and whooooosh. Up we go. We hit some bumps changing altitude, and when I opened my eyes, there was one of the flight attendants, in the jump seat....yawning. I lean over to John and say, "Well if the flight attendant is yawning, we must be okay."

The flight was pretty uneventful, except for the kids behind us. They went to the bathroom 26,000 times and made sure to ram into my seat every time. They also took turns slamming the tray tables on the back of John and my seat up and down about 50,000 times. We were ready to stuff them in the overhead by the time we reached Orlando. Johnnie, on the other hand, did not wake up until we were just about to touch down. The lady behind us, mom to the slammers, said..."Oh I wouldnt have even known he was there if I had not walked by your row." Yeah, lady, sorry I can't say the same about your offspring.

The good news....we were landing 25 minutes early. $103 round trip tickets and we are early??? If my luggage shows up, I may just pledge my undying love to Southwest.

We manage to schlep all our junk off the plane and retrieve our stroller. John decides to have mercy on me and carries Johnnie so the CSFH ( yep, car seat from hell) can ride on the stroller. We get to the tram thing and get on. I don't hold on to anything, which is a huge mistake. The thing starts hauling, I almost take a header and the stroller rolls into a woman in front of me. I apologize and she looks mad until she sees the load I am wrestling. She then gives me the "pity smile" and says, "It's okay." As we are about to get off the tram, I see a VERY tall man in a black baseball cap with a pony tail. It's Dee Snider!!!! I point him out to John, but we are behind him and can only catch his profile. John keeps asking if I am sure. Ummmm, yeah.......I was a HUGE Twisted Sister fan pal. We stop for a potty break for John. I digress briefly....my husband is the king of potty breaks. When we drove to Disney twice while I was pregnant, I never needed to stop as much as him.

He comes out of the bathroom and announces that it definitely WAS Dee Snider. They washed their hands at the sinks together. I wipe away a tear of nostalgia and we are off to find Magical Express.

I was shocked that we actually found it as fast as we did. The lady standing at the end of the ropes said I could go to the desk alone and leave John and the caravan on the side. GLADLY. I pull out the carryon to dig out our book and can't find it. I know it is there. I pull the bag apart looking. Then I remember I stuffed it in my pocket so I wouldn't have to pull the bag apart. ME lady is staring at us. John rolls his eyes. So I tell him, "Listen....I warned you to bring your smart wife with you on this trip!" ME lady just stares. Man next to us snickers. Thank you man next to us.

I start walking through the winding ropes and some lady goes under the ropes and cuts me. I silently wish nasty things on her and let it roll off my back. I get in a nice conversation with the woman behind me and some other guys in line. It is over fast, though, this is a quick line. There must have been 20 people in front of me but I am up to the desk within 5 minutes. I get my stamps and again, we are herded to a new area. We find the Boardwalk Villas line and wait. Soon, someone comes and we follow her out to the bus. They load the CSFH and the stroller (which they did not make me fold) under the bus. We climb on board and wait. After what seems like an eternity, the bus starts for Disney, which is farther from the airport than I remember. Or maybe I just wanted to be there so bad. Who knows?? First stop....Boardwalk!! I love this trip already.

We get off the bus and realize it is REALLY HOT. When we left Buffalo it was 50. It is 90 in Orlando. We are melting. We go into the lobby of the Boardwalk. Neither of us have ever been here. It is beautiful. We get in "line" for check in. I put that in quotes since there wasn't one. I just stood next to the sign until someone looked up and waved me over. I checked in and paid for the dining plan. During check-in, the gentleman told me that the room we had been assigned was not ready (it was just before 11 am) but they had another that was ready if we wanted it. He explained it had a somewhat Boardwalk view, overlooking the Village Green. The girl standing with him said "Great view." Who was I to argue?? We will TAKE it. They printed up our cards and we started the caravan toward the elevators. We went up to the 5th floor, found our room, and........it had not been cleaned. LoL. If this room was ready, I would hate to see the one that wasn't. We went to the balcony door, checked out the view, and called housekeeping. The manager offered to move us. Ummmm....no thanks. I told her we were off to Epcot in search of food, so they could have the room to clean it. She apologized over and over, and the housekeeper knocked before I even hung up.

We told the housekeeper thank you and got ready to leave. She asked if we needed the pack and play set up for Johnnie and I asked about a crib. She said she would get one for us. I really love this place.

We loaded Johnnie into the stroller and started the walk to Epcot. What a nice stroll. Other than the fact I was dripping when we got there, it was great. It took me a day or so to get used to the temperature change. We headed to Guest Relations to pick up our will call tickets. The CM who waited on us was new, judging by her training manual sitting next to her. She did a great job and I told her so!!! She thanked me and I went to get searched.

We wandered into World Showcase toward the American Adventure, wondering if they were open. I looked at my cell clock and saw it was 11:45. I could not believe how empty it was. We decided on burgers at the Liberty Inn. They were good. And that is how I followed my gluten free diet all week, BTW. John was dying to shop, so I tortured him by making him go to the Living Seas. We released Johnnie from the stroller and went in. He LOVED it. He was having a blast checking out all the fish. When he seemed like he had enough, we headed back out into the sun. I decided to give in and took John over to Mouse Gear. He didn't buy anything. I was so proud. We had reservations at Cape May at 5:30, so we decided we should head back then and get changed, since we all looked like we had been on a plane.

The walk back seemed alot shorter....as it usually does. We managed to find the elevator (more on this later) and headed up to the room. Very clean AND our suitcases made it. We all changed and washed up and we slathered Johnnie with more sunblock and headed off to the Beach Club. We walked again, and again, it was a very pleasant walk. We checked out SAB as we went by and agreed the slide was definitely cool. We ended up being early and since we were the first seating, we let Johnnie out again and sat on the porch, people watching. When the time came to eat, we headed in and had a great meal. I was a good girl for the most part and followed my diet, but I lost my head and ate a roll and cookies. I paid the next morning. Johnnie was very creative with his dessert and made a mask of brownie and Oreo bon-bon, which he also smeared on his shirt. Did I bring a spare?? Ummm no. Our waiter ended up with a big old extra tip. I think the wait staff likes to see Johnnie come in. They know they are getting extra with the 18% from the DDP because I always feel bad when he makes a mess. I think I paid out more in tips than I paid for my plane ticket.

After the great dinner, we headed back to the BWV to change Johnnie's shirt and pants, which we discovered had brownie on the butt when we took him out of the high chair. Due to his chocolate coating, John decided against carrying him and he was not very interested in getting back in the stroller. He let us know this by stiffening like a board and letting out a screech that may or may not have shattered glass. We voted to let him walk. My little man walked all the way from the Beach Club to the Boardwalk and up to the room. I was amazed, since I needed a rest after walking it. Since we had finished up so early, we decided to try and catch the 9 pm Spectromagic parade at MK. We saddled up again and headed out.

I realized when we were on the bus that I wanted to video the parade, which would have been great if I had brought the camera. Ah well. Maybe next time. We went through security and the turnstiles and Johnnie went crazy over the train. He was so excited, he was bouncing up and down. Add a ride on the train to our agenda for tomorrow. As we headed into Town Square, we decided to grab a spot for the parade and then take turns going for drinks and popcorn. We found a nice one, right by Tony's and staked our claim. I went up to the bakery and bought Johnnie a bottle of juice. This used up about 20 minutes since they had one poor guy working the register and about 500 people in line.

I made my way back to the boys and John made his getaway. He came back with pop for us and a bag of caramel popcorn. Johnnie does not like caramel popcorn. He does, however, like to throw it at us. That is what this trip was about. Getting to know our youngest. Touching, isn't it?

Since I had spent most of the time we had to wait in line at the bakery, the parade seemed to start quickly. Spectro is my favorite. I love the music, the lights, the way my kids get so excited........I am not too crazy about the freaky white-faced people, but I am willing to deal with them. Johnnie loved every minute of the parade, yelling to Mickey, clapping......near the end, though, he was looking like he was done for the day. I admit it....I had tears. I do everytime. I am a sap. But I did manage to hide it from John this time. So I did not have to hear,"Oooo maybe you should scrapbook it." That is how he picks on me when I get teary. But later in the trip...I got to say it to HIM.

After the last float passed, we collected our exhausted little man and hopped back on the bus. Easy trip. Everyone else was staying for wishes, but we were too tired and too unsure of whether the fireworks would send Johnnie to therapy to stay. So off to the room for sleep.

I asked John to set the alarm early so we could check out Magical Beginnings on Sunday morning. We also ordered breakfast from room service to make our lives easier in the morning.

Both of these decisions ended up being a HUGE mistake. But more on that next time when we start Day 2- Why "follow a gluten free diet" MEANS Follow a gluten free diet, and How Much Tylenol costs at WDW.

 

[saschab]

Great trip report! Looking forward to the rest.

 

[MousekaMaddi]

looking forward to tomorrow.