*Almost ANYTHING can be terrifying to a 3 year old girl. Especially if it happens in a dark room/ride/theater. We had to have SEVERAL discussions about what's real and what's pretend.
*If in doubt, bring a stroller. I couldn't decide if it would be worth it to bring a stroller along for Whit. Oh...my...gosh....I don't know what we would've done without it. It was a life saver. And Brandon even had to take a couple of rides in it when his energy was completely zapped. SO glad we made that choice.
*My hair does not get along well with Orlando. Holy cow. It turned into a bigger, frizzier mess than ever! I had to wear it up and keep a baseball hat on almost every day. Nice.
Um, yea, I'm wearing this for SUN protection,not because I'm having a bad hair day.
*Kids LOVE to meet the characters, even if they have to stand in a long line to do it. I expected this from Whitney, but was surprised that Brandon wanted to see them as much as she did. (Though W would get almost uncontrollably excited when it was her turn it line. TOO cute.)
Stitch
Pluto(Isn't Whitney's excitement just leaping out
of this photo?)
Belle
June and Quincy from Little Einsteins*Bring lots and lots of snacks and drinks from home. Did you know they allow this? I didn't realize it, but they even search your bags before you enter and let you bring in food. Yes! I bought lots of different snacks and brought along snack-size ziplocs and would re-stock our supply every morning before we went. It saved us a fortune! Keep in mind that we had two sick boys who basically fasted for two or three days straight, but I think we only spent about $75 on Disney food and we were at the parks for 5 days. Pretty darn impressive, don'tcha think?
*Disney World is a great place to re-emphasize lessons on sharing. Especially because all the little treats cost SO much.
How about you guys SHARE an ice cream?
out of your child is priceless. We had so many moments like this one. It was really fun to be the parent--enjoying these times with your child. It helped that I was restricted from most of the rides I REALLY wanted to do, so it became a little more of a selfless adventure for the kids' sake. (But don't get me wrong. I'm young enough at heart that I enjoy a little magic myself!)*If you keep your kids up long enough (we found midnight to be the best time for ours), they eventually tucker out. I was beginning to wonder if there was any limit to their capacities, because we stayed at Epcot and the Animal Kingdom until they closed! (Magic Kingdom didn't close until 1 am, so we didn't quite make it for that one.)
On the tram out to the car, the kids finally crashed.*Some of the funnest experiences are the ones that are FREE. Like visiting the Lego Center in Downtown Disney. This was A HUGE hit with Brandon. Can you imagine?
Lego Dinosaur
Cute Lego family with dogsOr visiting this little city park after church on Sunday.
Where they had a teeter totter AND
a Merry-go-round, both pieces of playgroundequipment banned from most modern parks
because of liability concerns.
and land right on big pregnant bellies.
Boo!*While in Florida, take advantage of every opportunity you can get to purchase a Slurpee from
7-11!
the real deal.*When surrounded by mobs of people, it helps if your husband is 6'6" or taller. I could always spot Andrew among the crushing throngs of tourists.
Ever feel like you stand out in the crowd?*A week at Disney World is an expensive, exhilarating, exhausting, magical family vacation. I loved it and will hopefully use some of these lessons to plan another trip when Caroline is potty trained in 3 or 4 years. :)
WE LOVE DISNEY WORLD!*There is no place like home. After living in that dumpy hotel for a week, it felt SOOOO good to be back in our house with our luxurious bed, carpet that I'm not afraid to walk on with bare feet, and space for my kids to play without feeling like we're all on top of one another. Ahhhh. Life is good.
13 comments:
Wow, looks so fun, and what great pictures. Love your commentary too!
Wow. I want to go now too! And way cool that Disney lets you bring in food. I am sure that helped save a lot of dough. And seeing the kids reactions must have been priceless. I am totally up for that lego land place. Sounds awesome!
what a great trip! i'm so jealous. as old as i am, i'd still get excited about a trip to disneyland. your cute kids look like they had the time of the their lives. Ü
-bigger
It looks like you guys had a really great time!! I agree with the tall husband in a crowd bit completely - we went to Disneyland with my family when KJ was a baby and most of us are over 6'...and it was the busiest day of the year (we were dumb and went the day after Christmas)...we would have gotten lost and never found each other had we been a bit more average-sized:)
"Oh thank heaven for 7-11".
And ruby-slippered Dorothy was right.
Great pics. Thanks for sharing.
G&G Hiatt
LOVED your travelogue...felt like I was experiencing it all first-hand, the highs and the lows to boot. Your kids are so dang photogenic (and so are you and Andrew :)
I will never forget that look on Whitney's face (the close-up with her mouth open) during the performance at Cinderella's castle. It was priceless. Thank you so much for making this happen for our family. It took a lot of planning, 99% of which fell on your lap. You're the best! You make life fun! Thanks for making these great memories for our family.
-Drew
Andrea! This is Sheri (Sadler) from Winslow (well back in the Root Beer Stand days...sigh...I could use a taco tangle about now...) Holy cow - you have a cute family! (and congrats on expecting #3) :) I am new to this whole blog-world thing...but I have to say - you have a cool blog. When you get a chance, come check us out!
~Sheri~
It's so weird to hear about others going to Disney World as a "vacation" and think that that's how my kids will experience it. Growing up in Orlando, it's just part of the deal (it would be like hearing that people come to NC Zoo for vacation). We had season passes every year and would actually go to Disney after school during the week if we didn't have any homework. You go to Epcot for field trips, and kids even had their birthday parties at the Magic Kingdom, and when you get older, all your friends get jobs working at Disney. My claim to fame (of many from my dancing career) -- I have danced on the stage in front of Cinderella's castle.
The only thing I have never experienced about Disney that I always wanted to growing up - the tourist angle. I've never stayed at a Disney hotel and ridden the monerail into the park and had breakfast with Mickey. I always wondered what that would be like. I guess that's what I'll look forward to when we take our kids on a Disney vacation. :)
Thanks for the feast-o-rama of pictures and words!
Love,
Grandma Sweat
reply to "Sheri! So fun to have "found" you after all these years! You beat me to three kids, huh? Man, you're fast, girl!"
The 3 kid thing sure didn't seem that fast. There is almost 5 years between #2 and #3. I was getting spoiled there for a while...getting back to the babgy mode was a little scary for me, but I have to say now I'm having a blast! I forgot how much fun babies are :)
Slurpees, teeter totters, and merry-go-rounds should not be something so rare that they are blog-worthy. There's very few 7-11's here too and it was all I was craving the first trimester. The other playground equipment I wish wasn't banned is monkey bars. I remember playing on those a lot.
Love the trip recapped in lessons learned. So fun to read. You're really making me want to check out Disney World now. I think it'll be a while before that long journey happens!
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