Florida Days 5-6: Magic Kingdom Part 2

For our 3rd and final day at WDW we were smart. We woke up, had some amazing room service pancakes for breakfast, and let the baby take her first nap in the room while we all got dressed. 

We then had a quick lunch at one of the restaurants at the hotel on the way to the bus. We scheduled our 3 Fast Passes for that day early afternoon- partly because that's what we could get and partly so we could have that one nap at the hotel.

We actually got there an hour or so earlier than our first ride, so we chose to wait the 30 minutes for the Little Mermaid ride. Baby actually took a short little nap in my arms while waited in line. It was a great ride!

This was the day Abs was supposed to wear the Rapunzel dress I made her but when she put it on the sleeves were itchy where I had added the ribbon, so she wore the outfit we planned to use for the flight home. I didn't want her uncomfortable all day and I can fix the ribbon so she can wear the dress later.

After Little Mermaid, Francie woke up and needed to nurse, plus we still had a little time before our first Fast Pass, so Bean took Abs to ride the teacups. Meanwhile, I found a very uncomfortable ledge to sit on and nursed the baby. There were benches nearby but they were near the restrooms and were all taken. I planned to sit in the shade at a little snack area but someone grabbed the last table in the shade just as I was walking over. The cool thing is I don't think anyone had a clue what I was doing.

They loved the teacups! It was cute watching them ride!!

Our first Fast Pass was for the Winnie the Pooh ride. Outside, they had a cute little house that was just the right size for Abby.

That ride was disturbing. I don't know why! There was a scary nightmare portion where everything was bright/neon- it reminded me of the super creepy scene where Dumbo and his mouse friend get drunk and see all the dancing elephants. Yikes.

We were right near the story with Belle walking tour and when we first passed by the wait was 50 minutes. When we got out of Pooh, the wait was only 10 minutes. SCORE!

It took us through a few different rooms with different parts of the story. When the lady asked if anyone else wanted to participate, Abigail's hand shot up so fast! She was given the role of a spinning plate.

The story took us into a room where we all helped act out a story with Belle, just before her big dinner with the Beast. I loved being able to take a photo of Abby with a princess and not buy the photo from them! haha!

We were on a little time crunch because our second fast pass started at 4:25, but we had dinner reservations at 4:40. This is what I dreaded about all the planning. We needed to be off the Pirates of the Caribbean ride by 4:30 to make the walk to the front of the park so our credit card wouldn't be charged for missing our dinner reservation.

We waited around for a few minutes just after 4pm and decided to just try and get in a few minutes early. He let us in!! So we walked right up to where we could see the boats loading up through a little window. We were probably three boats back from loading up. And we kept waiting. And the baby fell asleep again (it was dark and damp- perfect sleeping conditions- ha). And soon they made an announcement about 'rough seas' and we had to leave the line!! NOOOO!!!

That was the ride I looked forward to most of all. But I really didn't want to miss eating dinner and end up with some weird turkey legs again. We put the baby in the stroller and since you can't bring strollers in anywhere- there's always stroller parking near each ride- we brought her in like this...

Dinner was edible but not great. Our waiter was handsome and I did get a great dessert and they had wine, so it was ok. Francie woke up halfway through and was super freaked out because we had her laying on the floor next to our table. She was wondering where in the world she was!

After dinner, we were close to that excellent nursing room, so Francie and I made another pit stop. Meanwhile, Abby fell outside; plus Francie bumped her mouth on the changing table so both girls were screaming their heads off. But we worked through it and headed to our last Fast Pass of the trip- Peter Pan's Flight.

Abby said it was her favorite ride. She's never seen the movie or anything! I think she liked flying above the city but still feeling safe. There's a reason this ride is always an hour and a half wait- it was great! I loved how we all got to ride together too, instead of splitting up. 

In typical Bean and I fashion, he suggested we just go try the Pirates of the Caribbean ride again since we were leaving and wouldn't be back for several years...so we did. We waited about 15 minutes (the sign said 30) and got to ride that ride! It was amazing!! Abby loved it and said only the steam was scary at the beginning. 

We were so sad to leave the park but we did it, knowing that the next time we go Francie will be 3-ish and Abby will be 6-ish and we will have an amazing time and maybe even ride some of the bigger rides with our bigger girl. Also Francie is tall-ish for her age so we will see.... Fingers crossed! We also want to make reservations to eat at the super fancy Cinderella's Castle restaurant when both are old enough to use utensils. 

Our ride to the airport left the hotel at 6am. That alarm came very early the next morning! We threw everything into the van, dropped off Pop and Gigi at their terminal, and unloaded our stuff. Just as we were getting in line to check in, we realized we left my backpack with my phone and wallet in the van! We had no way to contact the driver.

After borrowing a couple of people's phones to call Gigi, she got in touch with the driver and he came back and gave us the backpack! Meanwhile, Bean got our boarding passes and checked our luggage. We waited in the very very long Monday morning security line and when we were almost to the front, Bean realized his ID was still at the check in desk. 

The girls and I went through security without him and luckily a TSA agent noticed he was leaving, asked why, and told him to come back up to him when he got it. Otherwise we would have been waiting a very long time for him to get through that line again!

The flight was seamless again- baby sleeping, big sister playing with stickers the whole time, and we got home and all took a 2 hour nap! It was amazing. 

We picked up Brooklyn and I wanted a nice, relaxing dinner, so Carrabba's it was- we always seem to have a good time there. 

Abby asked me to take these photos of her and her dad. We had a great time!

We always learn something on our trips- this one the lesson was don't push ourselves too hard at a place like Epcot. hahaha! I also think we did an amazing job of NOT pushing ourselves too far and knowing our limits. Sure, we could try to cram in a whole day at each park but the kids and we would be so cranky and fighting- not worth it. I thought it was a great family bonding moment all around.

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Florida Day 4: Epcot

We set an alarm on vacation. 

It was worth it because we were up early to go meet princesses and have breakfast. It was also worth it because it put us at the front of the most coveted ride at Epcot- one we couldn't even get a Fast Pass for!

We were up and on our way, walking to Epcot by 7:15 am. The boats that could transport us weren't running that early, but luckily for us it was just a 20 minute walk. 

Breakfast was a smooth sailing machine. We checked in and they called our names. As soon as we walked in we got to meet Belle! 

Please notice Abby's Elsa play dress (again, separate post coming up). It was the perfect day to wear it because of that most coveted ride....

When an awed Abby walked away from Belle she said, "Mom, it's your favorite one!!" with all of the excitement in the world.

The food was a buffet of various pastries and lox (score! my favorite!). Our big girl was excited about the chocolate chip muffins.

Then they brought out a platter of hot food- eggs, bacon, sausage, and an amazing potato casserole which I'm pretty sure was filled with cheese and cream and I couldn't stop eating it. Oops. I didn't notice a big issue with Francie's tummy though.

The princesses started coming around to the tables and Cinderella was first! She was so sweet.

Big sister requested that she take a picture with the baby.

Ariel was next. Abby told her all about how she dressed up as her for Halloween, but the mermaid version, not the human version.

Aurora was next and again Big Sister looked out for Little Sister and requested a photo for her.

That baby was COVERED in food, as was the floor. I think Aurora didn't want to get too close.

We were finished with breakfast by 8:45, and it included a parade through the restaurant with the kids and princesses and a song about the glory of love.

The park opened at 9am and we were in line for the Frozen ride, which was right next door to the restaurant, before then.

We could tell it was 9am, not by checking our clocks, but by witnessing other people literally running to get in line for the Frozen ride as soon as the park opened.

Apparently they couldn't get a Fast Pass either!

We were in one of the first few boats that morning! My favorite part was seeing Olaf skate around, but Abby and I were both scared of the snow monster part. The set up inside where the line snakes through was really cool too.

Meanwhile, out in the gift shop, we found this troll. Francie was snoozing.

We had awhile before our first Fast Pass that day, so we went inside and played games while Francie napped in the stroller. Abby loved this game and talked about it for a few days after- it was something about fixing a body and had a 3D skeleton.

Baby woke up!

The fancy nursing room was too far to walk before our first Fast Pass, so I nursed her through the whole ride inside that big ball.

It was my favorite ride of the trip and takes you through the evolution of communication from solitary hunters to today. It was long and amazing! Perfect for nursing a baby in the dark.

Our next Fast Pass was Finding Dory. I thought the ride was cute, but Bean and Abby weren't very impressed. Francie needed to nurse again so I sat down in a corner inside this aquarium area and took care of business.

Later as we were walking out I saw another mom doing the same thing with her older child sitting nearby, just like mine did. Solidarity, sister!

We walked around a little more but had lots of time before our final Fast Pass and needed to eat lunch.

We walked through Canada....

And had lunch in Great Britain at a pub. The food was decent and it felt good to just sit down.

This is where our day fell apart. We should have just gone back to the hotel because the baby was ready for another nap and was tired from a short early nap and being up early before that. But we knew if we left we wouldn't come back so we pushed through and went back for that final ride.

It was some Imagination with Figment thing and it was terrible! We were all so tired and hot and frustrated and ended up walking all the way back because the water taxis are so slow. We all had aching legs, but we also all napped in the room at the same time.

Kind of. The baby was restless which kept me and Bean awake.

Later that evening, we went to the pool- Francie's first time- and counted that as bath. The day slowly got better. We ordered room service for dinner and found a movie to watch while we ate.

Big suggestion for Disney: have a movie channel at your resorts showing only animated movies on a loop. Families sometimes want to zone out and not watch the actual Disney Channel that has tween shows on.

We were so tired we all went to bed by 8:30pm.

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Florida: Day 3... Walt Disney World!

The first night in the hotel, we ordered in for dinner, got unpacked and turned in the rental car. Bean and I sat around after the girls went to sleep and chatted with Gigi until bedtime. We were pumped for our first day at Magic Kingdom.

We ordered breakfast to arrive around 7:30am, got dressed, and jumped on the bus to the park. We got there just in time for our first Fast Pass ride- Dumbo!

It was the perfect warm up for the rest of the day. The Fast Pass really is a genius idea. You set them up in one hour blocks, and they can't overlap with another one you have set up. I thought that scheduling the rides would be stressful and annoying but it was the opposite- it gave a little structure so we knew where we wanted to head next.

Plus with no lines, we added in other rides that had longer waits then I thought we would be able to handle and it was no problem.

Case in point, the second ride was Its A Small World. The wait was 35 minutes BUT Francie was ready for a nap. So she fell asleep in my arms while we waited in line, and then slept through the whole ride. Perfect!

Abigail was singing the song on the way to pick up the stroller. hahaha!

We made a bathroom pit stop at the Rapunzel bathroom, which required a picture as well.

Let's pause and admire Abigail's Belle play dress that I sewed for her- I have a separate post with more details about it coming soon but the day she wore this was the same day the live action version of Beauty and the Beast opened. It was also St. Patrick's Day (Francie's first) so she was decked out in her green with a gold coin headband. ha!

The next Fast Pass was the Haunted Mansion. We did not get any photos, and it was a great ride. Abs was scared so I mostly kept my hands over her eyes and pointed out everything that was not real. Which was all of it.

Francie still hadn't nursed- she usually does as soon as she wakes up.

I'd heard that WDW had amazing nursing and baby care facilities. Luckily for Bean and Abs, there was a show going on at Cinderella's Castle so they stopped to watch that while Francie and I continued to the front of the park and relaxed in super comfortable chairs in a dimly lit room. Very comfortable!

We had a little more time before our next Fast Pass so we went through the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House.

Bean wanted to get some Minnie ears for Abby, and she was super excited about these sparkly pink ones. The treehouse was cool and we enjoyed talking about what it would be like to live there.

Our last Fast Pass was for the Jungle Cruise. I was excited for this but it was a dud. Francie was getting hungry for lunch and nobody was laughing at the tour guide's hilarious jokes. Abby was not enjoying getting wet.

There's Francie with two very worried looking parents. She would not sit still on that jungle cruise and we were in the sun the whole time. Oh well!

For lunch we stopped in at the closest place which only served turkey legs or hot dogs with chips and a cookie. Health food! 

Bean said the turkey leg was fake- not sure how that works but I think turkey legs are disgusting whether they are real or fake. The hot dogs were great- Francie and I were all over them! 

I kept looking over at this table with a Dad and his two sons and all three of them had large platters of chicken strips and fries and I knew there was no way they could finish all that food. I wished they would just give us one of their platters, or tell us where they got it.

We walked out through Cinderella's Castle and headed back to the bus for nap time.

Francie and I rested while Bean, Gigi, and Abby went to a special dress up time Gigi had set up for Abby.

I'll have to update this post later with photos from that event. Abby chose a Princess Elaina dress and had her hair put into a ponytail with corn rows and pink extensions. 

Meanwhile, Francie was fussy so she and I walked all around the resort and I tried to find something I recognized between the Swan and Dolphin from the few times we stayed there for our Sales Meetings. I didn't, but when they got back we decided to walk to the nearby boardwalk to have dinner with Pop and Gigi. The food was average, and we walked back, bathed the girls and put them to bed. 

Then Bean and I went downstairs for a little date night at one of the bars. I had a blueberry martini, followed by a Swedish Fish martini (yes, as in the candy!). Amazingly delicious and sweet- it had Swedish Fish foam on top. We also had a couple of fancy desserts- one had orange sauce poured over white chocolate that melted it and revealed a chocolate ice cream inside. 

That little date night was one of my highlights of the trip. Delicious drinks and sweets and conversation with my favorite guy. Even if all we did was laugh at the funny things our kids did that day.

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Florida 2017: Days 1-2

We are home from our first vacation as a family of four! We went along on a work trip to Disney World, but first we added on a day to visit some old friends.

Debbie was the first mom friend I ever made, and we had a connection from the beginning. We share so many common ideas about how to parent, how to be a person in the world, and we enjoyed the same activities- we met at postnatal yoga, she got me into the pool with Abigail at a young age (I was terrified!), we did music class together, tried out a baby gym (and both didn't like it), and spent lots of time taking walks in our neighborhoods while the babies either slept or (later) held hands. We talked and talked and talked. Our kids loved each other and our husbands got along- it was a dream come true.

And then suddenly, she told me that she and her family were moving to Florida where her parents lived so they could be near the beach. It was where they always wanted to end up. It came as a shock to me, because I just assumed that we would always get to hang out, and I wouldn't have to date other moms anymore. haha!

Just as suddenly as she told me their plan, they were gone. I think they sold their house and were on their way within a month of making the decision- it was just after Abby's 2nd birthday. Communication fell apart for awhile after that. We tried skype but it would upset Neil too much. They were so busy getting their new lives set up and I was over here feeling sad and also dealing with miscarriages.

Recently she reached out and asked if Scott and I would basically audit a marriage counseling program she and her husband were putting together. We went through the modules and gave her feedback (mainly I told her about typos). It felt like we were connected again, like no time had passed. I knew we wouldn't be able to afford to go visit every year, nor would they, but it's nice knowing that there's someone out there in the world who is like you.

So I mentioned we would be in Orlando, and after some back and forth, we decided to extend our trip by an extra night, fly to Tampa instead and drive to her parent's house to stay for the night. We would hang out together and let Abby and Neil play.

We talked on Facetime a couple of times where Abby carried the phone around giving him a tour of the house (including a trip to the restroom) and he told her, "I love you, bye bye!"

Then a week before the trip, she sent me a message to say that she and her husband had to take a last minute work opportunity to drum up new clients for their business. I was so disappointed, I needed a little time to process. We'd already booked the flights, car, boarding for Brooklyn, and made all of the plans months prior. It seemed weird to stay with her parents if she wasn't there.

We talked again and her mom called me and we decided to go ahead with our plans. I had met her parents several times in the early years but I thought that it was different hanging out for a few hours vs staying with my whole family at their house. Her mom, Fran, put me at ease when she said, "I don't wait on anyone." Perfect!

The flight to Tampa was easy as pie- the baby slept the whole time, sister played quietly, and we made it all in one piece. We did decide on our next trip we will maybe eat breakfast in the car on the way there instead of trying to find food at the airport- it was rushed and not enough food for everyone.

We arrived in Tampa, ready to get our luggage loaded up and as we walked off the plane, I looked up and there was Debbie!

I was so surprised and excited- I knew they were flying out at the same time we were arriving but it turned out that they were leaving from the gate right next door to the one we were arriving at.

PLUS their flight was delayed and that's the only reason they weren't already in the air when we arrived.

Apparently the universe wanted us to get in a short chat and a few great hugs!

We got to ride a train to the baggage area and Abby wanted a picture of us riding on it.

When we arrived at Nick and Fran's house we unloaded and put the baby down for a nap- she does not sleep in the car longer than 30 minutes so counting on a car nap has never worked out for her. 

Side note- Fran's full name is Francine and when she was a kid she was called Francie. The other funny thing is I told her how we named her Francine specifically in case she wanted to be a lawyer some day. Fran is an attorney!

We explored their awesome house- it has an elevator- and luckily the Grandparents took lots of pictures of Abby and Neil together. He loves babies and was excited to get his hands on a real one!

Just a little hang out in the closet...

 

Abby went out and fished and she caught one! She was so excited! That giant bird ate it. Super creepy.

This is one of those photos that we can all see being used in a wedding slideshow someday. All parents are crossing our fingers for this to work out somehow. hehehe!

We ordered dinner from a local joint and all ate together. With the time change and then time zone change our bedtimes were all crazy but we finally got the girls both asleep by about 8pm.

Bean and I sat up and chatted with Nick and Fran about all of the projects and remodeling work they did on their house and sipped on margaritas. We were exhausted so we tried to get some sleep before the next busy day.

When I woke up in the morning with Abby and Francie, everyone else was sleeping so I fed us some oatmeal and got us dressed. I reached out to Neil's Grandma that was staying with him at his house while Debbie and Ray were out of town and she said we were welcome to come over. I put Francie down for a nap and Abby and I headed over. 

We didn't stay long because Neil wasn't feeling himself- he hadn't slept much at all the night before. I needed to get back to nurse Francie and Scott didn't have a phone so we didn't have an easy way to communicate, so we just left. 

The goal was to get on the road just after lunchtime so any naps would happen during the 2-hour drive to Orlando. Abby was sad that she and Neil didn't get to hang out much that day but she understood he needed to rest. 

After loading up all of our junk, we took Nick's lunch recommendation for a hotel on the beach so we could enjoy the view and also get our toes in the sand. The food was amazing, and Francie tested out how high pitched and loud her voice could go at the same time. 

We walked out to get our toes in the sand for just a few minutes before we hit the road. Of course there were pictures.

Every parent's dream come true:

A simultaneous car nap. It didn't last long but it was glorious. Abby didn't like our music choice when she woke up so we captured the hilarious moment.

We fixed that situation by putting on our family favorite: Hamilton.

The trip started out so amazing, I knew it would be great all around- and it was. Their house was peaceful and beautiful and we felt relaxed even through taking care of young kids the whole time.

I loved seeing Abby with her first friend again, it felt like a salve to my heart.

This might just be the funniest picture of our whole trip. It shows their personalities to a T!

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