It wasn't always magical. We had our moments when the fairy dust was running low, but we worked through them and powered on. It was hard work taking two strollers and bags everywhere we went and sweating profusely, gotta love Florida in September. At least we didn't have to worry about where we were going to eat and what we were going to do, since I'd planned all that out and made reservations before we left home.
At a glance, this was our trip: We stayed 7 nights. We stayed in a one bedroom villa at the Bay Lake Towers at the Contemporary Resort, which is on the monorail, which ROCKED. Except the day that it broke, but still it was ok because we walked that day back and forth from our hotel and it only took us 8 minutes. We loved staying that close to Magic Kingdom, as we spent a good portion of our time there. We had the meal plan because it was free. We took a City Mini single stroller and rented a double of the same brand through Orlando Stroller Rentals. We got groceries delivered to our room through Garden Grocer. (and diapers, wipes, baby formula, food, etc). We spent nearly three full days at Magic Kingdom, a half day at Animal Kingdom, swam in our hotel pool and splash park, two days at Hollywood Studios and one intensely long day at Epcot. We made more food reservations than we needed. We filled up our autograph book and met lots of characters and all the Princesses and Fairies, including Periwinkle, the newest fairy that hadn't even come out yet. We loved the parades, especially the Move It Shake It Parade. We watched the fireworks at Magic Kingdom from nearly every point possible, including down in front of the caste. We got a park hopper pass, and it was worth it. Even though I don't think we ever went from one park to the next until the last day.
Disney has a learning curve, and you can read lots of books, spend hours on the internet but you've just got to go and do it and see what works for you and your family. That was part of our problem the first morning at Magic Kingdom. I listened to everyone who said, pack water bottles and snacks and etc etc. We had so many bags between the diaper bag and extra clothes, that water bottles just weighed us down. It worked out better for us to just use our snack vouchers as part of the dining plan to buy drinks. It was soooooo hot this week that we didn't want food per sea, but drinks. And our hotel was so close, that half way through the day we needed a change of clothes anyway, because we'd sweat through our first set. We could go back, change, grab a snack and head back to the park.
Departure Day.
We headed to the airport around 3:00 pm to catch our 5:00 pm flight to Orlando. A little note: This flight was ok, but we didn't get to our hotel until after 9 waiting on the Disney Magic Express. And then we sat on the Magic Bus for an hour. I ordered room service at 11:30 p.m. because I hadn't had anything to eat all day. We survived the flight without any major meltdowns or screaming fits--from me or the kids. :) I really hate to fly. Allie and Jeremy sat on one side of the aisle and I had Audrey and Ava. Ava fell asleep before take off was finished. Audrey was content to play her Leap pad and look out the window.
We chose Bay Lake because of the Villa and because it was close to Magic Kingdom. We wanted a kitchen and dishwasher with Ava still using bottles and me with the gluten intolerance and all. I wanted to be able to make food in the room. Our view was Bay Lake and our hotel's pool and splash park. Like so many other things, they were in the shape of Mickey ears. We had two full bathrooms. The girls slept on the pull out couch and Ava in the provided pack n play. The decor of Contemporary and Bay Lake is modern, not my style per sea, but it's location I couldn't pass up. And it's nice. I had my own laundry room (that came in very handy), said kitchen, and space. The best part was that we took our elevator down to the 5th floor, walked across to the Contemporary via the sky bridge and walked right to the monorail. We would stay at Bay Lake again, or any other hotel on the MK monorail.
When we got to our room, got our groceries, got settled and got the girls in to their pajamas, it was nearly midnight. Ava didn't sleep well at all. She ended up with us, but got a runny nose somewhere between home and Florida and just couldn't breathe. I think Jeremy and I got maybe 2 hours of sleep. But, we were in Disney World, and that wasn't going to stop us from our huge day we had planned the next day. Our first full day at Disney would be in Magic Kingdom.
Sarah
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