Holy moly my baby's turning TWOodles! UPDATED 6/13/17 June Trip overview

[karsen11]

Hello everyone and welcome!!! I'm going to try this whole trip report business one more time because last time it just didn't happen. But this time I'm really excited to commit to it! So here goes nothing
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This is my little family and this upcoming trip is extra special because we are celebrating this little cutie's second birthday! We did her first birthday there last May and my husband swore we were not going to make a pattern of it... He's a good sport! We are now the proud owners of APs! Not only did this trip take a little convincing, but June will be our 10 year wedding anniversary, and after several hits and one weekend of pestering the crap out of him an additional June trip was born!!! My plan is to combine both of these trips into one ongoing report. So sit back and enjoy, hopefully we can bring you some nice entertainment along the way! Next post: our park day schedule and ADRs. We fly out May 3rd so the PTR with be brief and pretty light on details, but I'm definitely not going to be sticking with that theme throughout my actual report, details are kinda my thing.
Overview: May 3-May 7
AKL DVC with rented points
Joining our family is my MIL (I'll touch on this situation in my next post)
And my husband's cousin and her 4 year old adorable daughter
Hopefully you'll join us as my darling daughter turns TWOodles and we enjoy some well deserved time in our happy place!

 

[karsen11]

URL=http://s1255.photobucket.com/user/k...eneau1124/IMG_0930_zpsgppf7a90.jpg[/IMG][/URL

Ok what the heck am I doing wrong with uploading my pictures

 

[karsen11]

 

[karsen11]

Yes! I figured it out!!! whoop whoop!
this is our family! And most of the time we travel to Disney just the three of us. This was from the last day of our trip sept/oct 2016


It was a great trip and I originally wanted to write a trip report for that adventure but we had the craziest Fall and it just wasn't in the cards for me.

This is where I'm currently at, started to pack and get organized and we have counted down the days on the countdown calendar we made.





Aside from finishing a long "to do" list before we go, I am so ready for this trip.

I will be working the morning of our departure day and around noon my husband will be picking me up and we will head to the airport to catch a 3:30 flight. We are scheduled to arrive at MCO at 5:55pm and take the Magical Express to AKL. My original plan was to head over to AK and make it to ROL with a Fastpass. I thought about this a lot and have decided that we are better off hanging at the resort and heading to a 8pm ADR that includes a little bit of this

and some cocktails of course!

That way we enjoy what the resort has to offer a little, we love Sanaa, and we are able to get some good rest and recover a bit because we will be touring commando style for the remainder of the trip

As I mentioned above, My MIL and my husband's cousin with her daughter are joining us on this trip. I'm a little nervous about this; 1. because we are not used to being in Disney with other people, and 2. because things are a bit awkward right now with my MIL. But I'm determined to make the best of it...we shall see

I'm not sure if I will be including their pictures along with my report, most likely not because I don't have their permission and I don't want them to stumble upon this report, as I want it to be an honest report of our experience and I'm just not sure how it is going to go.
All I have to say is thank goodness for copious amounts of alcohol

Plan overview:

May 3:
Arrive at AKL, 8pm ADR for Sanaa, and some time exploring the resort/ unpacking and organizing

May 4:
Rope Drop at AK, lunch at Flame Tree BBQ, evening at MK, ADR CRT

May 5:
Rope Drop EPCOT, tour flower and garden festival, ADR for dinner at Coral Reef

May 6:
Rope Drop MK, celebrate Gigi's birthday, lunch at BOG, and dinner ADR at O'hana

May 7:
DHS, departure day pick up Magical Express for a 9pm flight home.

It's a short trip, but now that we are heading back in June for a week I'm more ok with it

 

[OhMari]

I have you moved.

I bet you planned the June trip for a do over. Believe me, I once traveled with the inlaws and I immediately planned my do over.

 

[rdkeim]

I will be following along! I know what you mean about park touring with others - it can be a challenge! How fun to celebrate your DD's birthday in Disney. Our grandson is 6 mo. old and I'm already dreaming of taking him to Disney. Unfortunately the daughter-in-law is anti-Disney so we shall see

 

[Stasieki]

Looking forward to hearing your report - I have often thought about asking my MIL to come along for a trip, but then I put it out of my mind. She is nice enough but she just doesn't get spending money on a disney trip so I know anytime we would try to buy a souvenir or something it would be brought up.

 

[Daniela Rose]

Can I just say I'm obsessed with your zip loc packing! So you use them for your dds outfits each day?

 

[MomofaPrincessLover]

Can't wait to hear about your trip!

 

[jpeterson]

I have you moved.

I bet you planned the June trip for a do over. Believe me, I once traveled with the inlaws and I immediately planned my do over.

Our first Disney trip was with my in-laws. But they only stayed for half the trip, which worked well because then we could go at a faster pace after they left. They are coming with us for the duration of our Thanksgiving trip but we are encouraging them to enjoy the resort more and not feel they have to do everything we do. Hopefully that works.

 

[warriorping]

Following along! I can't wait to hear about your rest of your trip!

 

[buddha112]

Joining In. We are going with my in-laws in February. My big fear is they will slow us down and my soon to be three year old at that time will walk faster then them. HAHA

 

[JessP81]

Joining in an excited to hear about your trip! We will be staying at AKL with rented DVC points next year for our sons second birthday, we have nevertheless stayed there but it looks amazing and I hope my little one will like the animals.

 

[karsen11]

Holy Moly My Baby's Turing TWOodles!!!​

Hello everyone!! Thanks for joining! Sorry for the delay in posting, but honestly I needed a while to reflect on this trip (I'm sure you are all aware of why). I have to say, in a lot of ways this was not the trip that I wanted it to be, but expected it to be. And in other ways I was thrilled...my daughter was amazing! She truly loved Disney World, though this was her 4th time going, this one she was aware of how special this place is and her face was lit up the entire time. It was magical just to watch her and her love for this place that means so much to my husband and I grow. Before I start, I want to let you know that I am going to do my best to report how everything went down on this vacation, but again I don't want to post pictures of those traveling with us, since I want to keep it honest and I don't want them put on blast.

Now, the moment you've all been wait for, THE MAIN EVENT!

Travel Day!

I woke up a little earlier than I normally do for work around 5am, I usually get up around 5:30 and I got myself dressed and put my final carry on items in my bag. The night before I decorated in front of Gigi's bedroom so that it would be all set for when we got her up in the morning. I had my husband get up and we got ready to record her reaction...it was pure joy and excitement. Really, how adorable is this...



The only bad part was, I still had to work a half day so the plan was, my husband and I would load Gigi in the car, drop he off at my parents (they live a mile from us and watch her while we are at work all day, so this was nothing different except that we were both in the car because normally my husband just takes her himself since he has a more flexible work schedule and does not have to be there nearly as early as I do). Then he would drive me to work (its a 45 minute commute), head home, wrap up a few emails and some last minute items I left for him, pick Gigi back up around 11:30am, drive the mile over to his mom's house, pick her up and then head back to get me. The school I teach at is only about 15 minutes from the airport so this works out nicely. There was only one snag in our plan...when we dropped Gigi off, she melted down because she thought we were going to Disney World without her . My poor parents had to calm her down because we were in a rush at this point. Other than that everything worked out perfectly and we were checked in at Southwest in no time.




We had a little extra time once we arrived so we grabbed a bite to eat and relaxed for about 40 minutes before boarding. As far as a the flight went, it was super easy. 2 hours as we arrived about 20 minutes early. Gigi did an amazing job! Lots of coloring and playing matching games and reading books. Definitely thankful she's so well behaved.


Before long we were in line for the Magical Express, where Gigi could not believe that Mickey's face was everywhere she looked. Talk about a happy little girl. By 6:45 we were loaded on the bus and taking our traditional Magic band picture...to me this means we're home


It took about 50 minutes to make it to the DVC villas in Kidani since there were several stops prior to ours...and poor Gigi was starting to get antsy, which I didn't blame her for, this was our longest trip on the Magical Express. But she still wasn't bad at all. We were being welcomed home just before 8pm and walked into a room where my MIL had had a nice tote bag and birthday crown wait for Gigi. It was super thoughtful and I was so hopeful at this point that the trip was off to an amazing start. Until my MIL started to freak out because there was supposed to be a balloon along with the gift and there wasn't . To me this was not a big deal because it wasn't anything that couldn't be handled, but to her it was a travesty. I thanked her over and over and let her know that I would help her contact Disney later, we had an 8:10pm ADR at Sanaa to check in to.

We walked the short distance down the steps and we quickly greeted at the podium. I asked if there was any way we could have a savannah view and she said she would give us a pager and if we got tired of waiting just come back and let them know that we were good to be seated anywhere. We went outside and spent some time around the fire, talking to cast members and spotting animals, it was dusk and they had night vision goggles they were bringing out. Super cool! But instead of enjoying with us, my MIL is yelling at someone on the phone about the balloon. This was super annoying to me...here we are after all of that traveling trying to relax and take in our first moments in this beautiful place and all you could think about is that you paid for a balloon, so you need a balloon now . Oh well, that's on her for missing out.



After about 10 minutes though we were hungry and tired and ready to just eat so we checked back in and let them know that any table would be fine. Within maybe 5 minutes we were seated at a nice table that backed up to the glass viewing the savannah but it was now too dark to see out figures. Each adult started off with a alcoholic beverage, because ummmm it's vacation. I cant remember what everyone else got but I chose their Moscow Mule and it was great! Very refreshing. I also ordered bread service for the table, so that everyone could partake in the yumminess that is carbs and dips! after bread service is when things started to break down a bit...see at home my child takes a two hour afternoon nap and is in bed around 7:30 pm each night. Due to travel time, neither one of these things happened and she was just over everything. I think honestly she was hungry and tired and didn't want to be in a highchair at this point. I ordered her and I a New York Strip to spilt, since steak is her favorite and I was hoping that that would help. It was late and dinner definitely took awhile to come out, so I let her sit on my lap and did the best I could to entertain her and keep her afloat. But as soon as we were done eating, I showed the server our AP's on my MDE account and asked her to apply our discount and had Tom settle the bill while I took her back to the room to get a bath and head to bed. So sorry for the lack of pictures on this post. It was a long day and wrangling a tired almost two year old at a nice dinner trumps food pics . Within 30 minutes I had Gigi bathed, had our groceries delivered, gave her a cup of warm milk, put her pack-n-play sheets together and had her snoring. Meal while I unpacked a little and got myself organized and showered because I too was ready for bed! Tomorrow we were heading to rope drop at AK and so we needed to be up and out the door by 8:15 at the latest...I'm not sure that everyone was able to grasp my sense of urgency

 

[karsen11]

I have you moved.

I bet you planned the June trip for a do over. Believe me, I once traveled with the inlaws and I immediately planned my do over.

ABSOLUTELY!!! I told my husband multiple times, that if we did not have a second trip booked for right around the corner I would not be able to handle the situation!

 

[karsen11]

Can I just say I'm obsessed with your zip loc packing! So you use them for your dds outfits each day?

Thanks! Yes I'm crazy...All of her outfits are in a ziplock, it is labeled with the park and the day, it has her dress, her diaper cover, a matching bow, and an initial diaper in it. I pack one back up per day in our park bag that has the same thing in it incase she needs it, or if we are meeting a character later that I want her dressed for. I also have a ziplock packed for each day containing 8 diapers, two disposable changing pads, a pack of wipes and ponchos for each of us. Yep feel free to judge

 

[karsen11]

Joining in an excited to hear about your trip! We will be staying at AKL with rented DVC points next year for our sons second birthday, we have nevertheless stayed there but it looks amazing and I hope my little one will like the animals.

We LOVED it !!! we would stay there again in a heartbeat, just without MIL

 

[karsen11]

Our first Disney trip was with my in-laws. But they only stayed for half the trip, which worked well because then we could go at a faster pace after they left. They are coming with us for the duration of our Thanksgiving trip but we are encouraging them to enjoy the resort more and not feel they have to do everything we do. Hopefully that works.

Yes, not everyone has the sense of urgency that we do, and we know the parks like the back of our hands and have our own routines, it's hard to manage other, slower people, who just don't seem to get it.

 

[Daniela Rose]

Thanks! Yes I'm crazy...All of her outfits are in a ziplock, it is labeled with the park and the day, it has her dress, her diaper cover, a matching bow, and an initial diaper in it. I pack one back up per day in our park bag that has the same thing in it incase she needs it, or if we are meeting a character later that I want her dressed for. I also have a ziplock packed for each day containing 8 diapers, two disposable changing pads, a pack of wipes and ponchos for each of us. Yep feel free to judge

Oh no judgement here. I'm literally OCD and love all of that.

 

[DVC Kayla]

I love the MB picture! Such a great idea, especially as your dd grows up!