So let me start this off by saying that I am completely head-over-heels gone in love with Disney World at this point.
The sights, the people, the beautiful and amazing surroundings, the happy kids, the old memories flooding back… seeing grown men tear-up over fireworks, making connections with people from all over the world, the customer service. It is truly the Most Magical Place on Earth and I AM SOLD!!! Worth every penny. So now that I have that out of the way- on with the trip report:
The Cast:
Me- Jackie, 27. Mom, Disney World fanatic. My family used to go down to DW atleast once a year when I was a kid, but stopped when my parents split up in 1998. As an adult I have now been on 3 trips. One in March 2006, with just the BF and me. One in October 2009, my daughter’s first trip! And now this past January.
DH- Big Brandon, 25. Dad, Grump, Maintenance Man. This was his third trip to the World. He keeps saying he’s not going back, but then he’ll say stuff like “Next time we have to…” so he’ll be back.
DD- Brielle, 2. This trip was to celebrate her second birthday! She is my little Princess. She is all girl, all GO, and all attitude. She had a blast.
DSS- Little Brandon, 6 going on 13. This was Brandon’s first trip to DW. Let’s just say he had a hard time adjusting to the Magic. This was the longest he’s ever been away from his mom and he missed her and his Xbox a great deal. He’s a sweet boy and I’m so glad that we were able to share this trip with him.
So now you’ve met us. We may sound like a pretty tame bunch, but for anyone who was at Disney that week- you know we are anything but!
So we were planning on leaving Saturday morning- January 9th- around 4 or 5 AM. We were sitting around Friday night. We had eaten our pizza, watched our movie, packed the car… we were all just kinda sitting around staring at each other. We realized we weren’t going to go to sleep and we had a 15 hour drive ahead of us. So at around midnight we decided we’d leave early! So after hopping in the shower, a quick gas and coffee stop- we were on the road at about 1:30.
I was really nervous about taking such a long road trip with 2 and 6 year olds- but I honestly have no complaints.
I filled up a basket of toys, a big ole bag of snacks, and put some Disney DVD’s on and the trip went very smoothly. Brandon and I switched off driving every few hours and we pulled it off! We stopped in Valdosta around 5:30 PM- 15 hours from home, 3.5 hours from DW. We stayed at a Days Inn just off of 75. It was a really gross place. I would not stay there again and I would not recommend it to anyone. If the room had not been paid for in advance, and had I not been absolutely exhausted- we would have switched.
The only good thing was that it was close to a Burger King with a Playplace- and thats not that "good" of a thing.
I woke up at 5 AM on Sunday morning. I am not normally a morning person- I’m not normally a walking person, a dancing person, a talk to strangers person- but Disney makes me into a different person. I guess I’m a kid again! So even though I am this way, not everyone shares my enthusiasm…ahem.. Big Brandon. We did not end up hitting the road until just before 8. Which is actually fine, because I hadn’t originally planned on leaving until 8:30- but that was assuming we got to Valdosta much later than we actually did. Oh well. We arrived at Port Orleans Riverside at about 11:15 AM. Our room was ready and we had a room in my requested building 14!! Room 1424 to be exact. Perfection so far, right?
We unpacked the car which is such a PAIN. I packed waaaay too much. And unpacking was a challenge. While I unpacked, Big Brandon got in the shower and the kids decorated the room with wall stickers that I had gotten at the Dollar Store. The wall decals were a big hit and I will do this again. It was a good way to get the kids out of my face so I could get everything put away too!
So we headed to DHS. I wanted to start here because I thought Little Brandon would like RnR and TSM. Big Brandon is also a thrill ride guy. We had never seen F! so I scored us some F! Package ADR’s for 3:30 at H&V. I THOUGHT this all would work out perfectly.
It was soooo cold. I’m like uhhh SUNSHINE state my foot!!! It was low thirties that day, I believe. We were freezing and we are from Northern Indiana, atleast at home there was snow and the cold had a purpose! (To keep the snow cold, duh.
) So we made it to a frosty DHS at around 1:30. The boys headed down Sunset to see what was going on with ToT and RnR. The marathon had been that morning and there was a bit of a crowd. Not bad. I can’t complain about wait times at all. The only time that could even be described as mildly busy was the Friday before we left- the Friday before MLK weekend and it was only busy late morning/ mid-afternoon at MK.
Brie and I went over to see if by some miracle there were Fastpasses for TSM left. No luck and an 80 minute wait. If I’m waiting in a line with Brie, I give myself a 20 minute wait maximum. (God Bless those of you who go during peak times!!) We went to see the Muppet Vision show. I hadn’t seen it in 12 years atleast. It was, ya know, Muppetty. I’m glad I went to see it again. I have a feeling it won’t be there forever. We met back up with the boys by the hat and saw the Jump Shake Move it Parade going on. Little Brandon is a shy little guy and when the announcer called the kids out to groove in the street he wasn’t into it. I didn’t think my 2 year old should really be out there by herself, plus she had made friends with a cast member kneeling by the curb and was kneeling with her. (awww…) But then I noticed there were kids out there that were the same age if not younger than Brie down the way and they were doing just fine so I told her she could go dance if she wanted. Of course she ran her happy little booty right out there! So she’s dancing and having fun, I’m fumbling for my camera (DOH!), and I look up and what is my curious little monkey doing?? CLIMBING UP THE LADDER OF THE PARADE FLOAT!! Yes, my 2 days shy of Terrible 2 year old wanted to run away and join a Disney Parade. (I don’t blame her one bit.) I did manage to snap a photo before dad went to retrieve her. I can’t wait to tell her the story over and over when she gets older. I probably should have been mortified and horribly embarrassed, but it was truly hilarious and the Cast Member’s really seemed to get a kick out of it- as did the people around us.
At this point we were hungry and an hour away from our scheduled ADR time. We were also cold. We thought that we could get away with only wearing our hoodies. Also I had made the mistake of planning a trip at the beginning of NFL Playoffs. What was I thinking?!?! Brandon was not going to miss his precious Packers play no matter what. So we walked over to the podium at H&V and cancelled our ressie. We headed over to the Backlot Express and had cheeseburgers and hot dogs. Like I said it was somewhat crowded and we couldn’t find a seat. We ended up eating outside, which made it a quick meal. BRRR. The food was ehhhh. So with the first day’s plans scrapped, we headed out of DHS and back to POR. We never did catch Fantasmic!
Well, that magic car ride always seems to put Brie to sleep in 3 minutes flat. So dad and her went back to the room so he could watch football (the Packers lost) and she could watch the backs of her eyelids while Little Brandon and I went to check out the Magic Kingdom! I’m so glad we did because this was the last day that the Christmas lights were on the Castle and the rest of our trip would have a crane in the background. I was surprised at how many Christmas decorations were still up- I was glad I got to see them but I know the neighbors must think Mickey is white trash. LOL. Despite it being EMH night that evening it wasn’t very busy. After snapping some photos on Main Street we headed over to Tomorrowland… ahhhh… I took a deep breath. Yes, this is Disney. DHS is great and I love it there, but Epcot and MK are what make me LOVE DW. We hopped on Stitch with no wait. Little Brandon and Stitch are kindred spirits. Then we did Buzz- a first for me. Rode the carousel. Flew with Dumbo. Found out its just a Small World after all. And took a ride on a wild rail road- BTMRR. At this point people were staking out spots for Wishes, but we decided to head back to the hotel to meet Brie and Daddy for dinner. We had pizza in the food court before checking out the arcade and the playground. People were crazy enough to be swimming- think Polar Bear Club- and so we took a picture of us in our coats, hats, and gloves with the pool and “Polar Bears” in the background.
We were all pretty beat (Dad was also upset about the Packers’ loss) and headed to the room to go to bed. What did the rest of the week have in store for us?
OUR almost PERFECT VACAY- Day 1
Linear Mode
