Our Monkey is heading to meet Mickey! Baby's first trip!

[arizonacolbys]

Maddie’s 1st Trip to Walt Disney World

Hi! My name is Emily & I love going to Disney World! LOL I’m 31 & this will be my 11th trip with my husband & my first trip with my new baby girl!!! My husband & I have always had such wonderful trips to WDW together and we are just beyond excited to show the World to our baby girl, Madelyn. We’ve been married for 9 years & it took some heartbreak & a lot of time to finally be blessed with our daughter.

Our last trip to WDW was in late August/early September of 2007. We found out we were pregnant in January 2008 & then our baby girl was born in September 2008. So, it’ll be 2 full years in between this upcoming trip & our last trip & that’s the longest we’ve gone between trips in our 9 years of marriage!! LOL We are definitely overdue…

Let me introduce the cast of characters:
Me: I love our vacations together & spend months planning everything out to make sure we have a great trip! I think planning is half the fun! This trip has certainly thrown me for a loop…we ended up rescheduling it twice! More on that later… My favorite characters are: Tigger, Pluto, Stitch, Baloo & Mickey! My latest hobby has become sewing cute outfits for my baby girl to wear at WDW.

Hubby: Also loves our vacations to WDW together – he went many times growing up with his family & thankfully, he shares my love of WDW! Hubby’s favorite character is Goofy!

Baby Girl: Madelyn – also known as Maddie, or Silly Monkey…LOL We have been very lucky because she has always been a very easy baby. She is easygoing & is always on the go with us, which I think will be good practice for WDW! She will be just shy of 11 months old when we take our trip. Oh, and she is in LOVE with Mickey! LOL She has been watching some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in preparation for the trip & she starts laughing & flapping her arms like crazy when she sees the Main Mouse appear on the screen! She also likes to get down to the Hot Dawg Dance!

Some background info on our trip – this trip has been rescheduled (or rather, moved up!) not once…but twice! We were originally booked to spend 10 nights at a BWV in December to see all the beautiful Christmas decorations. My husband is in the National Guard & his “contract” is up next month. Because he is an Officer, he had to submit a letter of resignation to resign his position (this has to be done 6 months in advance.) When he turned this in, we were told he also needed to serve out his IRR time, which would be through next November. So, he ended up having a Drill weekend that interfered with the Dec trip & would have pushed it too close to Christmas for my taste.

So, thankfully, we had a wonderfully understanding woman here on the Dis that we had rented our points from. She was able to re-book us for September, leaving home just 2 days after my baby’s 1st birthday! It was going to be perfect & we were so excited about it! We love the F&W Festival & I was excited to take Maddie to the Halloween Party at the MK. I booked my airfare & everything! Then, about a month after we got that all situated, another curveball was thrown our way….

We found out last month that my husband was being cross-leveled (basically taken out of his “normal” National Guard unit that he’s been with for the last couple years & being attached to a new unit) to a unit that is now deploying overseas for a year. Of course, we also got this news less than a week after losing my chocolate lab, Colby. He was my first baby & we really had such a special bond with him. He was only 8 years old & basically got sick one day unexpectedly & nobody was able to figure out the issue until it was too late. I’m really still trying to deal with his loss – every day gets better, but there are days I really miss his presence here at home. Thankfully, we still have our yellow lab & she keeps us company & helps it so that the house isn’t so empty. She has actually become VERY attached to our baby girl – they are best buddies!! Which is a wonderful thing.

So…over a weekend in early June, I was able to have our rental reservation once again switched up – now to SSR & was able to come up with a rough enough itinerary to get some ADR’s booked! We are now visiting Mickey in August instead of Sept (or Dec.) The good news is that it’s so close! The bad news is that it’s so close! LOL It’s just been crazy trying to get everything situated for the trip & I can’t believe it’s so close now. Our biggest issues with moving up the trip yet again, were with Continental Airlines. We have flown with them on every trip we’ve taken – to Disney & otherwise – yet, they were very unwilling to adjust our tickets at first due to my husband’s deployment. We were finally able to move our tickets to August by paying a $50/ticket change fee – plus some other taxes or something. Again, I’m also SO thankful that we are renting points from such a great person! She has done so much for us – changing our reservations so many times!


Coming up next - our schedule, ADR's & pictures of the outfits I've sewn to date for Maddie! Thanks for reading along!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

yay im first, the plans look really good, and glad u have things scheduled now.


and how awesome is it that your trip is coming up so close.

 

[smiley1]

Wow, what an adorable little girl!! I'm reading! Can't wait to hear more plans! Like FanterloyFAN07 said, it's awesome that your trip is so close, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun! Happy planning!!

 

[Saturn23]

Sounds like you're going to have a great trip! Can't wait to hear all the details and see the cute outfits you made.

 

[arizonacolbys]

Sounds like you're going to have a great trip! Can't wait to hear all the details and see the cute outfits you made.

Thanks for following along! I'll be posting pics tomorrow once I can upload to Photobucket!

Wow, what an adorable little girl!! I'm reading! Can't wait to hear more plans! Like FanterloyFAN07 said, it's awesome that your trip is so close, I'm sure you'll have lots of fun! Happy planning!!

Thank you!

yay im first, the plans look really good, and glad u have things scheduled now.


and how awesome is it that your trip is coming up so close.

Hey! Happy to see you reading along - I really enjoyed reading your TR! It was great to hear all about visiting Mickey with a little one.

 

[arizonacolbys]

We have always taken our trips during the “Value” season, so this trip is a little scary to me…LOL I’m a bit worried about taking Maddie down during the hottest part of the year now & the crowds since school is still out during our trip. Yesterday, I looked up park hours again for our trip & the parks are suddenly open much later than when I first looked up the hours last month! There are also now 2 Spectromagics several nights & 2 Fantasmic showings now every other night. MK is open until 2 am with the evening EMH!! Crazy!! LOL I’m used to the MK being open until 7 pm every night.

Our goal this trip is to make the best of our time together as a family & just enjoy showing Maddie our favorite place in the world! We plan on attempting to make rope drop when we can, but considering Maddie usually sleeps until 8 am here at home, I’m not sure how that might change if we end up keeping her up later some nights while on vacation. If we do have a late night, we will take the next morning slow. We will also take a daily break during the hottest part of the day for sure!! We plan on napping & hopefully swimming, too!

Because of the Military deal Disney is offering right now, we were able to add a couple of nights on at the beginning of our trip at the Polynesian resort at 40% off! We stayed there back in 2002 & LOVED it, so we are very excited to start our trip there & are thrilled to be on the monorail for a couple days with a baby in stroller. Then, we will be moving to Saratoga Springs Resort, which will be a new experience for us. We are very excited to stay there – the resort looks beautiful & it’ll be great to be within walking/boating distance to DTD.

We have ADRs at the following restaurants:
‘Ohana – for breakfast & dinner!
Chef Mickey’s – breakfast & dinner
Crystal Palace – breakfast
Tusker House – breakfast
Yak & Yeti – lunch
T-Rex Café – lunch
Chefs de France – dinner
Cape May Café – dinner

We are hoping Maddie loves the characters, otherwise we may end up at more counter service restaurants since so many of our meals involve characters!

We usually get Annual Passes & then take our next trip about a year later (but a week or two earlier), but we aren’t doing that this time around. With the Military deal my husband qualifies for a free 5 day park hopper, which also includes 5 visits to the Waterparks & more. For $99 I can get the 5 day ticket – add $25 for the park hopper & another $25 for the 5 Waterpark visits. After those tickets are used up, we’ll end up buying regular park hoppers with a military discount. We plan on trying to visit both Blizzard Beach & Typhoon Lagoon at least once during our trip since we will have such a great opportunity to with the military tickets. Maddie also seems to love swimming, so we’re hoping she’ll enjoy it!

Today, I started working on some packing. We recently took a weekend trip about 3 hours from home & it’s CRAZY how much stuff we had to haul with us for 2 nights away from home with a baby in tow. I’ve been doing my best to come up with the least amount of stuff to bring down, without really missing something. It’s a tough balance!

Up next: a few pictures of the outfits I’ve been working on for Maddie!

 

[IluvXU]

Great start! Your reports were fun before, but I am sure this will be extra special since it is your first trip with your darling daughter. We took our oldest at about her age, and then we just got back from taking our ten month old!

I hope you have a fan for her stroller. That was so helpful for Luke when we were there in June....

You have some great meals planned! I hope she loves the characters too.

Good luck with the packing, it is amazing what traveling with infants entails, the list just kept on growing each time I looked at it.

 

[arizonacolbys]

Great start! Your reports were fun before, but I am sure this will be extra special since it is your first trip with your darling daughter. We took our oldest at about her age, and then we just got back from taking our ten month old!

I hope you have a fan for her stroller. That was so helpful for Luke when we were there in June....

You have some great meals planned! I hope she loves the characters too.

Good luck with the packing, it is amazing what traveling with infants entails, the list just kept on growing each time I looked at it.

Thanks for the tip! I actually just picked up one of those stroller fans last week - I hope it helps keep her cool in that heat! LOL I need to head over & catch up on your TR! I've been away from the boards lately.

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

also instead of paying tons for one of those mister fans that spray water into the fans, they have them pretty cheap at walmart that you can buy befor eyou go.

 

[Saturn23]

We are hoping Maddie loves the characters, otherwise we may end up at more counter service restaurants since so many of our meals involve characters!


Today, I started working on some packing. We recently took a weekend trip about 3 hours from home & it’s CRAZY how much stuff we had to haul with us for 2 nights away from home with a baby in tow. I’ve been doing my best to come up with the least amount of stuff to bring down, without really missing something. It’s a tough balance!

Hopefully she won't be afraid of the characters. I'm worried about the same thing for our trip. I'm sure they could seat you somewhere out of the way if that happens. I'm sure she'll love them though if she likes seeing Mickey on TV and gets all excited.

I know, packing with a baby is SO much harder. I now take about 3 outfits for myself and the rest of my suitcase is full of baby stuff. Are you planning on ordering diapers and baby food to be delivered to your room? That should save some space. My carry-on bag used to be big enough to hold a book, my laptop and an ipod. Now it's huge and full of diapers, wipes, bottles and no more room for the laptop

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

we found that we packed the diapers last, and just stuck them everywhere in all of the extra little compartments in the suitcase, and on the top before we closed the suitcase, they worked out great.

also i would suggest, getting the whips that are in the plastic that goes down as you use them, they worked out reall ynice, and of course took up less room as you used them when you were going to the parks.

 

[smiley1]

We have always taken our trips during the “Value” season, so this trip is a little scary to me…LOL I’m a bit worried about taking Maddie down during the hottest part of the year now & the crowds since school is still out during our trip. Yesterday, I looked up park hours again for our trip & the parks are suddenly open much later than when I first looked up the hours last month! There are also now 2 Spectromagics several nights & 2 Fantasmic showings now every other night. MK is open until 2 am with the evening EMH!! Crazy!! LOL I’m used to the MK being open until 7 pm every night.

Our goal this trip is to make the best of our time together as a family & just enjoy showing Maddie our favorite place in the world! We plan on attempting to make rope drop when we can, but considering Maddie usually sleeps until 8 am here at home, I’m not sure how that might change if we end up keeping her up later some nights while on vacation. If we do have a late night, we will take the next morning slow. We will also take a daily break during the hottest part of the day for sure!! We plan on napping & hopefully swimming, too!

Because of the Military deal Disney is offering right now, we were able to add a couple of nights on at the beginning of our trip at the Polynesian resort at 40% off! We stayed there back in 2002 & LOVED it, so we are very excited to start our trip there & are thrilled to be on the monorail for a couple days with a baby in stroller. Then, we will be moving to Saratoga Springs Resort, which will be a new experience for us. We are very excited to stay there – the resort looks beautiful & it’ll be great to be within walking/boating distance to DTD.

We have ADRs at the following restaurants:
‘Ohana – for breakfast & dinner!
Chef Mickey’s – breakfast & dinner
Crystal Palace – breakfast
Tusker House – breakfast
Yak & Yeti – lunch
T-Rex Café – lunch
Chefs de France – dinner
Cape May Café – dinner

We are hoping Maddie loves the characters, otherwise we may end up at more counter service restaurants since so many of our meals involve characters!

We usually get Annual Passes & then take our next trip about a year later (but a week or two earlier), but we aren’t doing that this time around. With the Military deal my husband qualifies for a free 5 day park hopper, which also includes 5 visits to the Waterparks & more. For $99 I can get the 5 day ticket – add $25 for the park hopper & another $25 for the 5 Waterpark visits. After those tickets are used up, we’ll end up buying regular park hoppers with a military discount. We plan on trying to visit both Blizzard Beach & Typhoon Lagoon at least once during our trip since we will have such a great opportunity to with the military tickets. Maddie also seems to love swimming, so we’re hoping she’ll enjoy it!

Today, I started working on some packing. We recently took a weekend trip about 3 hours from home & it’s CRAZY how much stuff we had to haul with us for 2 nights away from home with a baby in tow. I’ve been doing my best to come up with the least amount of stuff to bring down, without really missing something. It’s a tough balance!

Up next: a few pictures of the outfits I’ve been working on for Maddie!

Wow, you have some great plans! Your ADRs look great, you'll have some great meals for sure! We love Chef Mickey's, glad to hear you'll be dining there twice. We've never stayed at the Poly or SSR, but both look AMAZING just from touring! I've never traveled with that young of a child, so I have zero advice there but I'm sure the other DISers nailed it! Have lots of fun on your trip! Is it under a week away? You'll have lots of fun!

 

[arizonacolbys]

Things are crazy at work this week since I only have 2 more days here for about 2 weeks!!

Just wanted to share some pictures of the Disney outfits I've been working on feverishly for the trip!

Minnie dress for Chef Mickey's:

Little Mermaid dress for DHS:

Pooh & Eeyore dress for Crystal Palace:

Minnie Mouse bubble/onesie: (and her new Princess sandals for the trip!)

Pooh & Lumpy bubble/onesie:

Tigger pillowcase dress:

I've also made another Mickey dress & a Princess pillowcase dress, but don't have any pictures yet! I've also been working on Maddie's 1st Birthday dress to wear at her party the day after we get home from FL, crazy, crazy!

Thanks for looking!

 

[Saturn23]

Those dresses are adorable! You're really talented to have made them all. I love that you have theme dresses for different restaurants and parks

 

[IluvXU]

I wish I could say which dress I liked the best. Your daughter is a doll, and your pictures will be so super cute! Is she already walking-- my 11 month old is not quite yet!

 

[smiley1]

Wow, those dresses are so cute! You are amazingly talented! I'm sure everyone will be wishing they looked like her! Too cute!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

those are very cute dresses, i will have to show them to the wife if we have a girl on our next baby she would love thoes.

 

[DreaGirl]

Hi! I remember reading your last TR. I can't wait to hear about this one.

I think your DD and my DS are about the same age. He was born in September of 2008 also.

Your ADRs look great! I'm sure she will like the characters, at least I hope so!

Isn't it insane how much "stuff" you need for a trip with kids? I'm used to it now, but it was shocking at first.

I can't wait to find out what you think of SSR. We are staying there in October on rented points.

Those outfits are great! You are very talented! I want to drag my sewing machine out, but I have to get caught up on my scrapbooking first.

I'm sorry about you husband being deployed. Please let him know how much we all appreciate his work and sacrifices.

 

[beyondblessed]

I'm subscribing. I'm soooo jealous you are ALMOST THERE!!! Maddie is adorable. I can't wait to see pictures of her in her darling little dresses at Disney!

 

[DreaGirl]

I hope you having a great time on your trip! Can't wait to hear about it!!