The Hamstring of Sadness Will Not Defeat the Magic!A TR of sacrificial joy! NEW 9/13!

[SusieBea]

I'm hooked!

 

[Nairnyn]

I am enjoying your detailed trip report!

It's too bad that your mom got hurt....that had to be hard. But so awesome that everything worked out (at least, as far as we know so far!!) so seamlessly!!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[shannn]

We have a video of him literally running laps and screaming “I am going to Disney World!”

This is freaking adorable!!!

MeMee was still in her pajamas. MeMee couldn't walk good. MeMee had been telling him for months that she was going to go to Disney with us. He asked her if she was going and she explained no with no tears and lots of encouragement that it was ok because Aunt Emily was going in her place!

Seriously, I have tears in my eyes! So sweet -- your mom is awesome!

 

[tinkgurl]

I'm in! Going back to get caught up! E is adorable!

 

[BOG Obsessed]

Joining in
Best parents EVER, surprising your son with a trip to DW.

 

[mcconnellfam96]

Looking forward to future installments! Glad to hear that your mom will be back at the world in a few short months!!

 

[davale4]

Thank you! We think he is pretty cute, minus those occasional temper tantrums lol!

I am sorry it is so hard to travel with your son. My son avoids dairy, almond, strawberries and all artificial food coloring. The dairy and and food coloring really cuts out most kid-type foods but thankfully, he was so young when we started feeding him this way that he doesn't mind too much. I can't imagine how hard it must be for your son! That is a hard combo to work with. I have a long list but the ones that are hardest to avoid are soy, dairy, peanut, wheat/gluten, egg, tomato, garlic and flax seed. Flax isn't really in that many mainstream foods, but it is in so many of the "allergy friendly" alternatives. I also have a lot of fruits and vegetables I can't have. I thought I would starve when I was first diagnosed 2 years ago but thankfully, I have adapted and it is worth feeling better. However, traveling anywhere but Disney is such a task and even at Disney, I still hate how time consuming dealing with my diet can be. But, I am so thankful that they are willing!

Thanks for reading along. I have wanted to a TR before but always wondered if anyone would really want to read it!

Disney is the best to vacation with my DS. We also did a Fantasy cruise and they were awesome with his diet needs. The problem is that now that he's getting older, he is more aware and wants to eat what his sister is eating as well.

Your allergies are way more complicated than my DS. But I guess it's like you say, after we adapt it gets a little easier. At first, I didn't even know how I was going to do with my son as we are very busy all the time, but you develop a system and go with it.

The picture with your mom and son is awesome!!! We go every year and we always surprise the kids too. They know we are going, just not when. I asked My DD this year if she rather know ahead of time to be part of the planning and she said NO. She loves being surprised to the very last minute.

Looking forward to hearing more. Love trip reports!

 

[theycomefromallover]

Love this Trip Report! Full Disclosure: I am her DH!

 

[stackyallred]

I'm hooked!

My plan worked! Thanks for reading along!

I am enjoying your detailed trip report!

It's too bad that your mom got hurt....that had to be hard. But so awesome that everything worked out (at least, as far as we know so far!!) so seamlessly!!

Can't wait to read more!

We were so sad and I won't spoil any future installments but I will tell you that the worst was definitely over after that! I am glad you have joined in!

This is freaking adorable!!!



Seriously, I have tears in my eyes! So sweet -- your mom is awesome!

Thank you, I think she is pretty awesome, too! She would probably kill me if she knew I was getting her all of these compliments and sympathy on here!

I'm in! Going back to get caught up! E is adorable!

Yay, welcome! And thank you about E. We think so but I am pretty sure all parents think that and then when you put them in Disney attire, it just boosts the cuteness right over the top!

Joining in
Best parents EVER, surprising your son with a trip to DW.

Thankfully we love it as much (dare I say more??? Nah... lol) as he does! I hope he feels this way in 8+ years!

Looking forward to future installments! Glad to hear that your mom will be back at the world in a few short months!!

Us, too! We can't wait and we plan to wrap her in bubble wrap the whole month leading up to it!

Disney is the best to vacation with my DS. We also did a Fantasy cruise and they were awesome with his diet needs. The problem is that now that he's getting older, he is more aware and wants to eat what his sister is eating as well.

Your allergies are way more complicated than my DS. But I guess it's like you say, after we adapt it gets a little easier. At first, I didn't even know how I was going to do with my son as we are very busy all the time, but you develop a system and go with it.

The picture with your mom and son is awesome!!! We go every year and we always surprise the kids too. They know we are going, just not when. I asked My DD this year if she rather know ahead of time to be part of the planning and she said NO. She loves being surprised to the very last minute.

Looking forward to hearing more. Love trip reports!

That is so cute that your daughter still loves the surprise aspect even though she has the chance to know!

E is an only child (as I am sure you could tell lol) so thankfully we don't have the issues of him seeing a sibling with a different diet. That must be SO hard! He has friends that eat differently of course, but that hasn't caused too many issues as long as I provide something similar to what they eat but that can be tiring for all the birthday parties, etc. I know a time is coming when he will challenge us more on it but I am actually amazed at how go with the flow he is so far.

That is great how the Fantasy was able to accommodate your DS! We strongly considered a cruise this year but I am still just way too hesitant with my long list. I haven't completely crossed it off our to do list so I may be tracking you down in the future for advice!

Love this Trip Report! Full Disclosure: I am her DH!

I sure hope you love it since you are one of the "stars."

 

[stackyallred]

5: The Happiest Kind of Travel There Is!
Travel Day, Part 1: Monday, September 9​

I have a confession to make... I had no plans of making a trip report when we left for this trip. Therefore, there are probably going to be some (hopefully just minor!) holes in our story because I didn't take notes or purposely photograph with a TR in mind. The good news is that I have pretty darn good memory so I hope you will be forgiving where my lack of planning + the 8 months that have passed since then collide!

We made it to the airport in record time and had no problems with security. I always get a little nervous getting my food through TSA because you never know when one agent will decide that my food isn't deemed necessary but so far, no issues! Once through security, we found our gate and did the whole, “bathroom break, coffee for those who can have it, water for those who can't, entertain E” pre-flight routine that we have down pat by now. I usually bring painter's tape to create a track for his little cars.



And of course granola bars always result in a few moments of sitting still...



Stealing a hug from a little E who couldn't stand still (for good reason!)...



And then it was time to board the plane! We had “A” boarding passes so we were able to find four seats together easily and get settled in. Emily on one side of the aisle with the rest of us on the other. We have some pretty funny video of E singing a song he made up about going to Pop Century while we were waiting to take off. It will be in the trip video that Philip is currently working on!

Ok, so here is a little tid-bit that I have left out until now (not purposely it just hadn't crossed my mind!). I work for a photographer and she agreed to let me borrow one of her older cameras for our trip. I had been planning for a while to turn E's nursery into a big boy room themed as a Disney World room. The plan was to not only capture photos of our trip but also really nice, high quality photos of Disney World itself for me to frame for his new room. However, we ran out of time for her to really show me how to use the lens I had rented for it AND I had a back/hip injury that was bothering me, making it hard for me to carry any extra weight on my back. Therefore, I only carried it the first full day of our trip and then again at the end one night with Philip and I were alone. I know... bad mommy and bad trip reporter. We just relied on our iPhones but in some of the pictures I took with the nice camera, some faces are blurry because I hadn't mastered the focus (thankfully I am not the photographer in the business I work for lol! ) We did get some nice shots with it and I am working on my skills and a better camera match for me for our next trip!

An example of us not getting the focus down (I have no excuse for E's face though!).


Soon, Philip looked like this while E concentrated on his bubble wrap.


Our flight took about two hours and as we landed, E yelled for all to hear, “Welcome to Disney World, everybody!” I love that to him, Disney World just begins the second we land thanks to Magical Express! Once in Orlando's airport, I always look around at the families who have obviously just been at WDW and are waiting to fly home. I have a little “Awww, that's sad !” moment in my head and then reject any kind of reality that will be us in 12 days! Because for now, WE ARE JUST BEGINNING!

On our way to Magical Express and the coveted “Disney Bubble” we will envelope ourselves in for the next 12 days (notice how Emily, the awesome sister-in-law that she is to me, insisted on carrying and pulling all mine and her carry-on stuff because she wanted me to be able to keep up with E and not miss any of his reactions. She's awesome!)


It was at this point that we were wondering how well this whole situation with changing everything from my mom's name to Emily's name really would play out. Had it all really been changed??? Philip and Emily went to the DME desk and I took E to the bathroom and to run off some steam, expecting it to take a while. But when we came out of the bathroom, they were waiting on us! SUCCESS! First name change scenario was easy and had been noted so we hoped that meant more similar situations to come!

We had no wait at all in the line and waited only maybe 3 or 4 minutes once we got on the bus. It wasn't even 10 AM and we were on our way!

E had his eyes peeled for anything that might mean we were there.


He got mildly excited when we passed under “THE SIGN” but he knew (I had warned him) that even after we saw the sign, we would have to wait for other passengers to unload at their resort.

“We're going under the sign, Mommy!”


But when he saw this,


And knew were were truly “there”, his excitement hit an all time high!


That is one excited kid!

We got off the bus, collected our rolling carry-on luggage from the under carriage and E and I planned to hang out while Philip and Emily went to check us in. Would everything else on Emily's reservation go as lovely as her Magical Express reservation had? Would I be able to keep up with E's boundless energy and excitement while we waited? Would Philip be able to stop marveling at how cool the Magic Bands were once we tried them out?

Stay tuned to find out!

 

[theycomefromallover]

The video is coming along and spolier alert, no I will never stop marveling at the magic bands!

 

[coloredimage]

Following along - E is absolutely adorable! That expression on his face when he sees the Pop Century bus needs to be a Disney ad - it's too perfect!

 

[stackyallred]

Following along - E is absolutely adorable! That expression on his face when he sees the Pop Century bus needs to be a Disney ad - it's too perfect!

Welcome! Thank you, I couldn't believe I actually caught that expression since he wouldn't sit still! He has no problem expressing himself as I am sure you can tell!

 

[tinkgurl]

Awe I just love his excitement! I pretty much feel that same way every time we arrive too!

I cannot wait to take my son there and see all his reactions!

 

[stackyallred]

Awe I just love his excitement! I pretty much feel that same way every time we arrive too!

I cannot wait to take my son there and see all his reactions!

Haha, I feel that way too! I just don't have anyone constantly taking pictures of me to prove it!

Seeing your kids loving Disney is such a fun experience, especially for those of us who loved it long before they came along!

 

[stackyallred]

6: Checking in... We hope!
Travel Day: Monday, September 9 (continued)
​

​

When we left off, Philip and Emily were headed inside to check-in. Knowing it could take a while with Emily's reservation changes, E and I hung out at the kid's activities in front of POP. He was having tons of fun and we hadn't even entered our resort yet!

A little beanbag toss.


Oversized legos never get old!


Trying to hula hoop for the first time.


This chalkboard was obviously way more fun than the same one we have at home!


After E had made his rounds through the outdoor activities, we took a stroll though the check-in area. I could see that Philip and Emily looked to be in some serious conversations with several cast members. I wasn't sure what that meant but upon closer inspection, no one looked aggravated or confused so I hoped that the number of cast members helping them just meant they were figuring it all out! Meanwhile, E looked at the decade shadowboxes and made our way over to the Everything POP gift shop.



We looked at lots of toys and he charmed a few CMs into giving him some Mickey stickers.



By this time, Emily and Philip had been at the check-in desk for at least 30 minutes. I was really wanting to know the status of the situation but I knew it'd be better to just keep E occupied than for me to go start asking questions. So E and I walked over to the food court and got ourselves some apple slices. Just as we sat down to enjoy our snack, Emily and Philip joined us with smiles on faces and magic bands on wrists! There were a few holdups because the CMs needed to make sure everything had indeed transferred over but everything went pretty smoothly. YAY! Can I just say again how awesome Disney was with getting all of that worked out in less than 48 hours?!? E and I went ahead and put on our magic bands. We had practiced with E's magic band at home so that he would be used to it and understand that he had to hold it up to get into rides, etc. He started calling them “power bands” and would yell, “Power up!” as he punched his arm out. So, as soon as we all got them on, we had to yell a celebratory “POWER UP!” before we headed to our rooms.



We found our rooms in the 80's section and were happy that our request of a quiet, 4th floor, connecting room was exactly what we were given! Once we checked out the rooms and felt they were going to be a great home for the next week, Philip, Emily and E went to go get some lunch back at the food court and I went to work unpacking and organizing and receiving the delivered bed rails and medical fridge. Philip brought me back lunch when they returned and E took his nap while I chowed down (Yay, allergy free food I didn't have to cook myself! The chefs at POP are always great with my list!). Things were going right on schedule and I was getting super excited... when E woke, we were headed to one of my very favorite places in the world!

 

[MonsterWDWmom]

I hope your still writing I can't wait to read more!!

 

[mcconnellfam96]

Yes, would so love o see some additional installments of your TR!

 

[stackyallred]

7: My Own Little Dessert Heaven
Arrival Day: Monday, September 9 (continued)​

Anyone still out there?!?! Let's just say that this TR has been closed for refurbishment... in other words, LIFE happened! Things got busy as they often do but I have 9 days before our next trip and I REALLY don't want to completely abandon this report! So if anyone is interested, I am going to try and wrap this up in the next week. If no one joins in, then, well... I am doing it for me so I have it documented!

And by the way, we have our video from the trip done so I will post it soon!

Alright... back to the trip!

As I said before, E had woken up from his nap and we were headed to my VERY favorite place in all of Disney World! Downtown Disney! Now you may think that is an odd favorite with all there is to do in WDW but you see, there is the allergy friendly magical place called Babycakes (or at least there was... I am so sad it is closed now!) and I can eat about 95% of their baked goodies! I can't tell you how awesome this is for someone like me who is allergic to 85% of what is used in typical cooking and baking. So, off we went to DTD!

We stopped in at Earl of Sandwich and got dinner. Sorry, I guess we forgot to take pictures! Everyone had a full meal and I had... deli ham and bacon. Yep, that is it. No bread, not lettuce, no condiments! There just isn't anything else they can assure is safe for me. I didn't mind though, because 1. Bacon = happiness and 2. Babycakes was coming!

After dinner, we made the short walk to Babycakes so I could stock up. Often, there are no desserts safe for me at the counter and table service restaurants. This wouldn't bother me so much because I basically avoid sugar at all costs in my every day diet. But since we are on the dining plan and it IS vacation, everyone else gets dessert. So my solution is to always carry a Babycakes goodie with me so I am not left out.

Enjoying my first cupcake of vacation!


E is dairy, food dye, strawberry and almond free so these are a rare treat for him, too!


And a little family pic while enjoying our rare sugar buzz... (maybe that explains E's face?!)


I really don't know have an explanation as to why I don't have more pics of my bounty of treats. I guess I was too excited! Anywho, we were stuffed and ready to move on. E was BEGGING to ride rides and couldn't seem to understand the whole “we can't until tomorrow because we don't want to waste a whole day's ticket for just two hours” concept so what is a tired but excited boy to do?! The DTD Carousel to the rescue!

A nice way to tie him over until morning!


It was getting late and my 3 hours of sleep the night before weren't exactly sticking with me. We headed to the bus and found time to take one more silly pic.



Our bus arrived right away and E quickly began to feel the lull of the Disney busses after a long day.

(You can see just how well I stocked up at Babycakes- the white bag is FULL of treats!)


We made it back to POP and soon E and Philip were showered and fast asleep in their room. Emily and I ran down to Everything POP for a few things we still needed for the next day and then we finally got to bed around 11. It was a LONG but good day and we had so much to look forward to the next morning! Where were we headed first? Would our magic bands continue to play nice? Tune in tomorrow and find out!

 

[stackyallred]

I hope your still writing I can't wait to read more!!

Yes, would so love o see some additional installments of your TR!

You both inspired me to keep going! I have thought about it often but our jobs keep us extra busy in the summer. Add that to all the planning we have been doing for our TWO banana upcoming trips over the next 2 months and it just fell down the list of priorities. But now I am determined! I need to finish this one so I can be ready for our next TR! Thanks for pushing me lol!