floydfamily4
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2009
- Messages
- 701
Hi all. I have been wanting to share our trip report with everyone but just couldn't get it together. Well, I have figured out how to share pictures and I think I am ready. I want to thank all the Dis'ers who helped with our planning because without you I don't know if we would have had the fabulous time we did. The title comes from so many people saying "you really had that good of a time?" and me responding with "yes, it really was that good!". So, here we go. I hope someone reads along.
The cast of characters:
Its me, Dawn who planned everything with great excitement and joy. I haven't been to WDW in 8 years and while it was nice it was nothing compared to this trip. Then its DH, Jeff who likes WDW but is not a fanatic by any stretch. He was excited to bring our kids but tried to hide his own excitement for the trip. The twins, Jocelyn and Jeffery, turned 5 on Thanksgiving and love Disney things. They also really love staying in a hotel for any reason. My MIL and Daunt were also scheduled to join us. Unfortunately there were some unforeseen issues that kept them in TX. Our dates: November 14-22nd. We stayed at Windsor Hills Resort in a 3 bedroom/3 bath townhouse for the first week and 1 night at Pop Century. We rented a mini-van and had several ADR's for meals out of pocket. OK, I think that is it for the starting details. [/SIZE]
Here is a picture of the family:
Continued in next post
The cast of characters:
Its me, Dawn who planned everything with great excitement and joy. I haven't been to WDW in 8 years and while it was nice it was nothing compared to this trip. Then its DH, Jeff who likes WDW but is not a fanatic by any stretch. He was excited to bring our kids but tried to hide his own excitement for the trip. The twins, Jocelyn and Jeffery, turned 5 on Thanksgiving and love Disney things. They also really love staying in a hotel for any reason. My MIL and Daunt were also scheduled to join us. Unfortunately there were some unforeseen issues that kept them in TX. Our dates: November 14-22nd. We stayed at Windsor Hills Resort in a 3 bedroom/3 bath townhouse for the first week and 1 night at Pop Century. We rented a mini-van and had several ADR's for meals out of pocket. OK, I think that is it for the starting details. [/SIZE]
Here is a picture of the family:
Continued in next post
My MIL and Aunt were scheduled to travel with us but had an event come up for Sunday they didn’t want to miss. I figured having them come down on Monday morning would actually be good because it would give us a couple of days to enjoy each other as a family unit. I was looking forward to them coming though as it is always nice to have my MIL around and I knew she would create lasting memories with my kids. So, we put ourselves on the list for the 9:55am flight that would take us through Birmingham and hopefully into MCO by 3:15pm. Since our kids are younger we knew we would board with the family boarding group and still be able to sit together as long as there were seats and we got a boarding pass. Sure enough there were plenty of open seats 
and we were able to get our passes and get boarded. My daughter announced that she wanted to “sit near daddy” (this will be a reoccurring theme throughout our trip) which was fine with me. I gladly sat across from them and let DH manage the activity bags and snacks. It was on the plane that he finally took a look at the planning binder. His interest came when he started asking questions. First it was “so do you know which parks we are going to every day?” “Do you have a budget for everyday or just a total budget?” At some point I asked did he was to see “the binder”? As a former event planner he was pretty excited that I had a binder for our trip and once he reviewed it he was pretty impressed. When I pulled out the labeled Disney activity bags for the kids he looked at me and said “OK, now you’re just showing off!” I just laughed. Flights were pretty uneventful and we made it to MCO a few minutes ahead of schedule. 
. He seemed genuinely surprised and impressed! I love when that happens!
). Going down 192 we found a Golden Corral and decided that a buffet with food ready to be eaten was a good way to start. After the lovely dinner we headed out to Walmart for our weeks' supplies. Surprisingly we made it out of Walmart under budget with plenty of breakfast food, snacks, household supplies, etc. for the week. Back to the townhouse and unpacking. I had us unpacked and ready for bed in short order while the kids watched a movie (supplied by the owner) on their flat screen in their room. DH watched some sports and I listed to music. It was really good to have so much space. 
We had an early meeting with the princesses so after letting everyone unwind we had to call it a night. After rearranging a couple of nightlights, prayers, and tickles the kids were out for the night. I thought I would have a hard time going to bed but since I was working on 3 hours of sleep I went down pretty easy. Below are some pics from the townhouse.
After parking the stroller my DH tells me that the stroller had already paid for itself! We were part of a stroller swap which allowed us to use a double jogging stroller for the week for only $20. It was the best piece of planning I did all trip – well maybe not the best but pretty darn good. 
There were lots of families gathered around the podium waiting to be called in for breakfast. I took a quick run next door to pick up an autograph book (had great intentions of making one from scratch but didn’t happen) and we were ready. My son gets a little “coo coo for cocoa puffs” when he’s hungry so I was hoping we wouldn’t have to wait too long. We were finally called and went to stand in the line to take our picture with Belle. My daughter was kind of distracted and not really in the mood and then...She looked ahead and with the brightest eyes, grabbed my hand and said in her most excited and serious voice “Mommy there’s a princess in there!” That was it. 
I was sold and was completely OK with the ridiculous amount of money our breakfast would cost. My daughter was meeting the princesses and she was over the moon! So, picture with Belle and off to our table. 
You have beautiful children. Last Nov. my family and I went to the Princess breakfast in Norway and I liked it. The Princesses all came around in a timely fashion and did not seem rushed. The food was good too, I loved the potatoes
I was also disappointed because I wanted to spend time with her as well. And honestly I made planning decisions like the size of the townhouse and van versus car, based on the additional adults. Well, things happen and we were definitely reminded that all things work together for our good so it ended up being great. OK, so back to Epcot. We were hungry and needed to find dinner quickly. I thought my DH would enjoy Morocco and I took the kids to America. I should have followed my first thought and got fish and chips from the UK.
Anyway, we ate and hung out and just let the kids play and run a bit while figuring out where to go for viewing Illuminations. 
