Disney World

Tuesday, the 27th we headed off for Disney world for a week with the kids. My sister joined us on the plane ride down, and my mom met up with us a day later. We had a great trip, but the weather did not cooperate with us while we were there. That did not stop us. I've included a lot of detail here...this blog has turned into my online diary so sorry for the length.

We had 4 bags (2 for Paul & I, 1 for the kids, and 1 to carry on with the essential camera, video camera, and baby monitor), 2 backpacks (1 for Paul & I, 1 for Anna), 1 diaper bag, 2 carseats, a double stroller, & 2 kids...all to manage. We quickly found a cart to get us into the airport...it's a well choreographed dance!

Our flight there took off with no hitches. Kristin was in first class and the rest of the common folk were in coach. Anna was well behaved, and Alex managed to sneak in some rest too. I kept giving him a bottle because that was making him happy. We realized on the way down that was a mistake, as he puked all over me (twice) as we were landing! (Kristin heard "seat change on seat 13C" when she was in the front...that would be me!) I managed to laugh it off, get the 2 of us changed and be very thankful to the nice people on the plane that helped us. We got our mini van for the trip and headed to our place. We found the place where we got our keys...it was somewhat near where Paul's parents have a timeshare. Then, we had to drive to our house. Another 30 minutes later, we're finally there. I was wishing we'd had lunch at the airport by now as it's close to 5 (4 MN time) and we still hadn't had lunch. The 5 of us headed out to dinner...one of the first places we could find was Red Lobster. That place has never tasted so good!

Wednesday morning, we stopped at Downtown Disney to show Anna a little bit of Mickey (since Mom was flying in that day, we weren't planning on doing a park that day, but we were in desperate need to see a little of Disney). Then, we picked up Mom and had lunch at cafe tu tu tango on International Drive. Then, the ladies hit the outlets while Paul took the kids home for a rest. He picked us up later and we had dinner at Bahama Breeze. After we got home, it was time to swim for Paul, Anna & I. We had to use our private pool! That night, we also started our 500 tournament after the kids went to bed. Paul managed to lose the tournament and Mom ran away with the title after the 2nd day.

Thursday, it was an early start (meet at 8:15, park opens at 9!). We were off to Magic Kingdom!! We wanted to see Mickey before our scheduled breakfast at 10:15, but Mickey's area didn't open until 10. So, off we went to the tea cups...Anna's first Disney ride. I was stupid enough to let her con me onto that one. I don't do rides that put me in a circle. The tilt of whirl at the fair made me ill. But, I couldn't resist her sweet little smile. She laughed & laughed as we turned around. After that, the whole group did the Pooh Ride (not one of Anna's favorites) and the Small World ride. Then, it was time for breakfast at Crystal Palace with Pooh & friends. We had a great brunch (including Mickey waffles) and Anna was able to see Pooh, Piglet, Tiger and Eeyore. After breakfast, we headed to meet Mickey and were pleasantly surprised to see Minnie there too. This was a highlight for my family. When my dad turned 60, we went to Disney World and he wanted to see Mickey more than anything. So, it was a special tribute to him to introduce Mickey to Anna & Alex. We explored their houses and then Anna went on her first roller coaster ride-goofy's wild ride (she was taller than the height requirement!) with Kristin, Paul and I. She liked that too! Next stop was Fantasyland. We went on the Buzz Lightyear ride and then Anna was able to meet Buzz Lightyear (her favorite movie is Toy Story so this was a bigger highlight for her than seeing Mickey). After that, it started to rain. That wasn't going to stop us!! Thankfully, we had the rain cover with us for the stroller. I had my rain jacket too, and Paul was too stubborn to buy one (Kristin & Mom bought ponchos). We went to the Monsters Inc. laugh floor and then scoped out our spots for the parade. Waiting in the parade in the rain stunk. But, as they came down main street, I realized it stunk even more for the poor performers that had to perform in the rain. The parade was good Disney cheesiness. After the parade, we headed back to Fantasyland for the Dumbo ride. Anna went on this over and over again, in the rain. At first, she convinced Daddy to go, then Grandma, then me. Wet Dumbo was not so much fun. Anna was able to go on the Merry go Round too while we were there. After the Dumbo ride, Mom decided she was going to do Splash Mountain, as long as she was wet. We then set off to try to find dinner and ended up eating at Tony's. We wrapped up dinner 30 minutes before the fireworks started at 8PM so we just had to stay for those too! By then, the rain had died down somewhat (and we found a dry place to be). What a beautiful display with Cinderella's castle in the background. Both kids did GREAT at the park all day! But, of course, they both crashed as soon as the car hit the pavement.

Friday, we slept in & hit Perkins up for breakfast. Yummo! We hung out at our house, swam/napped during the morning. That afternoon, the kids rested while the 500 tourney continued for the adults. Then, Mom, Paul, the kids & I went to Downtown Disney to get souvenirs for the family. We luckily found matching shirts for Paul & Alex, and cute shirts for the girls. Anna got a Buzz toy, Alex got a stuffed Tiger, and I got an ornament for the tree. We headed to Chili's for dinner that night. Anna got a balloon animal.

Saturday, another early start as we wanted to get to Animal Kingdom when it opened at 9AM. We started the day at the Safari. Then, we hit one of the African trails. Unfortunately, it was too cold for some of the animals to be out (including the monkeys Anna wanted to see)! There were gorillas though! Next, we hit up the Finding Nemo Musical. This was one of the highlights of our trip! It was seriously a Broadway calibre musical. Everyone loved it. We had lunch at the park with the birds (we were convinced the birds were going to eat Alex's food!). We visited Safari Mickey next and then another trail-themed around Asia (where we were able to see monkeys!). We also were able to do the Everest ride-even Mom & Kristin braved it out! After Animal Kingdom, we took the bus over to Hollywood Studios. We waited in line for an hour for the toy store mania ride-the newest ride there. It was worth it-especially for Anna! We had dinner at the prime time cafe and then hit up the rock 'n roller coaster & tower of terror. Mom did the TOT 3 times...it was her new favorite ride! We left the park around 9 when it closed....another full day at the parks! Anna was so sleepy she fell asleep in Kristin's arms on the shuttle back to our car.

Sunday, it was time to say good-bye to Kristin as she had to head back home :( We had breakfast at Spoodles, near the boardwalk hotel that we stayed at for my Dad's 60th birthday celebration. Anna had Mickey waffles and the rest of us had yummy breakfasts. Since we were so close to Epcot, Kristin took a cap to the airport and the rest of us headed over to Magic Kingdom. It was going to rain all day Monday so we wanted to have one more day at Magic Kingdom while it was nice! Paul, Anna and Mom hit up Pirates of the Caribbean. Then, Paul, Anna and I did the Aladdin ride. Mom headed over to Epcot from there and the Mattson family did the merry-go-round, the dumbo ride, and the tea cups. It took us a lot longer to accomplish these tasks in the sunshine-Magic Kingdom was packed when it's not raining! We then went over to Epcot for dinner. Anna & I did the Finding Nemo ride together and then met up with my mom to eat at the Japanese restaurant where they cook in front of you. Anna enjoyed trying out the chopsticks. After dinner, Paul & I enjoyed crepes and were able to try out the new 'Soarin ride. Before we left, we went to the living seas exhibit, saw a exhibit with the turtle from Nemo, and showed Anna all the fishes. We left the park before close this night, but close was 9 PM! Then, we headed home on the boat back to the Boardwalk. Kids, per usual, didn't last long.

Monday, we slept in and hadn't decided if we were going to the parks. I was satisfied leaving Disney , so we headed to Hollywood Studios again. It started to rain just as we were going into the park, after lunch. Thankfully, this time around we were prepared! Hollywood Studios was a good place to be in the rain--a lot is inside. We did the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Magic of Animation tour (where Anna met the Little Einsteins), did the Toy Story Mania, met Buzz & Woody (a highlight for miss Anna), Paul & I did the rock'n roller coaster, and Mom & I did the tower of terror one more time. As we were leaving the park, it down poured! We had alluded getting horribly wet until this point. It was complete chaos getting to the car. We had dinner at the Lone Star Grill that night and wrapped up our vacations.

Tuesday, we headed home :( Of course, it was the most beautiful day of our vacation! Both kids did awesome on the plane-especially after putting Alex in Anna's car seat for a much needed nap.

Lessons learned from our trip:

1. would have been nice to have a seat alone for Alex on the plane
2. pack PJ's for the kids when you plan on going to the park all day (they fall asleep in the car)
3. Don't go to Animal Kingdom when it's cold, go to Hollywood studios when it's raining
4. Pack ponchos & the rain cover for the stroller
5. Reserve meal reservations early (you can at least 90 days before you go), schedule for about 15 min. before you actually want to get seated because it takes about that long to get a table