The idea of going to Disney World while we lived just 4 hours away, have family that we can stay with, and don't have to pay for Nelson's ticket sounded like a great idea. As the trip got closer and closer I was starting to doubt how great of an idea it was. I hadn't really considered being pregnant while going on this trip and I also hadn't really considered needing to entertain the free two year old in all the lines we'd be waiting in. We had already purchased Disney tickets so we were committed, but I was getting nervous that we'd have a really rough time. After Marco Poloing with Erica she gave me a little more hope that we'd have fun. The Disney Magic is real right?? It also helped that we had Ben's Aunt Jane who is a Disney pro and helped us navigate the park the first day.
The trip started off on a bit of a negative for me because I'd be hoping we'd get on the road, at the latest, at 6. We pulled out of the driveway a little after 7. But that did mean that Ben was able to finish everything he needed to do and didn't have any notes or things hanging over him over the weekend which was good. In the end, the kids did fall asleep on the drive so it probably didn't make much of a difference except for Ben and I missing an extra hour sleep before a big day at Disney the next day.
When we arrived at Paul and Jane's house the transition to beds for the kiddos was not a seamless as I hoped. Riley did just fine once we had a night light and some stuffies set up for her, but Nelson was a basket case. He was loosing it when we got inside, unconsolable for a time until I started rocking back and forth while shushing in his ears. (Those newborn tricks never die I guess.) Once I had him calmed down I put him in his crib. Ben and I finished getting some more things out of the car and sneak into our room assuming that Nelson has fallen back to sleep. Nope. I find him just flipping through some books that he has pulled off the bookshelf next to his pack n play. So we confiscate those and hope he will go to bed. I didn't sleep super well and when I woke up around 2 am I still heard Nelson talking to himself. I don't know how he survived the next day because he must have gotten only a few hours of sleep!
The only downside to the free lodging is that they are an hour away from Disney. So we were up and out the door a little after 7 so we could get a ride or two in before the lines get super long. We didn't pay for the DisneyGenie+ thing which I think was the right call for this trip. There was really only one line that we stood in that ended up being way longer than we bargained for, but luckily that was the last ride of the day and Nelson had passed out on the way so Jane sat with him for the hour and a half it took us to do the dang Buzz Lightyear ride! We had been talking about the ride earlier and Riley really wanted to do it so we did it, but if Nelson wouldn't have been asleep the whole time it could've ended up being a real bummer to end the day on.
Day 1 pictures:
Jane's yearly pass gets you free pictures! So whenever she was there to tap her pass we got to get some real pictures taken. It also saved us the $30 for parking! Pretty awesome!
Overall this was a trip for Riley. We went to the rides we thought she'd like the best and we didn't worry about the more popular rides that adults enjoy. The one exception was TRON. Jane showed us how you can try and get in a virtual queue and since we did get a spot it seemed like a waste not to do it. Since I couldn't go on even if I wanted to because I'm pregnant I braved Disney on my own for the hour or so that it took Ben and Jane to ride the ride. I'd say this picture made it worth it.
While Ben and Jane were doing TRON we hopped over to the Aladdin ride which ended up being one of Riley's favorite rides. We rode it three times since the line was never more than 30 minutes. I think it helps that there are three different rides in the park that are a similar ride experience and the Aladdin one is kind of in a less popular area of the park. The Dumbo ride that is virtually the same thing would sometimes have an hour wait!
The nice lady in front of us in line offered to take a picture of us on the ride and even offered to let us sit in the front of the carpet if we wanted. I didn't have the heart to point out that she was supposed to sit alone in her own magic carpet and this was just supposed to be ours. Haha she was sweet and had Riley direct her if she wanted to go up or down so we didn't mind sharing our magic carpet with her. I just wonder if she noticed that carpet #11 was completely empty in front of us. It reminded me of a bit by a comedian where he talks about going to Disney alone and how they do make you ride all the rides by yourself if you aren't with anyone. "A car pulls up and they say, 'That's all for you!' 'What about all the hundreds of people waiting in line?' 'We don't want to inconvenience them with your presence.'"
The Winnie the Pooh ride was one of my favorites partly because it had things kids could play with as we were waiting in line, but mainly because of the delightful giggles from Nelson and Riley when we were "bouncing" along with Tigger.
Our first day we didn't do much with meeting characters partly because Jane didn't seem to think that is your best use of time at Disney, but also because Riley had seen a lot of her favorite people in a little Disney performance they did and we thought maybe that was enough for her. I knew she would probably be shy meeting people up close so I didn't know if we really needed that to happen. But when Chip and Dale had a very short line when we walked by we figured why not? When Chip held out his arm for me I was a little thrown off. It took me a minute to decide he actually did want me to link arms with him. I was like you know I'm a grown up right? I don't actually want to interact with you fellow grown up in a costume.
End of the first day! Haha Riley really was in good spirits, but apparently didn't want to show it for the picture. On the way out of the park we realized we hadn't taken pictures in the ears that Jane let us borrow! Nelson wasn't going to wear his ears for anything, but I asked Riley if she would be willing to take a picture in the pretty ears while we were with Jane and could get the free picture. At first she said no, but then she did agree to do it eventually. (Which is why we are a little far from the castle)
Jane really helped us have Disney fun while also saving money. These ears are like $35! She also gave us some refillable popcorn containers that were the best! That way we got popcorn just for $2.50 which is the best deal you will find for food at Disney.
Day 2 Pictures:
Day two we were on our own! Jane was running a 15 mile race on Sunday so she needed to rest her feet on Friday. We had planned to do Animal Kingdom on Friday, but Riley really wanted to redo 4 of her favorite rides so we figured we'd do Magic Kingdom again for half a day and still have time to do the few things on our list at Animal Kingdom. The day didn't start out on the best note because our reservation was still at Animal Kingdom and we were under the impression it would be easy to just check in there and then park hop over to Magic Kingdom. Because Animal Kingdom opened at 8 am we could check in there early and we could still get to Magic Kingdom by 9 am when it opens and you get the shortest line. Riley really wanted to do Buzz again, but we were not gonna sit in another hour long line for it! So being on time was very important to me. Well everything seemed to be going okay, we were heading to the park hopping buses around 8:30, plenty of time, until I see the sign under the bus to Magic Kingdom says "Starting at 10 am". WHAT?? Jane had been in talks with us about doing the park hopping and either she was unaware or didn't think to mention that you can't actually park hop first thing! Ben was going to turn around and just make the best of it in Animal Kingdom, but I was not having it! Riley was going to be so disappointed. We had promised we were going to Magic Kingdom first so we could make sure we had time to do all the things she most wanted to do. So I went up to the nearest worker and asked him how we could get to Magic Kingdom. He gave me like three different options and honestly left me a bit confused as to what the best option is, but then on the walk over to some other buses I asked another man what the best option was and he recommended the same thing the other guy had said first. So, we took a resort bus to the Contemporary Disney resort which is like right next to Magic Kingdom. It was a real short walk to Magic Kingdom and we ended up getting inside the park by 9:20. So I did have 30 or 40 minutes of struggling to have a good attitude, but by the time we were in the Buzz Lightyear line and the wait ended up being just 25 minutes my spirits were much higher and we didn't let it affect any more of our day!
Other than Buzz Riley requested to ride Winnie the Pooh, the Carousel, and the Aladdin ride again. Since Buzz and Winnie were the only ones that really get long lines it seemed like a very doable list. She also requested to watch the Mickey Friendship show again, which she absolutely loved.
This show was so cute, and had almost all of Riley's favorite Disney characters. It was a bit of a tender point for me. On the first day when we finished riding Aladdin and Jane and Ben were still waiting for Tron I noticed this show was going to start and decided to take the kiddos to see it. We were all enjoying the show and then the final song started. The song sings about "the magic feels like home". As I listened to this song and looked down at my daughter having such a great time I started to cry. Grief can hit you in the most unexpected moments, I didn't see it coming at all, but all the sudden I'm trying to keep myself from sobbing uncontrollably. I knew this was the last song and Ben and Jane were waiting for meet up as soon as it was over. Having sweet, special moments with my kids is always a joy, but there is always that feeling of wishing I could share what we are doing with Mom.
Even though it's just a carousel it's still magical at Disney right? :)
After doing most of the things Riley requested I noticed that the line to see Tiana and Rapunzel wasn't too long. Riley had dressed up as Rapunzel that day (shout out to me for throwing in a few of her dresses knowing once she found out we were going to Disney she may want to dress up-also notice the tiara. That stayed on almost all day!) So we waited in line to get to interact with the two princesses and I'm so glad we did. It was so sweet seeing her shyly talk to them.
Tiana was awesome and made Riley feel so special by saying she was going to hide her behind her dress and then she could jump out and surprise Rapunzel with her matching dress.
Mickey pretzels! Gross to eat, but fun to look at.
Meeting Daisy didn't go quite as planned. Well it wasn't unexpected, but I was hoping since Riley really liked Daisy she'd be happier to see her. Riley would not make eye contact. Later, Riley did point out that Daisy didn't really look like herself. It's true these were circus inspired Mickey friends so Daisy was a fortune teller and was dressed like it.
The Disney photopass is an absolute JOKE. Do you know what you'd have to pay to get all the pictures that they take of you throughout the day? $73! Or you can get pictures from every day of your trip for $200. $200!! To take off the dang watermark.
Minnie was a hit!! Riley wasn't afraid of her and they even twirled in their dresses together. Nelson was also excited about meeting her and I wish we had taken a picture with him too. When we were next in line to see Minnie he kept saying, "Hug! Hug!" He ran and gave her a hug once I said it was our turn to go. So sweet!
Sweet little Nelson let us just totally disrespect his nap time. He would take some rests on our shoulders, and did eventually fall asleep.
Poor boy had no idea he was sleeping through the Dole Whip. This picture also makes me a bit emotional. I remember after taking it having the reaction that I would text it to Mom and say, "Hooray he was able to fall asleep!" Because I knew that she would've been thinking about us trying to have a fun day together, but knowing Nelson would be skipping a nap and she'd be hoping that he could nap on the go.
After we finished our Dole Whip we were ready to head back to Animal Kingdom to maybe do one or two things before getting in the car to go home. We wanted to watch a little 4D Bugs Life video and maybe see if there were any fun things in the dinosaur area. The Bugs Life video was a bit of a failure with Ben having to take Nelson out because he was screaming at all of the air and water they were shooting at us. Not wanting that to be the last experience of the day we decided to venture into the Dinosaur area. The first thing we saw when we entered was a fun, open play area with slides and ropes to climb. Riley had an absolute blast and Nelson found some sand to play in so everyone was in heaven.
I love this picture of a princess showing she can do it all and not let a dress slow her down.
We considered trying to do a third day on Monday, Presidents Day, but ultimately decided against it. Riley had it in her head that we were done with Disney, she was happy with where things had ended, President's Day would be extra busy, and this way we could get home with an extra day to get regular life back in order.
As we drove away from Disney on the second day I told Ben that I felt like I had just accomplished a really difficult thing. Taking two young kids to Disney and not leaving in tears is a huge accomplishment! We aren't planning to be in this area for forever so it is so fun to enjoy it while we are here!
