WDW Day 3 & 4: Magic Kingdom & O'Hana

Tuesday morning, our 3rd day of vacation, we got up early for Magic Kingdom.  I'd be lying if I didn't say that I was more exciting than the kids to get to Magic Kingdom.  We got there shortly after the park opened (although we missed the rope drop into the park) and the boys were blown away, as were the rest of us! It's impossible to not feel like a child when you pass through the gates into Main Street, USA.  As soon as we walked in, we stumbled upon one of the many daily parades so we parked our stroller on the curb and watched the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade.  Collier was quick to point out the Toy Story characters but was really in awe of it all.  This is a short parade that takes place several times throughout the day and travels down Main Street and circles in front of the castle where the characters dance with you in the streets.  Since it had been YEARS since any of us had been to the MK, we grabbed maps to get our bearings and headed off toward the New Fantasyland part of the park.  Since we were there on a Tuesday, we were super pleased that the park wasn't busy at all and thanks to our handicap pass, we waited at the most for 5 minutes.  However, even without our pass, we would've been able to get on the rides fairly quickly. The longest wait time that I saw posted was 15 minutes.  September is a good time to go because the parks are less crowded however it was still really hot and temps were in the 90's with high humidity.  Our first ride was Dumbo the Flying Elephant.  I rode with Collier and Noah rode with Jamie.  Noah LOVED every single second on it and Collier was terrified... so much so that he was screaming and trying to CLIMB out from under his lap seatbelt and I had to pin him down!  Next we got on the infamous Mad Tea Party teacups and Collier chose to sit this one out.  Again, Noah was on cloud 9!  I was shocked at how Noah loved everything and Collier was so scared.  I actually thought it was be the complete opposite... just goes to show you how kids keep us guessing!



Next, we walked into Pete's Silly Slideshow, which is a Big Top circus tent where you can meet Disney characters (and cool off in the air conditioning!)... the boys got in line to meet Goofy and Donald Duck!  The expressions on their faces when they spotted the characters and ott to hug them was literally PRICELESS.  On the other side of the tent were 2 girl characters, I THINK Daisy was one of them, but I can't remember because we didn't get in line for them.  Like everything at Disney, after it's over, you end up in a Disney memorabilia store where the floor to ceiling is lined with Disney stuffed animals, toys, clothing, hats, candy, mugs, ...you name it! Of course, we did some shopping and the boys got their first set of monogrammed Mickey Mouse ears and Collier picked out a stuffed Goofy and a choo-choo train (that went on every single ride with us from this point on.)  After this we got right on Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid, which I loved every moment of! It was one of my favorites and such a cute ride that is a real life (animatronic) version of the movie. 

 

For lunch, we waited in a 30 minute line to eat at the Be Our Guest Restaurant in the Beast's Castle.  It was Ah-mazing and the food was delicious!  It was a replica of the castle, located in the "mountains" and the interior décor was breath-taking.  It's incredible the amount of detail that goes into everything that Disney does.  The castle was a sight to see and despite it being very, very busy, they have service down to a TEE and we got our food quickly.  This restaurant is a sit down meal where you place your order at a kiosk, pay and they bring it all out to you.  I had the Carved Turkey Sandwich and it was delicious!  After we filled our bellies, we set back out to ride more rides... "it's a small world," Peter Pan's Flight, and the Haunted Mansion.  After we got out of the Haunted Mansion, we claimed a spot in Liberty Square and waited for about 15 minutes until the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade began.  We had a front row spot and the kids got to see a lot of our favorite characters from all of the classic Disney movies.  This was my favorite parade that we saw the entire trip.  Following the parade, we did some shopping (Christmas ornaments from the Christmas Shoppe in Liberty Square!)  It was during this time that Collier spotted a glass race car Christmas ornament and had a meltdown over it.  MEEELTDOOOWN.  I was shopping and missed this ordeal (ummm, oops?!) but by the time I had made my purchases Jamie had had enough and since it was late afternoon, he decided it was time to head back to the condo for the kids to get a much needed nap.  The entire day, all Collier had talked about was riding the choo-choo train, so we walked to Frontierland and loaded up on the Walt Disney World Railroad and took the train ride all the way around the park back to the front entrance in Main Street.  Jamie's parents headed back to get in the van, but Jamie and I took the boys into the Town Square Theater, where you can meet Mickey Mouse and some of the Disney Princesses.  This was the longest wait of the day but was still only around 15 minutes, however, it had started raining so it was a great place for us to pass the time during the typical Florida pop-up shower.  Meeting Mickey for the first time was the HIGHLIGHT of our entire trip.  Collier was in awe.  His face lit up and he couldn't believe it!  Noah was so excited and it was absolutely precious watching Mickey interact with both boys.  He knew that Noah had special needs and gave him extra special time and attention.  It's that kind of special, accommodating service that makes Disney such an incredible, well worth the money experience.  The ENTIRE trip, they would go over and beyond for Noah and it's things like that they make the trip that much more special for us.  I'll bet we had a good 5+ minutes with Mickey, while most people get maybe 2 minutes.  When Collier first approached Mickey, Mickey touched his own nose to try and get Collier to rub noses with him... Then it was Noah's turn and he kissed Mickey on the nose. My heart melted right there.  Then Mickey bent down and played with Collier's choo-choo train that he had been carrying in his arms, giving it a gentle push on the floor.  We got family photos with Mickey and finally went on our way.  I think Jamie and I were both speechless after our precious, unforgettable encounter with the mouse.  However, it was a great way to end our amazing day at the HAPPIEST place on Earth, so we headed back to the van to meet up with Jamie's parents and headed back to get some rest.



 



 

 

 



 



We relaxed around the hotel room until later that evening, when around 7:30pm Jamie and I decided we wanted to get the boys out of the room and go to dinner.  We loaded the boys up in the huge 15 passenger van, headed to Downtown Disney and had. a. BLAST! We went to the T-Rex Café, which is basically the Rainforest Café with huge, life-like dinosaurs. It was such a fun, loud restaurant with lots to see and a huge variety of yummy food.  I would DEFINITELY recommend this restaurant, especially if you had little kids because our boys had a blast.  I had tried to make reservations months in advance but didn't have any luck, however that night, we walked up and the wait was only 20 minutes, but actually ended up being a little less than that.  Following our dinner, we headed back out into Downtown Disney and found a saxophone player surrounded by a crowd of people playing a great rendition of a Pitbull song so I swept Collier up and we danced in the streets. This night ended up being my absolute favorite of our whole trip.  While it was fun being there with Jamie's family, it was nice going out and acting silly and making memories with my 3 boys! 



Wednesday morning, Jamie and I woke up early and headed to Magic Kingdom for a morning by ourselves.  His parents agreed to watch the boys for us so that we could have some fun and ride the roller coasters.  Our first one of the morning was Space Mountain and we literally walked straight onto it at 9am.  Talk about starting your morning off with a bang! I got stuck riding in the front cart and was a nervous WRECK the whole ride!  I couldn't see a thing and was terrified there would be a big drop so I kept my eyes shut almost the whole ride.  Thankfully, there was no drop and I survived.  After Space Mountain, we headed allll the way across the park to Thunder Mountain Railroad and were able to ride it twice back to back without any wait.  This was my favorite of the two... something about being in the pitch dark scares me on a roller coaster so I preferred Thunder Mountain Railroad, which is an easy but fun coaster.  Afterwards we headed to Aloha Isle for the famous Dole Whip ice cream, vanilla soft serve with pineapple juice poured on top.  I've heard about hour long lines just to get the Dole Whip but fortunately for us, there was no line.  Jamie and I rode Pirates of the Caribbean and got stuck on the ride for 15 - 20 minutes where we sat listening to the pirates sing "Yo-Ho-Yo-Ho a Pirate's life for me..." over and over and over and OVER.  Finally they got the ride up and going but that song stuck in our heads for the rest of the day.  We ate an early lunch/snack at Sleepy Hollow where I got a Waffle sandwich... a big waffle with layers of Nutella, fresh strawberries and blueberries.  YUM-MY.  I think I was on a mission this particular day to try all of the snacks that I had heard and read about!  After some more walking around and just hanging out together, we headed back to the condo around noon because Jamie's parents had to have the van to go to the airport because his brother, Wes, his wife, Haley and their little girl Madelyn were flying in that afternoon!

By the time they all arrived back from the airport, another Florida shower moved it's way in and it rained a good bit of the afternoon.  Once the rain stopped, we all walked out to the covered playground area that was beside the pool at our resort, and let the kids burn off some energy while we enjoyed one another's company.  I'm telling you, I was initially disappointed that we weren't staying in the parks, but our resort was pretty amazing.  I've already mentioned how huge our condo was and the pool was gigantic and had all kinds of daily entertainment.  Then they had the covered play area on AstroTurf with lots of playground equipment.  So even though we got rained out from going to the Disney parks that day, we didn't get rained out from letting the kids play outside.  It was kind of a nice break from parks, anyway. 

Later that evening, we had dinner reservations at 'Ohana at the Polynesian resort.  This restaurant is recommended by ALL who've had it and it's a MUST during a Disney vacation.  'Ohana means family in Hawaiian and the food is served family-style.  In the center of the large dining room is the open fire pit, where cast members are grilling long skewers of meat and shrimp.  The meal includes plates and bowls of Polynesian-inspired dishes, beginning with the delicious freshly-baked pineapple bread, which is also known as "Welcome Bread."  Next up is a mixed green salad with Honey Lime dressing (amazing!), lo mein noodles with vegetables and teriyaki sauce, stir fry veggies, pork dumplings drizzled with sweet and sour sauce and honey-coriander chicken wings.  After you eaten all of these delicious appetizers, the main course is served...grilled meats stacked high on long skewers: mesquite grilled turkey, Asian BBQ Pork loin, marinated sirloin steak, and spicy peel-n-eat shrimp.  Just when you think you've reached your limit, they bring out the dessert... 'Ohana Bread Pudding a la mode with Bananas Foster sauce.  Even though you may not have room for dessert, you MUST eat the Bread Pudding.  All the while, a cast member is providing entertainment: passing out leis, showing anyone willing how to hula and singing and playing the ukulele.  'Ohana makes for a fun evening and we loved the meal, even if we did all leave stuffed!  After stuffing our bellies, we loaded up in our 15 passenger van and headed back to the hotel to get ready for another fun day in Disney!

 



 

 





Disney World Day 1 & 2: Flying to Orlando and Epcot

Our flight was Sunday morning out of Birmingham and since we were flying with Jamie's parents, we all decided to go to Birmingham the day before, on Saturday afternoon and watch the Alabama-Texas A&M game at our hotel.  We had to board our pups that morning and we headed off to Birmingham.  I was SO EXCITED but was a bit anxious as to how things would go with the boys... their first flights and how the sleeping arrangements would go.  Collier is one of those kids that has only fallen asleep in a crib by himself in his OWN room.  He has literally never fallen asleep in the bed with us and when we've stayed in hotels, we've managed to get him his own crib and put it in a closet/or the den.  And when he's stayed with my parents or when we visit my family in Birmingham, he's had his own room.  I did a test run a few weeks before our trip and he finally fell asleep in our bed around 10:30-11pm.  So I was really hoping that he would just be worn out from Disney and would sleep.  We made it to Birmingham that afternoon and settled in at the hotel restaurant with Jamie's parents for the game.  That evening, the boys and I climbed into the bed where Noah quickly went to sleep... Collier not so much!  We were at an Embassy Suites so Jamie was laying on the couch in the den watching tv and I sent Collier in with him.  Finally around 11pm he fell asleep on the couch. 

Our flight the next morning wasn't until 10:20am so we planned to leave the hotel around 8 and get to the airport by 8:30... which with traffic became 9:00am.  We did curbside check-in (which by the way is free!  How did I not know this?) which made it MUCH easier to navigate the airport NOT having to check in our luggage at the ticket counter.  With a 2 year old that tends to run wherever he goes and a 6 year old that will just walk off if you don't keep an eye on him, we had a bit of anxiety about navigating the airport and keeping up with 3 large suitcases.  Curbside check in saved the day!  Debbie and I got out with the kids while Jamie and his dad parked the cars, then we all headed to go through security.  While waiting in the line, we begin pulling out our ID's and Jamie couldn't find his wallet.  His ID was in this little removable section of his wallet but the actual wallet part that contained every bit of our cash for the trip was MIA.  We made it through security and checked all of our carry-ons for his wallet, to no avail.  Jamie headed back through security, out of the airport and into the parking deck to search the car.  During that time, I ask the curbside check in guy if a wallet was left behind and of course, it was not.  Unfortunately, this kind of thing isn't too uncommon for Jamie.  I would like to say that I'm used to it (he's on wedding band #3 and I can't even count how many times he has misplaced his wallet, watch, keys, etc) but being that I'm the complete opposite and had to keep up with all the essentials for myself and our 2 kids and their carry-ons, I was doing everything I could to not get upset!  Especially since he insisted that he had put it in my purse before we left the hotel.  After all the craziness, we realized our flight was about to board so we headed to our gate without Jamie.  I was blowing his phone up with texts because I was getting nervous that he might miss the flight and he literally ran up to the ticket counter as me and the boys were handing the flight attendant our tickets.  And no, he didn't find his wallet.  We had already decided that Debbie and I would sit with Noah and Tony and Jamie would sit with Collier.  We were afraid the take-off and landing would be too much for Noah and that he would get upset and since Collier is into planes we thought he would love every minute of it.  Boy were we wrong! Noah wasn't phased a bit by the flight and actually enjoyed it.  Collier was upset during take-off and landing because the flight attendants made him sit in his own seat and buckle up instead of letting him sit in Jamie's lap.  Since we bought a ticket for him, he was required to sit in his own seat.  Needless to say, he SCREAMED his head off and once the flight attendants buckled themselves up, I told Jamie to put the poor child in his lap and not worry about it.  Its silly to me that if he was under 2 he would be allowed to sit in a lap, but at the age of 2 he was required to sit in a seat despite being scared.  Since Jamie was so stressed over his misplaced wallet, he literally didn't say a word the entire flight, except when he tried calming Collier down.  Once we got in the air, Collier came over and sat with me and the boys played with stickers until if was time for the landing.  We flew Southwest and it was a direct flight to Orlando, that only took a little over an hour so we were in Orlando before we knew it!  As soon as we got our luggage, Jamie opened his bag up right there and thank the good Lord, his wallet was in the top, OUTSIDE pocket.  Thank goodness, the zipper didn't come unzipped or no one decided to snoop and take it!  When it was found, we all breathed a sigh of relief. 

We finally got to our condo that afternoon and decided to just spend the rest of the day at our resort.  We stayed at Hilton Grand Vacation Suites at SeaWorld and our room was AWESOME.  We had a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom suite that had a kitchen, den, dining room and laundry room.  It was bigger than the rental house we were living in!  I guess that's a good thing when you've got as many staying there as we had during the upcoming week.  Upon checking in to the hotel, our City Elite double stroller was there waiting for us and our groceries arrived right on time.  Talk about service!  I'm SO glad we rented that stroller! It was in great condition and was a life saver at the parks.  The kids rode in it majority of the time and even took a few naps in it.  It was large enough that Noah had enough room (he's a tall kid) and would hold up to 100lbs so it was perfect.  We rested up the remainder of the day and Tony, Debbie, Jamie and Collier went down to the pool while I laid down for a nap with Noah.

This was our room, we had a King bed and our own bathroom.  Noah slept on a pallet on the floor (he's a wild sleeper and takes up an entire bed so it's hard to sleep with him) and Collier slept in the bed with us.  Even though Collier didn't nap hardly at all and he would stay up until we went to bed, he did well sleeping with us!  I just didn't worry about the no naps.

 

 

This is the dining room and the den is beyond that arch. 

 

Here's the kitchen and to the far left of the picture was a hallway that led to the other 2 bedrooms/bathrooms.



The next morning we got going around 9 and headed to Epcot.  It was about a 15 minute drive from our hotel to the parks so we got there shortly after they opened and as soon as we walked in we spotted Goofy.  Collier's mouth dropped when he saw him and we hurried to get in line to meet our first character.  Collier was on cloud 9 and could hardly wait his turn.  When it was our turn, he suddenly got bashful and just handed Goofy our autograph book and stepped back.  After a little coaxing he hugged him and talked to him.  Noah was pretty excited as well and we were able to get some cute pictures of the boys with Goofy.  Afterwards, we headed to Guest Services.  Since Noah has special needs, we qualified for a handicap pass that allowed us to fast pass pretty much all rides as well bring our strollers through the lines, instead of having to leave it at the entrance of each ride.  We had a note from our doctor just in case they questioned anything (which they didn't.)  This ended up being a HUGE blessing because Noah would have worn out very quickly had he been required to get out of the stroller and stand during the long lines.  He was able to do so much more thanks to the pass.  It was really awesome! I have since been told that Disney is doing away with the handicap pass because people were abusing it.  That is pretty upsetting because we had such a great experience and they were so accommodating for Noah that we have already talked about going back in 2 years.  I hope that they will continue to allow it with a doctor's note otherwise I will be very disappointed!  After getting our pass we headed to our first ride, The Seas with Nemo & Friends and then went to a cute show, Turtle Talk with Crush.  Next up was Soarin', an amazing ride where you sit in these seats with your feet dangling and are lifted up over a huge dome that is all around you, giving you the feeling of hang gliding over California.  Noah rode with me and Jamie while Debbie and Tony sat with Collier (he was too short to ride).  I didn't really know what to expect but as it got started I was afraid that Noah would be overstimulated and get upset.  I was a nervous wreck and even though he was strapped in, I hand my arm across him.  However, he loved every second of it! It was such a fun ride that really played with your senses making it feel so real!  Even at one point, you fly over an orange grove and can smell the oranges! 

Afterwards, we headed to the World Showcase to meet up with a friend of Tony and Jamie's that was there with his family, and we all ate lunch in Mexico.  Noah fell asleep during lunch despite the food being delicious!  After lunch we toured the World Showcase... I'm always amazed by the detail that goes into each of the countries.  It's so exciting, realistic and fun to see.  We stopped in Germany to buy some caramel candies from the Wether's Caramel shoppe.  I wanted one of everything! It all  looked and smelled amazing... but the caramel and chocolate covered popcorn was the best!  There were cute little side shows at some of the different countries and we even spotted Belle outside of France.  As soon as we made it all the way around, it began to sprinkle.  On our way out, we saw Chip & Dale (or ChipDale, as Collier calls them) and got in line. Noah was pretty worn out since it was late afternoon so he stayed in the stroller with Debbie and Tony while Jamie, Collier and I waited in line.  It was so cute watching Collier interact with Chip and Dale and they gave him a fist bump.  After that, we headed out of the park, only stopping for a couple of pictures in front of the infamous Epcot golf ball.  We got back to the room and Noah took a nap.  Collier didn't nap the entire trip but did great and was in pretty good moods most of the time.  We ended up staying at the resort that night and just eating at the hotel restaurant. 

Side Note: Staying off property had its positives and negatives.  For one, we didn't wear ourselves out because we would go to the parks during the morning/afternoon and spend the evenings at the hotel (or go to dinner) however, there were times when Jamie and I wished we could run to a park to ride some adult rides without the kids, but because we were off property it wasn't as easy to do so we did miss out on some things, even though we still had a great time.  That about wraps up days 1 & 2! If you didn't already realize from my blog, I'm a very detailed person, so undoubtedly I will include almost every recollection of our trip for my own personal benefit.  I hope you don't mind!



 

 



 



Disney World Planning

Last December, Jamie's parents decided to book a vacation for the entire family at the Happiest Place on Earth, Disney World for that following September! Since they own a family business and can't ALL be out of town at the same time (someone has to run the business and be home for emergencies) his parents booked a 3 bedroom suite at a Hilton through their timeshare for a 2 week stay and allowed each family to come for a full week.  Jamie and I chose the first week, so our vacation was for September 15 - 22, Wes, Haley and Madelyn came during the middle of our stay, and then Chris and Eastlon came the Friday before we left on Sunday.  Beginning in April I began our planning.  I actually got a late start because I was going through my cancer treatment during that time and forgot to start making our reservations in March.  I do STRONGLY recommend to make your breakfast/lunch/dinner reservations as soon as you hit the 6 month out mark (that's the soonest Disney will allow you to book) and BELIEVE me, princess character meals book up immediately, especially the princess meal at Cinderella's Castle.  I booked our meals 5 months out and the availability was very limited with some of the restaurants, especially at Chef Mickey's for their character breakfast (which is 100% worth it!) 

I joined Tour Guide Mike's website and you give him your vacation dates and he tells you everything! Which days to go to which parks, which days the parks are the busiest, where to stand during parades, what activities take place while you're there, etc. For example, he recommends avoiding Magic Kingdom on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  Most people fly in to Orlando on the weekend and that's the first park they want to go to, so it's much busier on those days.  Makes sense! We ended up going on a Tuesday (by his recommendation) and it wasn't busy at all! In fact, the longest wait time for a ride that I saw was around 10 minutes.   

As we got within a few weeks of our trip, I went to Walmart and the 'ol Dollar Tree and bought snacks and disposable ponchos (for all of those infamous pop-up showers that FL is known for... in the parks they cost MUCH more.)  I also rented a double stroller from Kingdom Strollers and my mother-in-law and I ordered groceries online that we scheduled to be delivered to our condo shortly after our arrival. I mean you can't get any more convenient than ordering your groceries online!  I've read of people shipping some of these things (diapers, wipes, snacks, etc.) to their resort a week or so before they leave but we just packed it all and flew it with us, including diapers and wipes.  Since we weren't staying in the park, my in-law's rented a 15 passenger van along with a car seat for Collier and a booster seat, that we were able to pick up at the airport.  Florida law says that kids over 4 don't need a car seat but we still wanted a booster. 

The best part of the planning was coordinating Disney outfits for the boys! Yes, Noah is too old for Mickey clothes, but while at Disney World anything goes! Even adults wear Mickey and Minnie shirts, hats, etc at the parks so I knew he definitely wouldn't stand out.  I actually packed the kids' clothes in a large suitcase together and used gallon Ziploc bags to save space.  I put each outfit in a bag and labeled them (ex. Noah - Wednesday) and then put other things such as all of Collier's socks into 1 bag, all pjs in 1 bag, etc.  That way when we were hurrying to get out the door in the morning, things could be found easily and I could toss a bag to Jamie so he could help in getting the boys dressed! 

 

I'm trying to think of all of the tips that I read and used to help anyone else that may have a Disney trip coming up.  One thing is that when you go on rides you have to leave your stroller outside and as you can imagine, there are 100's of other strollers all lined up together.  Its recommended to put something on your stroller to make it stand out from the others so you can find it easily and so that someone doesn't grab yours on accident (and everyone has a Mickey balloon tied to their stroller so that won't work).  I bought a roll of that bright-colored printed duck tape and brought it with us.  I put a big strip of it across our luggage (since we would have the kids and have to locate 3 large suitcases at baggage claim) and also wrapped it around the handle on our stroller.  Voila! No mix-ups for us.  I also brought  my own cooler.  Disney security checks all of your bags upon entry into the parks but they do allow you to bring food and drinks in so you can pack your own snacks or whatever you choose.  Another thing to remember is bug spray and sunscreen.  Since we weren't in the parks and had access to our own vehicle, we were able to run to CVS if we needed to (and we did) however, I tried to think of anything and everything, such as Children's Tylenol, our thermometer, hats for the kids, sunglasses, swimmy diapers for the pools.  I even bought a handheld fan and water spritzer that I found on clearance at Walmart.  I found mine for $5 and they sold them in the parks for at least $12.  I also packed an extra pair of shoes in case we got rained on and our shoes didn't dry out.  I probably over packed, but at least I was prepared!  Another thing to remember is Sharpie pens for character autographs.  It's easier for them to hold a thicker marker than a regular pen.  I've read of some families bringing their own Disney toys and surprising their children with a new toy/surprise from "Mickey" each day.  It can also be used as an incentive to keep your children behaving well.  I didn't do that but we did end up buying our fair share of toys in the parks.  Collier is going through the "MINE!" stage ... but at the same time, it's Disney and you want your kids to feel somewhat spoiled or treated to fun toys that they may not be able to get at home!  That's part of the magic of it!

Well, before we knew it, our trip was upon us.  After months and months of planning, we were super excited and couldn't wait to arrive in Orlando!