So almost 2 weeks ago (it will be tomorrow), Don and I loaded up the Camry and headed south to WALT DISNEY WORLD. I know what you are thinking..."she took a 2 year old and 3 month old to Walt Disney World where they are not going to remember one bit of it and they will spend a couple grand!?!" Well before you judge me, let me explain the situation.
Rewind 2. 5 weeks ago on a Saturday. Tabitha (Don's older sister) called me back regarding a text message I sent her about getting some clothes her boys had grown out of for Luke. She responded we won't be in town for a week. I inquired and then she called. She didn't tell me where they were going just told me that if I could get transportation I could tag along too. WHAT!?! Well if you know me, you know I have the GO GOs, always have! So I was ready to say yes before she even told me where. She then drops the BOMB, Walt Disney World! I am thinking "what Tab, didn't you guys just go in September and drop some serious change?" She then informs me that her boss had vacation club points about to expire and he booked her a 2 bedroom villa at Saratoga Springs FREE. So, I ask Don if we can go. To my surprise he is sold on it. Once we jumped 2 more hurdles of Don asking vacation last minute and Tab's boss adding us to the room list, we were set ready to go. Did I mention that we got the final clearance on a Tuesday and we left early Thursday morning? Also, did I mention that we had Bunco at my house the Monday of that week and Kate stayed at my parents?
So we drive 9 hours down to Disney on Thursday with the 2 youngins. We make it by 10pm there time. We had to find a place to stay that night since our Saratoga Stay didn't start until Friday night. I remember staying at a Hilton when I was working that was nice and right next to downtown Disney. Because we lacked time and all that we just booked there. We were beyond exhausted by this time.
Friday morning we made it to the Magic Kingdom by probably about 10:30 or 11. We started off eating (which is a joke at Disney...poor quality food) then carousel, Pooh ride, It's a Small world, and some Mickey show which 3D glasses of which Kate would NOT wear. I took mine off for a second to see exactly what she would be seeing. Can you say HEADACHE? Seriously everything was blurry if you didn't have the glasses. By 4pm EST our room was ready so we all headed back. After about 2.5 hours at our posh new pad, we made our way back to MK for the fireworks and light parade. Exhausted we headed back to room.
Day 2 at Disney, Don's sister's family was out the door by 9am. We were all headed to Animal Kingdom. I was pretty pumped about this because I had never been there. Well we show about 11am again and Kate pretty much acts like she feels awful. Great! So we get our fast passes to the safari then head to get some lunch. One thing I have learned is don't get my crew past hungry or things get ugly quick. So we all ate and were happier. After eating, little man had to be fed so we took a quick stop off at the baby care center. Can I just say that this was the best thing Disney could have done on my vacation to go above and beyond? Seriously! They have baby care centers in all of the parks where you can go indoors (air-conditioned) and change your tot, feed them, pick up supplies you forgot. Well believe it or not, this mama actually forgot all diapers that day. After Luke experienced a blow-out, I had to buy the overpriced pack but was so thankful that was an option. Next stop, the safari. I was so excited! Luke got to go too. Well halfway through it, I look over at Don holding Kate and she is not even looking up. She felt that bad. This made me feel horrible. What kind of mom does this? So guess what we did after the safari....started making our way out of the park. We did however see Don's sister (and fam) on the way out and caught up, plus got ice cream. After about an hour plus wait to get back on bus to head to resort, we were on our way. And at this time lady and gents, Luke woke up from his peaceful nap and screamed inconsolably the whole way back. Awesome! At this point, I didn't care because I was mad at the whole Disney bus shuttle process. :) We ate at Downtown Disney that night that was about a 5 minute walk from our room. Oh yeah, and as we were leaving where we ate, Rob (Tab's husband) noticed that Kate had something that resembled bean stains around her knees. Well if you can imagine (all moms reading this can) it wasn't beans. All we had been giving her to drink was apple juice. Whoops! :)
Sunday morning we headed to church at the Maingate church of Christ that was about 15 minutes away. Small church service of which we had to stay in the back and I had to pace back and forth with Luke to keep him happy. Once we got back to hotel, we decided to eat at the resort. Dropped about $25 for nothing of food and surveyed the amazing pool. If Kate had felt better the day before I would have let her swim but since she didn't I was going to chance it. We took a long nap that afternoon to gear up for our night at Magic Kingdom. MK was having magic hours that night which meant that guests staying in Disney Hotels could stay until 12pm that night. All other park goers had to leave at 9. So we didn't get to the park that night until about 6:30. It was great. We did everything we wanted to do that night and left the park about 10:30. Kate loved getting to ride the Dumbo ride that night several times and seeing Mickey and Minnie on there. So thankful she felt good this last night of Disney! Because we had such short notice about this trip we were unable to book any reservations for meals with the characters. That is definitely something I want to do next time. It's a Small World was also one of her favorites if not her favorite and we all got to ride that one, even Luke.
Monday we hit the road headed north. After 2 stops to feed the baby on the way up, we decided we would stay in Panama City that night (plus I forgot to DVR the Bachelor and really wanted to see it) :). Nothing special about the place we stayed that night and it wasn't on beach. The next morning we hit the beach fairly early, got pictures of Luke's first trip, then got back on road. 2 more stops to feed baby on way home, and then we arrived back in B'ham.
Take aways from our trip were that we are not going back for 3.5 years (when Kate is 6 and Luke 4), that we want to stay close enough to Magic Kingdom that we can take a boat or monorail to get into that particular park, that we will try to take some snacks into park if easy to carry, that we will buy meal plan if one meal a day and 1 snack is offered, that we will go back in the Fall (Sept - Nov). We really can't wait to go back!
