buzznwoodysmom
02-26-2013, 12:59 PM
This was a Birthday trip for my oldest son, turned 13 in Disney! My kids were off of school for Mardi Gras, but we aren't huge Mardi Gras fans so off to Disney we went to celebrate "MIckey Gras" instead.
We traveled with my SIL and her family of 5 and my Mother in law and Father in law. We had a few friends and other family in Disney at the same time. We had a few meals with some, ran into others, and didn't even see some.
Checked kids out of school around noon and started our drive earlier than we had planned. Always great when that happens. We had a very easy drive and before midnight we realized we were much closer than we thought we'd get, and DH and I were wide awake so we continued driving. At first the plan was to make it to Disney and surprise the kids, who were both sleeping in the back. Some where along the way we thought "how fun would it be to walk on a beach in the morning". It's been a few years since we've been to the beach so we ended up at a Hilton on the beach in Clearwater Beach, Florida for the night. The kids had no clue till we woke up and went outside the next morning.
We had a good sleep and a wonderful morning walking the beach, running in the surf, and collecting sea shells. The beach just does something wonderful to the soul! The kids ran and played for a while, then we gathered up our stuff, checked out, and went a few blocks down for breakfast. We had breakfast at a nice little open air cafe right by the beach. We had fresh fruit, and crab and lobster eggs benedict, with the freshest orange juice ever! What a way to start vacation!
The drive to Disney was easy and in no time at all we had our tickets from Shades of Green and were checking in at Wilderness Lodge. There is nothing like walking into that lodge to check in at the beginning of a trip. Our room wasn't ready so we grabbed the beach bag, got the kids swim suits, and headed to the pool.
We spent the remainder of the day at the pool with pina colavas, and the most gorgeous weather you could ask for. Vacation just hasn't begun until I have a pina colava in hand at the resort pool! LOL.
Our room was ready around 3. We had a wonderful location, just what we asked for. We were overlooking the lobby on the 4th floor, just a few doors down from "our living room" on the 4th floor. Perfect location for us. We loved the new bedding, curtains, and flooring in the rooms. And the bathroom was very nice as well. The room felt much brighter and cleaner than before. There was also new furniture in the lobby, and "our living room". The lobby furniture was nice, but the new furniture in "our living room" was no where near as comfortable as what was there before. DH even went talk to them about what they did with the old furniture. He wanted to buy it and take it home with us. LOL. The kids played in the arcade, and we took some time to walk around our beloved lodge until it was time to head out for church.
After church we drove straight to the Poly for our traditional first night dinner at Ohana's. This just never gets old for us. We had 4 first time Disney visitors with us and they were blown away by Ohana's.
My father in law has never really had an interest in going to WDW. He only agreed to come because we kept asking him and my mother in law, who has been twice before, loves it and really wanted him to join her this time. I'll just say right here that apparently Disney still has a good bit of magic left because my FIL is still talking about the place, and is more than willing to go back with us in a few years. The other newbies have stated several times since the trip that they now understand why we keep going back and they too look forward to return trips.
Anyway, back to the trip. Ohana's was great as always. Everything was yummy and Collin got his first birthday cupcake of the trip. There were a few menu changes, but we felt the changes were all better than what was in place before.
After dinner the rest of our group left to head back to their resort. I called my friend who was staying at the Poly and we met to visit with them in the lobby for a bit. This was her first time staying at the Poly and she fell in love with it. She says it will be very difficult to stay anywhere else from now on. Also my friend's sister is doing the college program right now and is loving it. She told us that she has no plans to return home to Louisiana when her CP is over. She plans to stay in Flordia, so my friend now has a good reason to go back more often! It was so good seeing her and her family in WDW. We worked together over 10 years ago and still keep in touch weekly, but it's been over a year since I've actually seen her in person.
Back at WL we turned in for the night as soon as we walked through the doors! Tomorrow is MK!
We traveled with my SIL and her family of 5 and my Mother in law and Father in law. We had a few friends and other family in Disney at the same time. We had a few meals with some, ran into others, and didn't even see some.
Checked kids out of school around noon and started our drive earlier than we had planned. Always great when that happens. We had a very easy drive and before midnight we realized we were much closer than we thought we'd get, and DH and I were wide awake so we continued driving. At first the plan was to make it to Disney and surprise the kids, who were both sleeping in the back. Some where along the way we thought "how fun would it be to walk on a beach in the morning". It's been a few years since we've been to the beach so we ended up at a Hilton on the beach in Clearwater Beach, Florida for the night. The kids had no clue till we woke up and went outside the next morning.
We had a good sleep and a wonderful morning walking the beach, running in the surf, and collecting sea shells. The beach just does something wonderful to the soul! The kids ran and played for a while, then we gathered up our stuff, checked out, and went a few blocks down for breakfast. We had breakfast at a nice little open air cafe right by the beach. We had fresh fruit, and crab and lobster eggs benedict, with the freshest orange juice ever! What a way to start vacation!
The drive to Disney was easy and in no time at all we had our tickets from Shades of Green and were checking in at Wilderness Lodge. There is nothing like walking into that lodge to check in at the beginning of a trip. Our room wasn't ready so we grabbed the beach bag, got the kids swim suits, and headed to the pool.
We spent the remainder of the day at the pool with pina colavas, and the most gorgeous weather you could ask for. Vacation just hasn't begun until I have a pina colava in hand at the resort pool! LOL.
Our room was ready around 3. We had a wonderful location, just what we asked for. We were overlooking the lobby on the 4th floor, just a few doors down from "our living room" on the 4th floor. Perfect location for us. We loved the new bedding, curtains, and flooring in the rooms. And the bathroom was very nice as well. The room felt much brighter and cleaner than before. There was also new furniture in the lobby, and "our living room". The lobby furniture was nice, but the new furniture in "our living room" was no where near as comfortable as what was there before. DH even went talk to them about what they did with the old furniture. He wanted to buy it and take it home with us. LOL. The kids played in the arcade, and we took some time to walk around our beloved lodge until it was time to head out for church.
After church we drove straight to the Poly for our traditional first night dinner at Ohana's. This just never gets old for us. We had 4 first time Disney visitors with us and they were blown away by Ohana's.
My father in law has never really had an interest in going to WDW. He only agreed to come because we kept asking him and my mother in law, who has been twice before, loves it and really wanted him to join her this time. I'll just say right here that apparently Disney still has a good bit of magic left because my FIL is still talking about the place, and is more than willing to go back with us in a few years. The other newbies have stated several times since the trip that they now understand why we keep going back and they too look forward to return trips.
Anyway, back to the trip. Ohana's was great as always. Everything was yummy and Collin got his first birthday cupcake of the trip. There were a few menu changes, but we felt the changes were all better than what was in place before.
After dinner the rest of our group left to head back to their resort. I called my friend who was staying at the Poly and we met to visit with them in the lobby for a bit. This was her first time staying at the Poly and she fell in love with it. She says it will be very difficult to stay anywhere else from now on. Also my friend's sister is doing the college program right now and is loving it. She told us that she has no plans to return home to Louisiana when her CP is over. She plans to stay in Flordia, so my friend now has a good reason to go back more often! It was so good seeing her and her family in WDW. We worked together over 10 years ago and still keep in touch weekly, but it's been over a year since I've actually seen her in person.
Back at WL we turned in for the night as soon as we walked through the doors! Tomorrow is MK!