IT BEGINS…
I chatted with the cashier as I checked out the grocery
store. “What are you up to so early
today?” she asked. “Well, I just left
the gym, picking up donuts for the girls and then we’re headed for DisneyWorld.” She paused, looked at me, “Wait, really?” “Yeah, it was a rough workout.” She laughed, possibly still not sure if I was
kidding.
So I got home, there was a flurry of last minute packing,
organizing, eating, loading into the car and finally, we arrived at the
airport.
Last Christmas, we gave my parents plane tickets to Orlando
for Christmas. We told them they could
go anytime to visit my little sister or they were welcome to come with us when
we went to visit in October. (I was
hoping for the latter, I avoid being outnumbered by my kids in public.) And finally, October has come and the
long-awaited vacation could begin! Husband
had flown out the night before (Sunday), going to Orlando for a work conference
and would join us on Thursday. But in
the meantime, Grammy, Papa, the 3 girls and I were ready to start our
vacation. The first leg of our flight
went smoothly. The girls each had their
backpack filled with activities and fun things to keep them busy. We had a long layover at the Denver Airport
and made good use of all the open empty space upstairs. We turned the kids loose to play with toys
for awhile, ate lunch, ran laps up and down the escalator and finally piled
back into the plane. The highlight of
the flight was the Disney Princess paper dolls I brought and the new art kits
Grammy had given them. And of course, our
usual favorites: pipe cleaners, Twizzler Pull-n-Peels, ring pops, coloring
books, puzzles and hot chocolate (the flight attendant can bring it with a lid,
perfect choice for my littles).
We arrived late in the evening and gathered our enormous
amount of luggage (11 pieces, including 4 boxes being taken to my sister, plus
8 carryons, a wheelerchair, a stroller and a carseat. That has got to be my new record.) We made our way to the other side of the
airport with the help of a Skycap employee and checked in for Disney’s Magical
Express. The girls bounced around and
excitedly boarded the bus to take us to DisneyWorld. L and A were fixated on the video playing,
describing activities at the various parks, but little Miss E crashed quickly
and was sound asleep until the next morning.
We checked in at Disney’s All-Star Music Resort and finally settled in
to sleep around 1 am.
DAY 2
I had promised the girls they could sleep in as late as they
want and when they awoke, they could cuddle me in bed and watch cartoons. So at 6 am, L perked awake, asking to watch
cartoons. (We don’t have Disney Junior
at home, so that in itself makes any hotel thrilling in their opinion.) Fortunately, she cuddled in and went right
back to sleep. We slept in and then
spent the morning settling into our hotel room, unpacking and organizing a
bit. For the first night, we (Grammy,
Papa, the 3 girls and I) piled into one room.
But we had reserved two rooms for the rest of our stay to give us more
space, especially once we were joined by my kid sister (and eventually
Husband). Also part of our morning fun
was when the girls discovered 3 princess-themed gift bags waiting for
them. (this magic would continue each
morning of our Disney stay.) The girls
opened the bags and found a swim cover-up, super cute terry cloth dresses, embroidered
with their favorite Disney characters. They
immediately shed their pjs, and dressed in the swim suits and cover ups,
begging to go to the pool.
But first, we ventured over to the dining hall to eat
(seeing as it was almost lunchtime already).
This was the first trip we’ve done the meal plan and we loved it! We figured we spent about the same amount of
money we normally would (my sister was able to use an employee discount for the
room and meal plan) but got a lot more food and were able to schedule a couple
character meals! So for us, it was totally worth it and will definitely do it
again if we can.
After lunch we went swimming at our hotel. We were in the Broadway Music hall (perfectly
appropriate for us), located right next to the piano shaped pool. The girls loved dancing across the piano keys
(floor tiles), chatting with the Ariel statue, splashing in and out of the pool
and especially, tossing around the beach balls provided by the hotel.
By the time we finished swimming and returned to our room,
we found that my sister had arrived! She
works in the Magic Kingdom and was working that morning. But now she had the rest of the week off and
was ready to play. We lounged for a
little while and then we were off to our first park adventure: EPCOT!
We made good use of the few hours we spent at EPCOT and had
a fantastic time. We went immediately to
the back of the park and met Mulan. The
girls were thrilled! Even little Miss E who has previously shied away from the characters, warmed up quickly. This was also the
first time we’ve collected autographs. I
brought a little photo album for each of them, as well as a stack of index
cards and retractable Sharpies. My plan
is to use a larger photo album so that across one spread, they can have the
autograph plus pictures from multiple trips as they get older. After meeting Mulan, the skies cracked open
and the light drizzle of rain became a sudden drenching with buckets of rain
thundering down. We dashed for Mexico, where we could go inside and keep dry
while we rode the 3 Caballeros ride (twice).
Then the rain ended as abruptly as it begun. (I love the rain. Plus, then the parks empty out a bit more as
many people go home and the lines are shorter!)
The girls loved puddle jumping and splashing along as we met more
characters. We got to meet Snow White,
Aurora, Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. L and
A were ecstatic and eager for each character.
E was a little more reserved but happy to see the princesses. She was definitely
more reluctant when we met the others, needing a few minutes of time to warm up
and then eventually launched herself at Minnie.
She was grinning and rambling and so excited to see her. (However, E did complain to me that Minnie
didn’t talk or answer her questions.)
We also rode Finding Nemo and Soarin’. A loved our first few rides but broke on
Soarin’, confirming our suspicious that she can’t do heights. On previous rides, she has excitedly begged
to go on rides but once the ride has begun, sometimes she will suddenly turn
white and burst into tears. She loved
the spinning tea cups but hated the ferris wheel. Thus, we conclude it must be
heights. (poor girl!)
EPCOT was hosting the Food and Wine Festival which looked so
fun! We didn’t stop to sample as the kids were begging for rides and
characters. But had it just been adults,
we would have loved sampling the food and wandering more leisurely.
But all too soon, the park closed and it was time to go. We rode the bus back to our hotel, stopped at
the dining room for a late dinner, ate way too much ice cream and headed for
bed.
DAY 3
The girls slept in again and eagerly found their Disney gift
again, beautiful princess tiaras. But
they elected to wait and wear them with their princess dresses the next
day. So we dressed, readied for the day
and went to the dining hall for chocolate milk and breakfast pastries.
We spent Wednesday at Hollywood Studios. Our first stop was for Toy Story. We met Buzz and Woody and a Green Army Man and
rode Toy Story Mania! (one of my all time favorites. Even though kid sister beat me, as usual.) We met Mr. Incredible and Frozone (the girls
had to flex their muscles for them) and watched the Little Mermaid
stageshow. Then we got to have our first
character meal at Hollywood & Vine with the cast of Disney Junior. The girls were thrilled! The buffet made it a little chaotic but the
girls stayed at the table, eagerly waiting for the characters to visit while I
filled their plates. They didn’t know Handy Manny very well but were happy to meet him. Soon Jake came to visit and they were even
more excited, followed by Doc McStuffins (A’s favorite). She got extra hugs and pictures and chatted
nonstop. Then they joined the kids
parade and danced and played but the highlight for E came when Sofia first
appeared. She stayed at the table but
called for Sofia to visit her and then bounced and grinned as she waited. Soon she came and E was in heaven. She
latched on for a long hug and then stuck right at her side for pictures and
autographs and an even longer hug before saying goodbye. So adorable!
After lunch we visited Ralph & Vanelleope and Mike &
Sully. We watched the Disney Junior
stage show and saw the Frozen Sing-a-long.
We sat on the very first row, I laughed until my cheeks hurt (the
performers were hilarious and openly heckled my dad) and the girls sang at the
top of their lungs for each song. L made
several friends throughout the week, usually in lines or on the bus, and got to
sit with one of her new friends during the show. We visited an exhibit on the new movie, Big
Hero 6 and watched a movie about the animation process (hosted by Mushu). We met Lightening McQueen and Mator and watched
the Muppet 3D movie. We made a last
minute decision to attend Fantasmic! and I was so glad we did! The girls have previously been too young and
would have been scared of the noise and villains but they did great! We managed to get seated minutes before it
began, near the back end of a section and the girls loved the show. They shouted at the villains and cheered at
their favorite characters. They loved
the water effects and fireworks but my very favorite was A and E yelling “Mickey,
you have to break the spell! You can do it Mickey!”
We made our way back to the hotel for another late night
dinner and even more ice cream (this time L and A picked Mickey shaped rice
krispy treats) and were quickly sound asleep.
DAY 4
Thursday’s Princess Present was glow stick jewelry. The girls were excited as they always loved
glow sticks but especially as princess themed jewelry. But we set them aside with the promise of
using them at night.
On Thursday we had made a reservation for another character
breakfast, the 1900 Park Fare. This
required us to take a bus to the Magic Kingdom and then board the monorail to
go to The Grand Floridian Resort (which was beautiful but the kids mostly just
loved getting to ride the monorail.)
Breakfast was amazing with custom omelets, plenty of fruit, a unique
strawberry soup, crepes, eggs, Mickey waffles and all sorts of breakfast pastries. We were first visited by Mary Poppins (who
recommended the strawberry soup), followed by Alice and the Mad Hatter (he was
especially hilarious and took plenty of time to play with the kids). KidSister had never met him so that was
especially fun to be with her for a “first”.
Lastly, we were visited by Pooh and Tigger, who the kids were most
excited about.
After we finished breakfast, we went upstairs to the large
gift shop and let the girls wander. E
collected a stack of toys and stuffed animals but L quickly settled onto a
beautiful Belle doll (from the Animator’s collection). Following her lead, A picked out a Rapunzel
doll. E took more time deciding and eventually
declared she wanted a Cinderella doll to match.
Unfortunately Cinderella couldn’t be found. KidSister even made a dash into the Magic
Kingdom and checked 3 stores plus her cast connections before finding that
Cinderella is currently not available.
But E was easily persuaded (and I’m sure equally satisfied) with the
promise of a Tinkerbell doll (who might be the cutest of them all). However, the girls were tired and easily
upset and I knew what an adventure we had that evening, so I mandated naptime
and the girls were soon asleep again at our hotel. (bliss!)
After naps, the girls got to get dressed up for Mickey’s
Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. L dressed
in her beloved Belle dress (made by KidSister for L’s 3rd birthday
but luckily still fits), A dressed as Rapunzel and E was Princess Sofia the
First. They donned their new tiaras and
we were off.
We arrived at the Magic Kingdom at 4:00, hoping to visit as
many characters as we could before the Halloween Party started at 7:00. We first met Tinkerbell, who was one of my favorite
experiences of the trip. She played with
the girls and teased them into touching the white fuzz on her shoes, laughing
and jumping like it tickled. She let E
admire her wings and helped the girls explore some of the “lost things” in her
room. Then we headed to New FantasyLand
for a whirlwind of rides, characters and pure Disney bliss. We visited Belle at Enchanted Tales (L and A
got to participate in the storytelling), rode the Voyage of the Little Mermaid
and visited Ariel. We rode the
Barnstormer and Dumbo, visited Elsa & Anna and Rapunzel &
Cinderella. (Poor Rapunzel, A was
thrilled to see her and wanted to linger and talk but E blew right past her,
making a beeline for her favorite Cinderella.)
As we rode the carousel, Daddy arrived and the girls squealed, quickly latching
onto him and excited telling him as fast as they could about all our
adventures. We rode Winnie the Pooh and visited
Merida. I held our place in line as the
girls visited a trick-or-treat trail, collecting candy and then joining me to
visit Tarzan & Turk. Meeting Tarzan
was another first for KidSister and he was especially fun with her, singing a
song he wrote about bananas and drawing her an illustration. We visited Tiana (E patted her “so pretty
dress” and danced with her) before joining Grammy and Papa who were holding our
seats in front of the castle. As we
waited, the girls donned their glow stick jewelry and danced in the
street. Then we got to watch the Villains
Stageshow as we ate popcorn, watched the AMAZING parade as we ate Pineapple
Dolewhip and loved the castle projection and fireworks while we ate churros. (Disney snack Heaven!) After the shows, Grammy, Papa, E and
KidSister retired to the hotel while Husband, L, A and I rode Pirates of the Caribbean,
visited more trick-or-treat trails and lined up for Haunted Mansion. I had really wanted to visit the Haunted Mansion,
which gets especially decked out for the Halloween Party, but my sweet and sensitive
L got too scared and we bailed just before getting into the car. (Husband reported that A loved it.) Meanwhile L and I wandered over to Peter Pan’s
Flight and waited as long as we could, trying to get Husband and A to
join. But finally, just as they closed
the line, we slipped on without them and cuddled, enjoying the ride just the
two of us. And then, with the park
closing, we went home.
DAY 5
Having had such a late night, Friday morning was a little
rough. Even with the lure of Princess Presents (new water bottles themed with favorite characters), they were tough
to wake up. But eventually the girls
roused, we packed up and checked out of the hotel. We drove (since we now had KidSister’s car
and Husband’s rental) to DisneyWorld’s Polynesian Resort for one last Disney
experience: a character meal called Ohana with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch. The island ambiance was wonderful and the
food was amazing. This meal was served
family style so I didn’t have to worry about filling the girls plates at the
buffet. Instead they helped themselves
to the waffles, eggs, breakfast meats, delicious potatoes and sweetbread. E was tough to contain since she saw Lilo as
we entered the restaurant but we convinced her to wait. Then she saw Stitch and became even more
excited and impatient. The girls loved
joining the kids parade, happily shaking the maracas provided for them,
following closely behind Lilo. The
characters each visited our table for plenty of hugs and photos. Mickey gestured that the girls black and red
and white Hawaiian dressed reminded him of Lilo and the girls were all eager to
pat Pluto’s head but the favorite of course, was Stitch.
After breakfast, we said goodbye to DisneyWorld and embarked
upon the second part of our vacation: a Bahamas cruise.
We arrived at the dock, checked luggage, waited in line,
filed out paperwork (I was disappointed in that because I had made sure we were
all pre registered and had cruise documents in hand), took photos and finally,
boarded our ship, Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas. (Coincidentally, it was the same ship that
Husband and I sailed on for our honeymoon 9 years ago on the opposite
coastline.) Our first stop: the soft
serve ice cream machine (we visited often throughout the weekend, in addition
to my perpetual virgin daiquiris—which Husband pointed out is really just a
fancy Slurpee). Then we hit a rough spot
in the trip with some unfortunate accidents (typical clumsiness, kids’ upset
stomachs and general miscommunications).
So we’ll skip that part (including the muster drill and a failed first attempt
at the swimming pool) and get to the good stuff: dinner. (I love cruise food!) Husband and I took the girls to the
WindJammer, the casual buffet restaurant where L sampled a variety of food
while A and E devoured spaghetti noodles and then all the kids relished the
dessert table. Husband and I sampled,
but tried to resist for now. Then we
checked the kids into the kids club (where they had a total blast!) and left
for the more formal dining room, admittedly, ready for a break from the kids after such a rough afternoon. Plus I love the luxury of the lesiurely, delectable cruise dinners. We met
Grammy, Papa and KidSister for dinner lingered over the amazing food. Eventually we picked the kids up, who were
reluctant to leave. The kid’s club,
called Adventure Ocean, was fantastic.
Each session was planned with tons of great activities with staff
members that the kids adored. But we
promised them we could return in the morning and went back to our room for the
night. Grammy, Papa and KidSister went
to a show in the theater and reported it was enjoyable but sounds like we didn’t
miss too much. E snuggled into bed in
between Husband and I while L and A were ecstatic about their bunk beds that
had magically appeared while we were out (thanks to a very friendly and helpful
stateroom attendant). Our room had a
door adjoining us to Grammy, Papa and KidSister in the next room. This made it more suite-style and fit our big
group perfectly, especially once we got unpacked and settled. After a little tv time (no Disney but we
learned that we had a channel that continuously played Barbie movies, much to
the kids’ delight), we all slept soundly.
The motion of the boat was a little rough the first night but hardly
noticeable at any time after that.
Day 6 (I actually had to check.)
We slept until 10:30.
Even the kids. That might be a
record. The dark room and recent long
nights encouraged everyone to sleep their fill and then we barely made it to
breakfast (still in pjs) before the WindJammer reset for lunch. Soon the kids were dressed and begging to
return to the kids’ club. So we signed
them in for the rest of the morning session and the lunch date as well so we
could go ashore without them for awhile. The ship had docked in Nassau, so we made our
way off the ship and through the initial throngs of shops and merchants and
photographers. We wandered some of the
stores nearby and explored the nearby markets.
We picked out a few treasures to take home, including my “trip earrings”. My amazing husband knows my love for jewelry
and I have a pair of earrings from every major trip we’ve done together. Some were a surprise he picked out (and he
has fantastic taste) and some we’ve picked together. This trip, he saw me fall in love with some
pink flowers carved from a conch shell and bought them for me.
Back on the ship, we collected the kids from kids club and
took them swimming. The loved running in
the sprinkler splash pad and bounced around in the pool (far too cold for my
taste but Daddy played with them while I took pictures, sipped my frozen drinks
and sat with kids when they needed to warm up in the hot tub).
After swimming we showered and readied for formal
night. We spent some time attempting
family pictures but E was particularly uncooperative and we finally gave
up. (We did like some of them well
enough to purchase, one portrait of our little family of 5 plus another of our
whole group. But the best photo was our
group photo as we boarded the ship.) We
went to the formal dining and had a great evening (despite a rough start). A
LOVED the shrimp cocktail she got for an appetizer so much that after eating
only half her entrée, begged and ordered 3 more shrimp plates. E bounced around
and devoured her mac and cheese as well as half my food while my beautiful L
seemed to thrive on the elegance, being sweet and dainty and picture
perfect. As we finished our dinners, our
fantastic waiters did magic tricks for the girls and then brought each of them
a brownie sundae as well as a little plate with three mini cupcakes, frosting
and an assortment of sprinkles so they could decorate them. It was a huge hit, the kids played and
decorated and then licked up all the frosting leaving the cupcakes largely
untouched. Meanwhile, I relished my
carrot cake and the “chocolate sensation” which was divine.
Day 7
After another morning of sleeping in and barely arriving in
time for breakfast, we took the girls ashore to Royal Caribbean’s private
island, Coco Cay for an amazing day. We
briefly wandered the small cluster of shops and then explored on to find the
kids club which was held on shore that day.
They dove into the sand castle building while Husband, Papa, KidSister
and I explored the beach. (Grammy wasn’t
feeling good and stayed on the ship.)
After just a little while, we picked the kids up to take them swimming
with us. The water was perfect, the
beach was pristine and beautiful. The
girls immediately set about finding sea shells and played in the water until
they quickly discovered the first of many jellyfish and hightailed it onto
lounge chairs sitting just high enough in the water to keep them safe. We teased them and played until
lunchtime. They especially loved the
pufferfish swimming by and the large conch shell crabs Papa found and brought
to them. Royal Caribbean provided a huge
barbeque lunch on the island. L
especially loved the ribs, A loved the fruit punch and E mostly just played and
explored. Once satisfied, we returned
the girls to the kids club, KidSister went back to the ship to nap while
Husband, Papa and I headed for the beach.
We discovered the snorkel gear we brought was missing a few pieces so
Papa and Husband went snorkeling while I lounged, swim and wandered. The men saw all kinds of fish, coral and
creatures. They even visited a staged
snorkel area with sunken treasure and artifacts. Meanwhile I soaked up the sun and found
plenty of sea life without fins and a mask.
My favorite was the trumpet fish and the large stingray (I didn’t notice
it until I almost stepped on it!)
Back on board the ship, we took our time getting cleaned up
and stopped for another round of ice cream.
We took the girls to the WindJammer for dinner (again, sampling a little
as well) and dropped them off at kids club while we went to the formal dining
for dinner. Our waiters were openly disappointed we didn’t bring the kids! They had even already brought appetizer of
shrimp so the girls wouldn’t have to wait at all. So after our own appetizers and entrees, we
picked up the kids and had them join us for dessert (including an amazing key
lime pie).
KidSister and I hurried back to the room while Husband
played games with the kids for awhile.
My KidSister, among her many talents, is a gifted seamstress and costume
designer. She had brought her gorgeous,
very authentic, Anna dress and invited me to be Elsa for a photo shoot. So I had put together my own costume of sorts
and together as Elsa and Anna, we wandered the ship for appropriate backdrops
and settings. Grammy and Papa followed
us as our photographers and we had a great time playing and posing for photos,
greeting strangers and posing for strangers’ photos. I loved seeing KidSister fall into character
and had so much fun with her, probably one of my all time favorite moments with
her.
We returned to the room to see the kids. Husband and them tucked into bed, waiting for us. KidSister had brought the perfect book for
her and I to read together (as Elsa and Anna) for a bedtime story. It was a perfect, delightful evening. We sent them
drifting off into sleep while the adults resigned ourselves to reality and
began packing.
Day 8
The next day, our last day, started way too early and with too
little sleep. Even with all the lights
on and music playing, we couldn’t get the kids to wake up. So I dashed to the WindJammer and collected
enough for breakfast, trying to bribe the kids awake. Even that didn’t work and E ended up sleeping
as she cuddled a waffle to her cheek. But
eventually we managed to get everyone awake enough to empty out the room and
gather in our disembarkation location.
We made our way off the ship, collected luggage, checked in with customs
and finally found our car.
With a few hours before our flight, we took an airboat tour
of the Everglades. It was a company I
had identified in a random coupon book,called the Gator's Nest, based on their location, price and
availability. It turned out to be fantastic
and we had a great time. Grammy,
KidSister and I had front row seats while the girls sat in the middle of the
boat, flanked by Papa and Husband. We
flew around a lake with our friendly and fun captain pointing out birds or
plants or challenges of the wetlands. We
got a quick glimpse of a few large alligators as they disappeared from us but
finally found a perfect spot with several young alligators that were willing to
lounge and ignore us as we admired. The
girls each got a close view of the alligators (as well as several tiny frogs
that tried to hitchhike in our boat).
Back at the dock, the captain encouraged the girls to pose for pictures
in the captain’s chair and L was especially fascinated as he showed her how the
controls work.
After a quick stop for fast food, we arrived at the airport
and hugged KidSister goodbye. We found our plane and played games until it was
time to board. The first leg of our
flight was not crowded and E and Husband had all three seats to themselves. She was sound asleep in minutes and was able
to sprawl out for nearly the whole flight while the girls and I worked on art
projects. Then we had a quick layover before
our next flight so we stopped for pizza and gourmet popcorn. On the second flight, the girls played with
magnetic paper dolls and watched cartoons on Daddy’s computer. All of them were finally zoned out and
drifting off as we landed at our home airport.
It’s hard to say who was more tired, adults or kids as we collected
luggage and found our cars.
And now home again. There’s
piles of laundry to wash, plenty of miscellaneous things to organize and put
away, a few souvenir suckers to share with friends, over 20 gig of pictures to
view and sort, homework to make up, and more, but a very happy and content
little family.
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