We're touring Disney like a 3 year old (2TRs in 1!)- UPDATE 5/18 pg. 46

LilAnn

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May 18, 2009
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Hi, Hello, Hiya, Howdy and Welcome! :wave:

Welcome to my 2nd attempt at writing a TR that is half as entertaining as the ones that I read and subscribe to. Some of you may have popped over to my very first attempt at Our First Trip as Family of Three from last year.

Or you may have just been curious enough to click on this Trip Report.

Whatever the reason, I am very excited that you have decided to stop by.

Welcome to

We’re on our way to the “Magical Kingdom!”

As I mentioned, this is my second trip report ever, and it actually happened this February (2011). I know it’s quite a bit late to get started, but I wasn’t planning on writing a trip report. However, this has been the longest winter ever and even as I type this, the weather outside is still gloomy and cloudy and cool. Add in the fact that we currently do not have a Disney trip planned on the horizon and I can feel the beginnings of Disney depression setting in. So I’m hoping that reliving our fabulous trip to Disney World will help pass the time away.

So let’s get this show on the road!

Let me start with some basic introductions:

The star of my TRs, our little girl. She has gone three times and is only 3 years old. Lucky girl!

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Here she is at Halloween this past October (it’s a little blurry). As you can tell, she is definitely a Disney gal!

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She wants to be Jessie when she grows up.

Here’s a picture of me and the little munchkin from our May trip last year.

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And here is a photo of my hubby getting ready to dig into our first Ohana meal a few years ago.

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That is when we discovered the joys of eating around Disney.

The plan was for the three of us to fly down to Walt Disney World on February 2, 2011-February 15, 2011. That was the plan anyways……more on that coming up.

We were going to be staying at Port Orleans Riverside for most of the trip and once again taking advantage of Free Dining. With all the different promotions out at that time, we did the math and this was what worked out best for us. There was a bit of hemming and hawing though as I was faced with a decision: 5 days at a deluxe or almost twice as long at a moderate/value resort. We were totally spoiled on previous trips with stays at the Dolpin and Beach Club, but also enjoyed our time at the Pop.

So did I want to try out my dream resort – the Poly or try out a new moderate? Duh – given the chance for a longer vacation? That decision took me about 10 seconds.

I think that’s about it for the basic info. I hope you guys will want to continue to read along. I love having readers and let me know how I’m doing. Feel free to comment away as I have been coming out of my Dis shell.

Here we go! ::MinnieMo

Unexpected addition to the TR.....snippets and a mini-TR of our August 2011 trip to Orlando. I'll be recapping some Disney time as well as some Wizarding World of Harry Potter time! Yes, that's right. We headed over to the dark side for a few days. So basically, this is like a bonus TR - read one, get one free!
 
This page will be saved for Chapter links.....

Yup, gonna try get all fancy and learn some new things with this TR.

Hope it works.....

Getting there
Trying to Escape the Crazy New England Weather

First day
Breakfast with friends (2 posts)
Little Annie meets Big Annie
First ever Dumbo Ride
The Infamous Brazilian Tour Groups
Princesses, teacups and nighttime parades

Second day
Annie gets a new friend
Greetings from the Animal Kingdom
Dining with Princesses (2 posts)
Saying Goodnight to Epcot (2 posts)

The weekend
Our Weekend Outside of the Parks (2 posts)

Fifth Day
Back to the Magical Kingdom
Fairies, haircuts and a superbowl MVP
Flying Fish and Illuminations

Sixth Day
Breakfast with Donald before heading off to Camp
Conservation Station
Leaving AK to explore Orlando

Seventh Day
Our BIG Jessie moment!!!
Jessie video
Bopping around the MK

Eighth Day
The Great Piggy Bank Adventure
Continuing our Adventures Around Epcot
Today’s favorite friend is Minnie Mouse

Ninth Day
He really does smell like strawberries!
The Real Stars of Hollywood Studios – or at least for a 3 year old

Tenth Day
She must have character radar!
Afternoon Follies
Snapshots around the World, complete with flashbacks (2 posts)

Eleventh Day
A moose, Einsteins and Hollywood (2 posts)
WHoop-De-Doo, and another whoops…

Twelth Day
Hey Mickey, you're so fine. You're so fine, you blow my mind. Hey Mickey! (2 posts)
Who needs rides when there are characters that you can meet…again92 posts)
Now it’s time to say good-bye, to all our family…..

Why I bring a toddler to Disney - my quick wrap-up

Our August Trip to the Dark Side with a touch of Disney
The Invitation
The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters
The Hungarian Horntail
The Second Task (2 posts)
Finally back to our happy place!
Rides? Wait, there’s more to Disney than characters?
Magic Kingdom at Night
It's Mickey waffle time
Water Parks and More
Pit Stop at the Airport
In the Wake of a Hurricane lies a Blizzard
It's a Small, Small World
Now it's time to say goodbye

A few of our Favorite Things - the TR wrap-up
 
I'm going to try and follow along. The New England gloominess has got me looking forward to my trip in October.

Your daughter is adorable BTW. I hope you follow through with your TR!
 
I'm going to try and follow along. The New England gloominess has got me looking forward to my trip in October.

Your daughter is adorable BTW. I hope you follow through with your TR!

Thank you! and Yay! A reader! :welcome:

I know what you mean about the gloominess. And coming from New England, you will totally appreciate our "getting to" Disney World adventure.

I will definitely try to get the TR moving along soon, but unfortunately I need to get ready for work now. I managed to keep my first TR going at a reasonable speed, I think. October should be an awesome time to visit. I know a few friends going around that same time.
 

I'm joining in! I followed along with your previous TR (well lurked!:rolleyes1) but am trying to get more involved on the boards.

And coming from England, can completely understand what you mean about cold and gloomy weather! Just looking at lovely pictures of blue skies makes me feel a little happier :)

Your little girl is adorable, looking forward to following along.
 
Well - your little girl is so cute. How can I not join in?!
 
I'm glad you've decided to do a TR :) Your little one is such a cutie :cutie: I can't wait to hear all about your adventures!
 
Count me in too. I do apologize in advance...I live in beautiful Sunny But Hot Florida. About 1 1/2 hours from the magical place. So looking forward to your report. You have a beautiful little girl...:)
 
I'm here!

I followed along on your last one, and can't wait to hear all about this one as well!

Your daughter is absolutely adorable and can't wait to hear more:goodvibes
 
I'm in!

I can't wait to hear about your trip and see all of the adorable pics of your munchkin!

Yay! You made it over! I was going to let you ladies know on your TR once I got my first real entry in, but you beat me to it! I know you got a sneak peek on FB already, but there are some moments that I can't wait to share.
I'm joining in! I followed along with your previous TR (well lurked!:rolleyes1) but am trying to get more involved on the boards.

And coming from England, can completely understand what you mean about cold and gloomy weather! Just looking at lovely pictures of blue skies makes me feel a little happier :)

Your little girl is adorable, looking forward to following along.

Hi! and welcome! :goodvibes I lurked on several TRs as well before I finally made the leap. I have met so many wonderfully nice people here. Thanks for reading!

Well - your little girl is so cute. How can I not join in?!

Aww, thanks! Hope I can keep you somewhat entertained.

I'm glad you've decided to do a TR :) Your little one is such a cutie :cutie: I can't wait to hear all about your adventures!

I went back and forth on the decision for so long and finally decided to do it. Best way to help pass the time between trips, I think. You got here before I had a chance to post it on your TR! ;)
 
looking forward to reading about your trip.. We were there the last week in Feb
:thumbsup2

Hi and thanks for reading! I bet you guys had nicer weather than we did in the beginning of the month. It was really starting to warm up at the end of our trip.

Count me in too. I do apologize in advance...I live in beautiful Sunny But Hot Florida. About 1 1/2 hours from the magical place. So looking forward to your report. You have a beautiful little girl...:)

Thanks for joining in! No need to apologize for living in a nice, warm climate. I would be there in a heartbeat if I could convince my hubby to move. and thanks, I think she's cute, too!;)

popcorn:: joining in popcorn::

hi and :welcome:

I'm here!

I followed along on your last one, and can't wait to hear all about this one as well!

Your daughter is absolutely adorable and can't wait to hear more:goodvibes

:wave: thanks for coming back to read this one! It's a toss up between which trip we enjoyed more. The weather was definitely warmer in May.

Beautiful family! I can't wait to hear about your adventure. :)

Thank you! I can't wait to get started telling everyone about it.

Signing up! What a precious little cowgirl you have!:goodvibes

Thank you and :wave: Jessie has definitely stolen her heart, and it all started with our May trip last year. :wizard::wizard:

Wow, its awesome. I also want to join this.

:welcome: and thanks for joining in!
 
(sorry for the lack of photos in this update, but you will soon understand why)

So for any of you folks in New England, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that this was definitely one awful winter. I’m not even exaggerating when I say that we had snow on our lawn from December – April. ALL the time. And when I tell you that we had snow, I mean it. In January, we would get walloped with a foot of snow every couple of days. February could not come fast enough.

At least someone found the joy in the falling snow while others shoveled around her.

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Sigh, catching snowflakes on your tongue? The simple joys of being a child.

So, while someone was busy catching all the snowflakes that came down from the sky, we got the news that we had been dreading since the day we booked our vacation for February. Snow was in the forecast for our departure day. Not just a little bit of snow, and not just one storm, but a TRIO of massive snowstorms were poised to arrive on Tuesday, February 1. And our flight was scheduled to depart in the afternoon on February 2. Fantastic timing.

Snowmageddon. Snowpocalpse. I didn’t care what they were calling it. I wanted out of New England!

Of course we started stalking the Jet Blue website, awaiting the bulletin of cancelled flights. Luckily, they were waiving all the fees during this time. Unluckily, the flights were booking up like crazy and when we finally lucked out with earlier flights out, they would just then get cancelled. I think we changed our flight three times in 24 hours. We knew we had to get out of here before the storms hit otherwise we would NEVER make it out (we would be lucky if we could make it to Orlando by the weekend). We were also stalking the weather forecasts. My hubby kept asking me how early I was willing to leave and if I could get out of work Monday night (negative).

So to sum up the rest of our traveling woes (because I could go on forever)…..what did we end up doing with the storms looming up on the horizon?

I skipped out of work 2 hours early Tuesday morning (I work overnights) so that I was home by 6am. I showered and got everything all packed and we picked up a rental car at 8am and were on the road by 8:30am as HUGE snowflakes fell from the sky. The roads quickly became a mess and we weren't driving our SUVs, but a teeny tiny rental car. We were doing some improvising and decided to road trip it away from the storms and try to catch a flight to Florida in a slightly warmer area.

Our new plan: to drive down to a new destination and take a flight out the next day to Orlando. Lucky for us, this new plan meant an unexpected visit to my parent’s house. Yup, we were roadtripping our way down to

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Washington DC and leaving from Washington Dulles the next day. According to the weather radar, the snow was only in the New England area and the same storm system would only be spitting out rain in Virginia. During our drive, the snow changed to rain and then cleared up by the time we hit Virginia. And the temperatures warmed up to a balmy 50 degrees. The best part of all this (other than seeing my parents) was that after all of that madness and traveling, we would be arriving in Orlando on the same day as planned, just a few hours later. I just had to change around some of our ADRs.

I hope that wasn’t too confusing, but I wanted to get the traveling adventure out of the way. Because then we are in Disney! But seriously, I think I will not be taking any more trips in the middle of winter. Way too stressful for me.

 
Hiya Ann :wave2: I'm here!! So glad you decided to write this TR!

Yuck, I didn't realize getting out of town for this trip turned out to be such an adventure for you - stupid snow. :sad2: Glad you made it though!
 
Ugh what awful news that must have been with all those canceled flights, but yay for finding one out of a different area.

I love the photo of your munchkin catching snowflakes...too cute!
 







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