Our Disney Vacation Page

This is going to be work in progress for a while because there is so much I want to share and post and I just don’t get that much free time:)
When planning this trip we put a lot of thought into the ages of the kids, the best time of year to go etc… We were originally thinking next December, but decided Disney with a 4 1/2 year old and an almost 2yr old would be tough. So we bumped it up a year thinking Jax would be easier as a 9 month old.
We chose the first week in December because we were told it was was one of the least busy weeks at Disney, the holiday decorations and celebrations were awesome and the weather is usually very nice.  Everyone was right, the crowds were pretty light…for Disney, the holiday decorations were amazing, and the weather was perfect!!!! It also works out that Mike’s billable year for work ends in November, so timing wise it was good for him.
We did not however realize the rush between, my business trip, thanksgiving  followed by Disney and then the rush for Christmas. That has made life a bit stressful. We have been go, go, going for weeks now! Not to mention all of the birthdays thrown in there.
We knew going into the trip that we wanted to stay on Disney and on the monorail. Being that we have two little ones we needed to be able to come and go as easily as possible for naps and such. The Contemporary was our first choice, but it was booked, that left the Polynesian and Grand Floridian Resorts. The Grand Floridian was a bit too expensive so we went with the Polynesian.

The rooms themselves, were very large and spacious even with the pack n’ play for Jax taking up space. The rooms were very clean and nicely decorated. While we didn’t spend too much time at the Resort I was not overly impressed with it. The buildings were dark with low ceilings and we we were one of the buildings  furthest away from the main building. But we were also one of the closest to the Transportation and Ticket center which made getting to the actual parks quick and easy. Overall I thought the resort was fine. It was convenient, the staff we saw was friendly, the rooms themselves were great, it just wasn’t my thing. I am also super picky:)

We flew out the Monday morning after Thanksgiving. Let me tell you what a busy that weekend that was. Our neighbor Margie was nice enough to take us to the airport. And I am proud to say that I was able to fit all the clothes, camera gear, and baby stuff for 6 days in three suitcases. GO ME!!!!!
The trip started a bit bumpy with Ethan not feeling well and Mike leaving our packet of travel info, including bag tags, in the car after Margie dropped us off. Thank goodness Margie had her phone on and was easily able to swing back by and give it to us. I was a little mean to Mike about that and I now feel bad for the harsh words used that morning.
We checked in without further issue, our bags were even under the weight limit, though one was 50 lbs even. Then we went over the security lines. UGGHH! They were super long. But just as we were getting to the end of it airport personal directed us to the very short family line! Thank you Ethan and Jax! All seven of us were shuffled though security quickly.
When we settled on the plane excitement was in the air.

You can see that Ethan really didn’t feel well here. He actually slept part of the trip.

Being that we were staying on Disney property we did not have to wait for luggage upon our arrival in Orlando. We checked in at the Disney counter, boarded a bus and off to the resort we went.  Our parents rooms were ready, but our was not. We took the long hike to the rooms, dropped off some of our carry on stuff and hopped on the monorail express to Magic Kingdom.

Poor Ethan was so grumpy and feeling so under the weather that the high expectations I had of his reaction were a bit disappointing. We were all starving and the place is just so overwhelming. Mike and I had this image of Ethan holding each of our hands and happily walking into the park squealing with delight. He ended up holding my hand, screaming wanting to hold my Mom’s hand and then settling on my hip with Mike next to us.  It worked, just not quite how we thought it would.

About a two weeks before the trip we decided to add the Disney meal plan to our tickets. This was worth every penny and we are so glad we did this! So for $40 dollars a day per person, you got a quick service meal (think fast food) which included  an entree, usually a side order, dessert and drink, a sit down meal at a restaurant with an entree, dessert and drink and since most of them were buffets you got more then that anyway,  and a snack which was everything from a soda or bottled water to an ice cream.  And they are very flexible so you just had to keep track of what you had used.  When we checked into the hotel we were each given a credit card type thing which was our room key, meal plan ticket, park tickets and of course linked to our credit card for shopping. So they make it really easy, you just have to hold onto this one card.

Since no one had really eaten since the quick b-fast at the airport the first thing we did upon arrival to the Magic Kingdom was  to sit down to watch the upcoming parade and enjoy a quick lunch. Ethan was grumpy and with all of the shops on Main Street he suckered a grandparent into buying him a toy in the first 30 mins. But hey, the toy with some food quickly improved his mood.

We actually got bored waiting for the parade to hit main street so in our haste to see more we headed towards the rides and caught the parade from in front of the castle.

This first ride of the trip was one I had actually never done before, but is a true classic, the Dumbo Ride!

I waited in line with Ethan and then at the last minute we realized Mike could ride with us. Ethan loved it and you could start to see that he was getting the whole Disney thing just a bit.

We tried to meet Ariel at Ariel’s grotto, but no one was up for a 45min wait. So we headed off to what would be the biggest hit of the trip, the Peter Pan Ride! Ethan loves the Peter Pan movie, but we had no idea that this would be his “thing”. This also happened to be the longest line we waited in, 1hr and 15min. I have no patience what so ever and was practically dying by the time we got on this stupid ride. Thank God he loved it and it was sooo worth it! We also all got to ride so this was Jax’s first ride ever!

From there things picked up. We quickly did It’s a Small World where Jax finally feel asleep. Ethan loved looking around during that ride and suddenly a ride that I usually didn’t care for was so much better.

When we planned this trip Ethan was about 38 1/2 inches tall. To do the basic adult rides you need to be 40 inches. Mike and I were so excited that Ethan would be tall enough for rides like Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain and some of the other “bigger” rides. Mike and I both love roller coasters so when Ethan hopped off of Thunder Mountain Railroad squealing with delight Mike and I were thrilled! One great thing that Disney does is if you have someone sitting out with a child not big enough to ride you get a Parent Swap ticket. This ticket allows you and two other people to go though the fast pass line when the original group that went on the ride comes back. So for this one Dad stayed with Jax, and Judy, Mom, Ethan, Mike and I went on the ride. When we were done Ethan loved it sooo much that he wanted to do it with Pop-Pop. So Pop-Pop, Ethan, Mom and Mike went again. It was great!!

After that it was getting pretty late and with no real naps everyone was tired. we did the Haunted Mansion which Ethan also loved and would later call the “chair ride” and then we finally exhausted headed back to the hotel.
When we arrived to our rooms, our luggage was waiting for us. We quickly unpacked got settled and headed over to the Polynesian big house to try and find some dinner.
One thing people did tell us was that you had to book all of your sit down meals in advance b/c the restaurants fill up so quickly. We learned that was true the first night when both of the hotel restaurants were booked. So we did another quick service and dragged the very tired boys back up to the room for bed.
Ethan was so tired, that he finally settled and went to sleep, just to fall out of bed in the middle of the night, which woke up Jax. So the first night was a bit rough, but we made it though.
Also in planning we had our room connect to my parents and Judy was next to them. That ended up being great! Because we could put the kids down and hang out in my parents room. I also went into the trip saying that Ethan would sleep in our room and not sleep with my Mom. That ended up being like me me saying my kids would never suck pacis ha! He slept with my Mom from the second night on and my poor Dad was stuck in a bed by himself!

The first day was great! And the second day, our longest was ever better.

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Tuesday started early with breakfast at Mickey’s Cafe. We had reservations here so that Ethan could meet all of the classic characters that he loves so much. He was still a bit under the weather, but enjoyed meeting everyone. Donald was the best!

Being that my birthday is tomorrow, upon arrival I received a birthday pin that I had to wear the entire trip. As much as I moaned about wearing it, I did love it and put it on every day;) I think I was wished Happy Birthday about a million times. The downfall of the pin was the fanfare that came with it. During b-fast everyone waved thier towels and the entire area of the cafe sang Happy Birthday to me.
Now here comes picture overload, with half eaten food in almost every picture:)

After breakfast we headed over to Hollywood Studios. The first time I went here it was MGM and had just opened.  This park was probably the most different from our other trips. We didn’t end up doing many of the classic adult rides such as the backstage tour, the big movie ride or even make it over to that side of the park. We did a Little Mermaid show, a Playhouse Disney Show and a 45min bathroom break. We  had picked up Tower of Terror fast passes when we first got there and at the time didn’t realize Ethan was tall enough. After some shuffling around and passing of baby watching duty, Dad, Mike, Ethan and I rode the Tower.

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*Ok what started out as a great idea of writing down everything we did on our Disney trip, with my birthday, Christmas, and everything else I just fell behind. Now that its months later I am not sure of all the nitty gritty details, but can give you a drive by summary with photo slide show of the rest of Disney. *

While at MGM we ended up doing lunch at one of the character places. We haden’t made reservations so we were just happy to have a place to eat. There were charcters from The Little Enstiens and Jojo’s Circus there and that kept Ethan entertained.
That night we had our Chirstmas Party at the Park. What an awesome night!! There were great fireworks, cookies, and the best part of the night and trip was Ethan meeting Wendy from Peter Pan. OMG he lOVES Wendy and this was a dream come true! Especially the kiss!
The day was a super long one and we were exhausted when we got back to the rooms late,late that night.

Wednesday we went to Seaworld, so I will do a summary of that below the slideshow.

Thursday started out early with the boys getting their haircuts. It was Jax’s first haircut and it was made even more special by the fact that it was in Disney. Thank God we had gotten to the park early that morning and immediately got in line. Even though there were only 4 people ahead of us we waited over an hour. But in the end it was well worth it!
We quickly darted over to Animal Kingdom and after a very sad goodbye Judy had to leave to go catch her plane, we enjoyed a quick afternoon at Animal Kingdom.

We tried to meet up with Wendy again, but sadly it was only Peter Pan. Ethan still enjoyed talking with Pan and we continue to cross our velcro in x’s to protect E from pirates.
That night we had dinner at a nice Restaurant at the Contemporary hotel. Jax was passed out by the time we got there and Ethan practically slept though dinner.

The last day was spent at Epcot. I know we left in the middle of the day and now I can’t remember why. I am starting to think it was to go look for Wendy and that I have things out of order. I do remember Jax was super fussy and just exhausted! I know we ate in China and that was all we did of the countries. Late that night we headed back there for magic hours and did this great ride Soar’in. Its like you are hang gliding and it was well worth the wait.
By the time we headed back to our hotel it was after midnight and the kids were passed out! We had a great first family Disney vacation!

Seaworld was a nice break from the craziness of Disney. We got to see lots of animals, feed the dolphins, do a few rides and have a more laid back day. Everyone loved the killer whales and it was nice to not be running from park to park. We also got to see Santa which was a highlight for Ethan. That being said we did do some running when the bus ride back to the hotel took over an hour and we had our Luau dinner show times wrong at the hotel. We ended up running across the HUGE resort to dinner, but in the end we made it and it was all good.
Enjoy the slide show from Seaworld!