We have been to Disney World! I am going to try to blog day by day or a couple days at a time. Good grief...we took over 600 pictures so choosing only a few is going to be difficult. Here goes the story....
JT and I knew that we wanted to take the Disney...and we had hoped that we would be able to in 2010....we were thinking later on in the year, possibly in the fall. But opportunity knocked and we could not pass it up. We got an incredible deal! I had signed up well over a year ago to the Disney website and started receiving emails on different types of vacation deals. Most of them I never opened...BUT, when I got the one in December, I opened it just for fun. The deal was "pay for 3 nights, get 4 for free!" I had seen those....but really, is it that good of a deal?
Anna and I had gone out Christmas shopping last minute....it was only a couple of days till Christmas and JT and Samuel stayed at home. We were gone a couple of hours and when I got home, JT told me to look at this "Disney" deal he had pulled up and put together. I was shocked at the price and started asking tons of questions. Then after we put the kids to bed, we researched and read all the fine print. Then we made the phone call to ask questions. Turned out, the price got lower when we called. We went back and forth that night trying to "think it through"....the catch was, the deal ended the next day! Yikes....decisions like that make me nervous. But we decided to do it!
We were going to stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, arriving on January 30 and leaving February 6!! Then the airline tickets....JT booked those immediately and we flew out of Nashville because it was so much cheaper, like $400 cheaper! And here's the catch to all of this....we did NOT tell the kids!!!! Now folks, I really am not that good at keeping secrets, especially when it comes to surprises. But I knew that if we told the kids, they would drive me crazy asking "how many more days?!!" So the lips were locked!
I began the packing process on Wednesday evening....we were leaving on Thursday evening. We had planned to spend the night in Nashville and since JT has Marriott points, the Marriott hotel would drive us over to the airport for free. The kids LOVE staying in "hotel" so that is all they knew...we were going to hotel. Samuel did ask me why I had packed him 5 pairs of pj's....I just told him we can never be too prepared...he took me at my word. I was nerve racked making sure to get all the papers that we needed for Disney and having to hide them. We had to get backpacks for the parks, make sure we packed appropriate clothing, etc. Since we were flying Southwest and bags fly free, we packed one smaller suitcase with snacks.
So Thursday evening, JT comes home...the kids and I are literally in the truck waiting. JT and I were so excited we were about to bust! We arrive in Nashville and inform the hotel staff that we will need transportation to the airport the next morning. Our flight was set to leave at 12:30 and they told us they would shuttle us over at 10am. So we head to bed, kids still do not ask any questions about anything. We get up and have breakfast....did I mention that this was the day the snow and ice was to hit Nashville and Memphis hard? Yes, it started pouring the snow in Nashville about 8:30. Our phone rings in the room and the lady at the desk is asking us if we are ready to leave because this would be the only shuttle to leave because of the snow and ice. Here we go....there were about 6 people who worked in the hotel who were waiting on us when we walked into the lobby. The man who was driving us ask us about the airport....I am pretty sure Samuel heard this conversation because he "lit up" quickly. So we are off to the airport......we arrive, unload our bags and get in line. I was very anxious because I was afraid that our flight would not leave because of the snow. Our flight was scheduled for 12:30pm....and they bumped us up to the 11:00am flight!! The kids learned that we were going to Disney as we were putting the Disney tags on our luggage....it was nothing but complete excitement from there! Oh I did forget to mention that there were thoroughly thrilled about getting to ride in the van shuttle with NO carseats....seriously, that was almost as excited as Disney people!
Below the kids are waiting in the airport which was a ghost town....snow was falling pretty hard at this point...and I was getting very anxious.
We make it on the airplane and basically have the entire thing to ourselves. JT sat with Samuel and I sat with Anna. The airport people had to come out and "de-ice" the plane...the solution was pink...Anna was excited! Then we circle and take off....Anna got a little sick I think....therefore she fell asleep immediately. Samuel was pumped! It was nothing but pure "boy" adrenaline going from then on. Then the question "How much longer" started from Samuel. Whew, we were sure ready to hit the ground. We did arrive in Orlando airport. Thankfully, we did not have to get our luggage...the Disney Magical Express did that for us! We walk to the Disney area in the airport, and board the bus. Of course we rode in the front....once again, no carseats OR seatbelts for the kids....talk about excitement! Below, is the first picture. My friend Becky told me to sit in the front to get the best picture of the enterance of Disney....check it out!
We stayed at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge....this was outside our balcony. There were animals everywhere, including "Ninnies" (Giraffe) especially for Anna. That place was beautiful!
Below, we are waiting for the Disney bus to pick us up. Since we arrived on Friday and our tickets did not start until Saturday, we thought we would go to Downtown Disney. The kids were extremely tired and asked a million times "Where is Mickey? Where are the rides? Can we go swimming? Where is Cinderella? Where is Buzz Lightyear?" Seriously, I thought JT and I were going to flip! We had to acquire some serious patience and continue to remember that they were dosed with excitement and exhaustion all at the same time. We eat at Downtown Disney and head back to hotel for some good sleep!
The next morning we head out to Hollywood Studios. We went immediately to the Star Wars section....Samuel was giddy! The kids climbed on the Star Wars Rider for a picture!
The first character we encountered was Jo Jo....I was busting! The kids did not know really what to think.
We went to the "Beauty and the Beast" show....it was awesome! This was probably one of our favorite shows. The costumes were amazing!
The restaurants there were amazing! Below is a picture of us at the Sci Fi Diner. It is a huge room that looks like a drive in movie theater. All the seats are cars, facing toward the movie screen. The only light is the movie and the headlamp in the car. The kids loved this place!
Then we met up on Buzz and Woody! They could not talk but it did not matter....once again, I am like a kid at heard and I was so pumped! The Toy Story ride and game was our favorite at this park....we rode it many times!
Then we saw Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater! Tow Mater did his loud honking noise....Anna took off running!
This whole Star Wars thing was incredible. Samuel has this same vehicle thing at home....even Anna got excited!
And we could not leave Hollywood without getting a picture of Andy Griffith....the kids love to watch this show.
Did I mention that the kids rode "The Tower of Terror?" Talk about terror.....JT does not like rides that go up really high and then drop....well this one goes up 13 stories, then drops, up and drop, up and drop. The kids were terrified....Anna was all over JT...Samuel had his head sunk up under my armpit.....I loved it! As we were getting off that ride Anna looks back over her shoulder at us and says "We are never riding Terror Tower again!" Boy.....talk about dreaming....we lived it here....and loved it!
2 comments:
That looks like a blast! I hope to take the kids there in the future
What a great surprise! I can't believe you didn't tell everything you knew!!!!
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