I haven't written about Disney in a long time, and we have since gone on our trip, and Travis and I have taken a mother/son trip too.
So I will post a bit about both trips, and a bit about our upcoming trip in about 14 months.
Our last trip was in October 2013, we again drove because it is most cost effective for us, and we really enjoy road trips. Driving gives us a chance to see many things we might miss if we flew, and lets be honest I always over pack, we shop way too much at Disney, and getting things there & back is not an issue. Now let me just say, I realize driving isn't for everyone, and I respect that, but for us it is all part of the fun.
Normally we leave after the kids get out of school on a Friday, and again that is what we did. We picked Kaden up early since he got out 50 minutes later then Travis. Our plan is always to drive all night, and all day Saturday till we get to the Georgia/ Florida boarder. We then stay the night, and start out for our final 4 hrs. This time we took a different route, and even with stopping to eat, go potty & letting Tessa play we were making good time. We discussed going straight through since Tessa was doing so good, and we would be arriving around 11PM. I called The Swan & The Dolphin resorts at Downtown Disney, but both were full. I then call Disney reservations to see if we could check in early, but they said there was nothing at Pop Century. Disney did have a room available at Coronado Springs Resort, so we took it. We were reassured it didn't matter if we arrived around midnight, sounds great! But we would not make it there by 12, in fact I no sooner hung up with Disney & Tessa went into meltdown mode. Great, we now have a nonrefundable reservation at Disney, and we are wondering if it is a mistake. We made a few stops to calm her and finally arrived at 2 AM.
Now, Disney always does an amazing job at customer service, and even at 2 AM they welcome you with a smile. Dennis, Tessa & I went to check in, and were greeted with smiles. They were amazing with Tessa, and asked if it was her first visit. They then provided her with 1st visit button, a balloon, coloring book, crayons, and autographed pictures of Winnie Pooh & friends, Mickey & Minnie, and the Princesses.
We quickly found our room and went to bed. The next morning we showered, packed up what little we brought in, and checked out the resort before doing a late checkout, and going to Pop Century for our stay.
We drove to Pop Century, and had a very smooth check in. Our rooms, yes 2 rooms were ready, so we went dropped our stuff off, and made a run to Walmart for Mt Dew, Coke, bottled water, diapers & wipes. This is one of the perks of having a car we were able to bring just what we needed for their trip down, and then stocked up there. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and exploring the resort.
Since this was the 1st visit for Tessa we started our trip with the Magic Kingdom, and breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table before park opening. This was worth the 2 dinning credits just to see the princesses, and the castle.
This was our first time using Magic Bands, and Disney was still in the testing phase so they were sending invites to guests to be in their test group, and we were lucky enough to be asked.
We really loved them, and because we were in the test group we could get the standard 3 Fast pass+, and then when those were used we could get regular fast pass. We really had a great time, and really just stayed in vacation mode the whole time. We really just go with the flow, we don't drive to the parks we take Disney transportation. If a bus is really full when it's our turn to board, we step aside, and let others get on, while we wait for the next bus. We try to just not let stuff bother us and try to make sure we show our appreciation for all the cast members hard work.
This time we made Dinning reservations at some old favorites, and also tried some new spots too.
We ate at: Raglan Road, Yatchtmans Steakhouse, Cinderella's Royal Table, Coral Reef, Teppan Edo, Crystal Palace, Ohana, Chef Mickey's, and T Rex. We also purchased the Memory Maker CD for all our pictures, dinning photos, and ride photos.
It really was a great trip, and it was so special, yet bittersweet too. This was the 1st time for Tessa to go, it was the 1st time with all 3 kids, and it was our last trip to be bringing Travis before heading off to college. Little did I know, Travis & I would be back in 1 yr.
Which brings me to November 2014, and Travis & I flying to Florida for a quick, whirlwind trip.
Travis had decided to tour 2 schools in Florida. Embory Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, and Florida Institute Of Technology in Melbourne. We also decided that if we were going to be down there already we needed a Disney fix even if only for 1 1/2 days. I also wanted to spend a bit of alone time with Travis, and wanted to let him pick one park for us to visit, since had has had to sacrifice so much since Tessa has been born. He choose Epcot, and wanted dinner at Teppan Edo. We bought our plane tickets, and while I had not been on a plane in 10 yrs, I did my best to not panic. We booked a rental car, set up appointments, booked All Star Movies (where we stayed when Travis was 4), and bought our tickets to Epcot.
We flew into Orlando late on a Sunday night, picked up our car, and drove to Melbourne. Monday we had an appointment for a tour at FIT. After our tour, we drove up to Daytona Beach, checked into our hotel, and went down to the beach for dinner. It was amazing to see the ocean, and enjoy the nice weather in November. On Tuesday morning we checked out, toured Embory Riddle, and then went back to the Orlando airport to return the car, and hop on Disney's Magical Express for our hotel.
After checking in we dropped our luggage, went to Downtown Disney, and just took in all the sights & sounds of Disney. We were both so tired from all the traveling in the past 2 1/2 days, but also extremely happy to be back at Disney. On the way back we rode the monorail loop to all the Monorail resorts, and stopped at the Magic Kingdom to take a picture of the Christmas decorations at the entrance. I was a very happy girl, to see a touch of Christmas.
Wednesday Morning we were up early and at Epcot at park opening, wee had Fast passes to use, and Epcot had Extra Magic hours so we had till 11PM to take in as much Disney as we could. We laughed, rode rides, ate stuff from the Food & Wine Festival, sampled yummy drinks, and made amazing memories I will forever cherish. We were able to ride all favorite rides multiple times due to low crowds, fast passes, and utilizing single rider lines. We Met some great, and funny people while standing in line, including Bob from Jersey, and a man we called Rastafarian Dad. Our dinner at Teppan Edo was excellent as usual, and our chef was very funny, as well as all our table mates. We laughed, and really had an awesome time. We stayed till 11 when the park closed, and even though we needed to be at the bus stop for Magical Express at 5 am it was worth being tired.
So now we are planning our next trip, and I have very mixed emotions about it. I am very excited to be going back, and can't wait to see Tessa experience it again, I get sad thinking about Travis not being there. While he knows with college it just isn't possible to go with, I feel a bit worried he might feel left out. This next trip will be earlier then usual, due to the Ryder Cup being played in town, and the schools being closed for a week the end of September. We will be going Last week of September through October 6th. As plans continue to be made, and revised again & again, I will try to update periodically with tip, and info.
