Well, LAST Saturday if you were a fly on the wall in our home at approximately 9:50P.M. this is the conversation you would’ve witnessed:
Tom: Well, should we just go? Should we just go on vacation?
Me: Like this coming week?
Tom: Yeah, what about….oh….uhh…..Disney??
Me: duhh…..uhhh….SURE!
Tom: (dialing phone) We’d like to plan our trip to Disney….yeah, to leave in like 3 days…
And the rest is, as they say, history. Or not! Because I shall BLOG about our most spontaneous vacation ever, Walt Disney World 2010 :)
So Tuesday 9/7/10 we boarded (very lightly packed, I might add!) a (half empty) plane to Orlando with not a clue in our minds what we were going to do in Disney. I consulted as many friends/family/passerby that I could about how to navigate the park and the extreme complication that is THE DINING PLAN!
We stayed at the new Bay Lake Tower, which is built right on the monorail. This was very advantageous to us since we have napping children still, the proximity to the park was priceless.
Tuesday when we arrived we let the kids run amok and get their crazies out from sitting still on the plane (thank goodness for DVD players!)
And thank goodness for Ty’s window seat :) (and the window that could be opened and shut 40 million times!)
After a very successful flight (that being no major outbursts, and I mean that in ever sense of the word! or tantrums) we searched for our driver that would take us to our place…
As we rode in comfort Ty watched a show, Marlo snoozed and Tommy and I still had giddy nerves about what this FIRST trip to Disney would hold for us…
After checking in we did what every family with small children does when they get to their vacation destination….HIT THE POOL!
Ty was quite afraid of the big slide and Marlo was content to be held on her belly and kick like a little fish. Tom and I took turns going on the “big slide” and Ty’s fears were quite legitimate! I nearly lost my suit and Tommy came shooting out of that thing like a circus cannon!
On a recommendation from a friend, we did a character dinner for our first meal there so that even our travel day would feel like a great introduction to Disney World! We had dinner with Mickey and friends at Chef Mickey’s right in our place!
Marlo says, “Get me OUT of this chair so I can go see Minnie!”
One of Marlo’s favorites: “DUCK!”
Here Donald, have some food!
(not sure what Marlo is contorting into in this picture but it still makes us smile!)
The first night we did not have passes to the park, so after dinner we just hung out (after a VERY unsuccessful trip to get to Downtown Disney!) and then bathed the children so we could watch the fireworks from our balcony.
Before and during the fireworks show the castle changes colors, and Ty was serving as our commentator: “Now the castle is….purple. Oh, now it’s changing…iiiiiiitt’s GREEN!”
Wednesday we got up SUPER early to make it to Hollywood Studios for our next character meal, Breakfast with the Playhouse Disney characters!
Little did we know but we (I) planned this meal perfectly because the park opens at 9am. Our reservation was for 8:20 and it was not busy at all. Right as we left the restaurant we were escorted to a place where the “lines” were forming just to get in. We had a side view of the lines and sort of a head start. All of these Disney workers were standing like SWAT team people and I asked them what was up. Supposedly they have to walk the guests to the Toy Story ride because that is what everyone swarms to to ride and get Fastpasses, and they’re afraid someone will get trampled/hurt. INSANE!
Here we are walking in before the mayhem!
After we were seated we didn’t even have a chance to get food before we were greeted by these guys! And I had no idea what their names were! Ty knew that they were Little Einsteins, but he’s never watched it before so we didn’t know their names. Marlo had no clue about any of it but was smitten with these big-headed, lively, hugging characters!
Oh wow, Handy Manny!!!
Then before we could blink, a concert broke out right next to our table. Dancing, singing, music, interaction!
Marlo was totally into it, Ty was….well, he was underwhelmed I guess! Ha ha haa!
Right from the get-go, Marlo proved to be a hugger. And not a shy one! She would run right up to these characters and swarm them in a hug. I had to watch out for her because those big bobble head characters would not be able to see little Miss Marlo come toddling up every time!
(I STILL don’t know the Little Einsteins’ names!)
Marlo’s new boyfriend! Wow, she was all about Handy Manny.
Handy Manny had to exit stage right for a break, and Marlo chased him down, literally!
Like I said, after breakfast we were “escorted” to the new Toy Story ride. We got to the line first, but I had to unload the kids from the stroller while Tommy ran over to get fastpasses for it too. In just that amount of time, maybe 3 or 4 minutes, the ride filled up and the line was out the door. We still hopped in line and waited only maybe 10 or 12 minutes. Wow, what a ride!
Here is the entry way…a HUGE toy box :)
There’s Ty rockin’ his 3D glasses and shooting his blaster!
“The Claaaaawwwwww”
Also in the entry way, a tool box…Binford! Anyone else recognize what that’s from!?
“Zuuuuuuuurg!”
Getting inside of Stinky Pete’s box!
Sherrif Ty (in a Buzz shirt, ha!)
And then….
Woody was smitten with Marlo as well :) She was hugging him left and right!
Marlo had to keep going back to show Buzz and Woody each of their characters (the toys she was holding).
Ty was SO happy to see Woody in person :)
Always seeking a cooler spot to be than outside, we snuck inside a show, “Playhouse Disney”. The temperature outside was about 75 million degrees and all of the inside rides/shows/attractions were MUCH cooler with air conditioning blasting high powered! Both kids enjoyed this show, with all the Mickey Mouse gang, Handy Manny & tools, Pooh and Friends and Little Einsteins (I STILL don’t know their names!)
As if it weren’t enough that we met the dynamic duo of Buzz and Woody, we ramped up the excitement (for Tommy moreso than the kids ha!) by going to visit…
Lotso!
Marlo was so over him, and she went off to the side to see the other characters that were just part of the set! I love Lotso’s face here, he’s like, “What the…?”
How could we visit all of the Toy Story characters and not go and fill up at Pizza Planet!?
Then it was back on the monorail to head back to our room for afternoon naps (yep, I took part in that as well!)
After naps we loaded back up and headed to Downtown Disney. I scored reservations at a popular place, T-Rex…
Someone described this restaurant to me as “Rainforest Cafe on crack”, and I’d have to say I agree. I felt like I had attention problems in this place! There were climate changes, light changes, roaring dinosaurs and other creatures, swimming fish right by our table, and to add to the cacophony was our ever-so-talkative waiter, Ryan. My brain hurts just thinking about him now!
This is what Ty thought…
Marlo was entertained by the fish, I was disgusted by one at the bottom of the tank that looked like he’d seen better days.
After dinner and while milling around Downtown Disney, of course we happened upon some ducks. Marlo was sure to chase them down, and they were not shy either!
We also stopped by a little playground and also had another meeting with Mr. Lightyear!
We also let the kids do a little train ride as well…as if we weren’t going to experience enough rides! Ha.
Making Double Bath super fun :)
Oh no! Capture by the Evil Emperor ZURG!
Our first day at Magic Kingdom! They were beginning to decorate for their Fall/Halloween Celebration!
We also had another character breakfast at Magic Kingdom…
At first, the kids were unsuspecting…
And then out bounced…Tigger!
And of course, Pooh!
After breakfast we just HAPPENED to be in a prime spot to see perhaps the most coveted characters! Marlo was beyond ecstatic!
Woody and Jessie!
Marlo had to be sure to show Jessie her Jessie-jibbitz (shoe jewelry) on her Crocs!
After the Pirates of the Carribean ride we met a Pirate-ish Goofy, Marlo was insistent on sitting down for this picture!
We had a wonderful dinner at Tony’s on the Square, an Italian restaurant based on the movie Lady and the Tramp (which Tommy kept thinking was Fox and the Hound!)
Ty had a little appetizer….Daddy’s bowl of lemons!
But later when his food came, he ate like a horse! Those long days of walking all over the park and riding ride after ride and meeting tons and tons of characters really built up his appetite! Ha.
“Want a bite of green bean Mommy?”
More characters???? How many character meals did we have anyway????
Who goes to Disney and doesn’t ride the Flying Dumbos!?
On our way into Mickey’s Philharmagic, one of our favorite shows~as evidenced by the TWO times we watched it! The
3-D, the smells, splashes of water, etc were enough to make this one of our favorite attractions of the whole vacation!
Burning up, waiting to see Daddy and Ty cross the finish line in the racecars! (Video to come…)
Yes, ANOTHER character meal! This was our last dinner on Friday night. By this point Marlo and Ty had developed an extreme comfort with any character just walking up to them right in the middle of a meal and hugging on them or asking for a high five :)
On our last night in Disney we spent the evening at Magic Kingdom, only to find out that the park was closing to the general public at 7PM!!! What a surprise to us, no one had informed us of that! So, we thought we’d head back to our place and take advantage of the fun pool and water slides.
We got back to our room, went through all the craziness of putting bathing suits on everyone and got down to the pool to find out that they CLOSED THE POOL for an impending storm! Plan 2 destroyed!
So, we thought we’d head to the Community Room (craft room) so Ty could work on some more beads/bracelets that he wanted to make for Nana and GG and Ann (the girls working in there told us the day before that beads would be available Friday). We get to the Community Room and NO BEADS! Plan 3 squashed!
So we went (in the supposedly stormy) outside and ran around the property for a little bit and came to a tiny little “beach”.
And can you guess the outcome of our Plan #4? We thought since we missed everything else we could just go back to the room, bathe, get all comfy and watch the fireworks one last time on our balcony….
FIREWORKS CANCELLED for a special event at the park. BOO!!!
Here are some extra pictures from my cell phone:
View from our room :)
Ty on the night he ate like a sumo wrestler!
Our last night, having had all other plans foiled, we let the kids have a Family Movie Night on our bed. They watched Blues Clues, though, shhh don’t tell Disney :)
And here is the video of Ty and Tommy driving the race cars, Ty had been patiently waiting to do this the whole time :)
No comments:
Post a Comment