Month: October 2013

the Disney World vacation chronicles: days 2 & 3

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Click Day 1 to catch up.

Saturday, October 5, 2013 – we woke up to a 6:45 alarm (sleeping in compared to the day before) with a plan to get to the bus stop by 8:30 since Magic Kingdom opened at 9.  It was Ryan’s vision to make sure the boys saw Cinderella’s castle – their idea of Disney World from seeing it at the beginning of all their favorite movies – first and foremost.

In the lobby of the resort before heading out.  Toy Story shirt day!
Just inside the admission gate.
Magic Kingdom is super decked out for Halloween right now because they are hosting Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party several nights a week.  Call me a spoil sport. Call me a party pooper.  Call me a tightwad.  I just couldn’t justify spending an additional $60 per person for a parade and some candy.  Plus, the boys didn’t even have costumes at that point.  And one more thing, the party is from 7 to midnight. When we were planning our trip, I assumed the boys would be passed out by 8pm.  Ha.  Haha.  Anyway.
Ryan’s sister, her boyfriend, and our nephew didn’t fly in until Saturday around noon so Nana and Pop Pop skipped the parks to greet them.  We flew down a day earlier because we knew we’d want (and need) a day to rest between each park day.  Lifesaver.  So anyway, that’s why Ryan’s family is not going to show up on this day. 
There we are in front of that famed, beloved castle.  The boys’ eyes really did light up when the castle came into their views.  It was pretty sweet and well, you know, magical.  For lack of a better term.
We only planned to stay long enough to ride Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and The Haunted Mansion but of course the boys had other plans.  Dexter wanted to ride the carousel.  We’d planned to stay for an hour or so before riding the monorail over to Epcot for the rest of the day. 

Theo almost backed out from riding the Haunted Mansion.  Theo!  The one who loves ALL things scary. Guess when it comes down to it, he’s not so tough.  After the ride, he said “I don’t think I want to ride that again.”  After talking and joking about it, he changed his mind and couldn’t wait to go back to Magic Kingdom.  Dexter was scared during the ride but afterwards said he liked it.  Dexter, mister cutie, would cover his mouth with his hands every time he felt frightened.  It was adorable. That night, Theo told Pop Pop all about the Haunted Mansion and said his favorite part was when the scary voice said “there are no doors, no windows, and no way out!”

They both loved the Buzz Lightyear ride. 

On our way out of the park, we stopped to watch a show with Mickey and all his pals right in front of the castle.  The boys were so captivated, we couldn’t bear to leave until the show was over.  
On the monorail to Epcot.
We got there around lunchtime and ate at The Land so we could secure some FastPasses for Soarin’, one of my all time favorite rides at Disney World.  We rode just about every ride there that the boys could get on before making our way around the World Showcase.  
While they were not super cooperative for a photo with Nemo & Friends, they did love The Seas, including Turtle Talk with Crush, the Nemo ride, and other activities & sights.  We stayed here for quite some time.

Showing off some souvenirs.
When I told people when we were going to Disney, I had a few excitedly ask if we were going for the Food & Wine festival at Epcot.  I guess that should have been a sign to me, but I just shrugged it off.  I didn’t realize what a draw it would be and how it would influence crowd sizes around the World Showcase.  Yikes.  I don’t mind crowds, but when it’s shoulder to shoulder and 90 degrees outside and I’ve got a stroller or two, no thank you.  We waited about 30 minutes for the ride in Norway and maybe 20 for the boat ride in Mexico. Clearly the crowd was not there to ride rides but to jam up the walkways and eat and drink their faces off.  The boys fell asleep after the ride in Norway and I was relieved to get out of the World Showcase and head back towards The Land to use our Soarin’ fastpasses.  My anxiety level went from an 8 back down to a 2. 

Stopping in Mexico for a meet ‘n greet with none other than Donald Duck!

We took turns riding Soarin’ while the boys continued to nap and afterwards set off to meet some more characters. The boys loved the characters – Dexter ran right up and hugged them while Theo was a little more tentative. But neither of them were scared, which is a question I’ve been asked a lot.

Kissing Minnie. ha!

True love.

Not sure what the boys were more excited about – the fact that we let them sample Coca-Cola products from around the world or the way these products tasted.  They sampled and sampled and sampled some more.  You can sort of tell the Dexter’s eyes were watering – not used to that carbonation!

We would have stayed for Illuminations, Epcot’s fireworks display, but we were done doing everything we wanted to do by about 8:30 and the show wasn’t for another hour and a half.  I thought we might make it back over to Epcot without the boys so us grown ups could ride Test Track but that never happened.  We still had a great day.  The boys’ behavior, overall, was great!
Day 3: Sunday, October 6, 2013
Ryan’s sister and family were ready to hit the parks so they went to Animal Kingdom while we lounged at the hotel, playing legos, swimming, and napping throughout the day.  I believe this is the day that the boys slept in until almost 9am. NEVER HAPPENS in real life.  
Just watching cartoons in Grammy’s bed. 

Swimming at the Big Blue Pool and playing at the adjacent playground.  It was hot! The concrete would burn dry feet.

Sunday night after Michelle, Bob, and Spencer rested up, we headed over to the Wilderness Lodge to enjoy a fun and interactive dinner experience at the Whispering Canyon Cafe.  Our server was very much into his role, playing pranks and practical jokes on us throughout the meal.  I failed to take many pictures, but the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge is breathtaking!

A thorn between two roses?

Mr. Hot Stuff, with his very own vanilla milkshake.

Michelle’s pretty drink.

Just before we left, the server asked Nana if she wanted “a little more tea.”

Snail sighting at the resort.
After this, we headed back to the room to rest up for another long and action-packed day at the parks.

For more candid photos of the trip, follow me (mommyinthemidwest) on Instagram or search hashtag: #1stmcdanielfamilyvacation 

Stay tuned for more,
~C~

the Disney World vacation chronicles: day 1

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Oh man, where to begin.  I guess we’ll begin at the beginning.  But what’s the beginning?  When Ryan and I met at Disney World back in 1999?  Read our love story HERE. Or did it begin when we started planning this trip two years ago? Read about why we decided to take them at ages 2 and 3 HERE.

This trip officially, technically, began on Friday October 4th at 7:10am – that’s what time our flight departed from Indiana. We landed shortly after 9am in Orlando.  That meant a 3:45am alarm for me because our friend picked us up at 4:45 to drop us off at the airport.

Pretty deserted place at 5:30am.

Both boys were very excited to take their first ride in an airplane.  This was one of my biggest worries for the entire trip – how they would do on the flight.  No parent wants to have THOSE kids. While lots of young children can be seen and heard on flights to Orlando, I didn’t want mine to be the reason everyone without kids was scrambling for earplugs. I picked up some snacks they’d never had before (pre-bagged mini pop-tart thingies, for example) and some new sticker activity books that I thought would hold their attention for a while. I also got each of them a short story book – a Jake and the Neverland Pirates book for Dexter and Lego City Halloween Rescue for Theo.  They were thrilled with the story books and only mildly entertained by the sticker books. They devoured the snacks and thought they were basically celebs when served apple juice and pretzels in-flight. They both passed out 25-30 minutes before we landed and we had to wake both of them when it was time to get off the plane.

By the way, here’s a free, short plug for Southwest – I love flying Southwest.  Friendly, accommodating, bags fly free, affordable, nonstop flights to places I want to go. What else is there to say?  Fly Southwest.

Back to business – we used separate umbrella strollers with connectors that could easily be put on or taken off depending on the need to navigate through the airports.  We checked them right at the gate and picked them up as soon as we stepped off the plane.  I debated whether or not to let my mom transport the strollers down but I’m so glad we had them at the airports.  Lots of walking, crowds, and tired boys – they really helped to smooth out the entire process.

Since we stayed on Disney property, we were eligible to use Disney’s Magical Express – complimentary bus service between the airport and resort.  The boys didn’t know what to make of so many carseat-free transportation options.

Theo is still waking up and my posture is not too flattering, but this is all I have of us on the bus. 🙂
It was about a 30 minute drive to the resort and Ryan’s parents, Nana and Pop Pop were there waiting for us to get off the bus.  We made the mistake at some point of telling Theo that there was a Lego Store near Disney World so he honed in on that and I don’t think we would have been successful doing anything else until that was out of the way. So as soon as we checked in, we hopped on yet another bus to Downtown Disney. 

Gorgeous sky and empty bus queue.

At Downtown Disney, we put in our name at T-REX and went next door to the Lego Store to shop and play.

No biggie – just having lunch in an ice cave with the dinosaurs.

Since we’d all been up for about 10 hrs by the time lunch was over, the boys and I didn’t have much energy for walking around DD.  I just wanted to get back and browse around the resort and unpack our clothes for a nice, long 8-night stay (that would go by much too quickly). 
We decided to stay at the Art of Animation Resort. The property boasts over the top themed sections for fans of Cars, The Little Mermaid, Lion King, and Finding Nemo.  We stayed in a Cars family suite.  Our room was ready when we got back and the boys (especially Theo) thought it was pretty cool and hilarious to pose with all of the cars in Radiator Springs. 
Theo and the Hudson Hornet himself – Doc Hudson.

The Sheriff has a little hideout to catch naughty speeders.

The Cozy Cone Motel always has vacancies.

Flo & Theo

This is smooth-talking Ramone.

Luigi. (Or is this Guido? I can never remember).

And Guido (or??).

Oh right, I guess the blue one is Luigi. Or whatever.

And of course, Tow Mater.

Clearly we forgot to take pictures with Mr. McQueen and Sally, but don’t you worry.  We did it at 7am the day we left after saying “we have to do that tomorrow” for an entire week. 

In the hallway to our first floor room, looking for Grammy. 
One of many things that made this trip special is that it was a family trip.  Ryan’s entire family and my mom were able to join us so we had a group of 10 people staying in two family suites.  My mom stayed in our room and Ryan’s parents, sister, her boyfriend, and our nephew shared the room across the hall. My mom drove down that day from Tennessee and arrived around 4:30 or 5pm.  It was hot, hot, hot, and shortly after my mom arrived, we opted for a dip in one of three resort pools, the Cozy Cone pool.  I have more pictures to share of the resort in the posts to come. 

That’s my mom there in the shadows, playing games on her phone…

By the time we got out of the pool and got dressed for dinner, it was getting late.  We ate at the resort and hit the sack to rest up for Saturday, Oct 5 – our first day in the parks.

For more candid photos of the trip, search Instagram hashtag: #1stmcdanielfamilyvacation (then follow me there and say hello!).

Stay tuned,
~C~

we’re baaack!

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

We returned home from Lake Buena Vista, Florida on Saturday afternoon and have been basking in the laid back feeling of being home from vacation.

Disney with 2 and 3 year olds is not easy breezy, folks, but it was indeed magical and we had a wonderful time.  I went through my 1700+ photos Saturday night and got them down to 1100 or so.  Clearly, I’ve got some more work to do before posting recaps or starting work on a photo book.

It was back to work for Ryan and I and back to the sitter for the boys today.  I was dreading logging in and checking my emails but after sifting through redundant messages and moving items to folders that had already been addressed, it really wasn’t too bad.

I spent all day today hustlin’ and bustlin’ to get everything back up to date and now I’m ready to go forward with this week’s workload.  Thankful for a good job, great co-workers, happy kids, a warm house, and pumpkin bread in the oven.

Gotta go play legos — vacation updates to come very soon.  So much to share regarding doing 4 parks with a toddler and a pre-schooler, flying with little kids, Disney’s new MagicBands, and more (read: millions of pictures).

~C~