So, now that we were in Disney, we had to figure out which parks we wanted to see. Since I skeeve at water parks - I call them hepatitis parks - those were a no-go. Also, we had been to the NC Zoo a million times and, for all intents and purposes, Animal Kingdom is like that except Mickey walks around wearing safari clothes. So Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios it was. Again, let me remind you that I research the hell out of everything so I spent my fair share of time consulting various "expert" websites as to which parks on what days. Since I knew we'd be spending Thursday at Magic Kingdom for CSC's birthday, and we wanted to spend at least 2 days there, it was a matter of starting or ending with MK. After going back and forth and checking out the Extra Magic Hours and so forth, we decided to say, "what the hell", and do MK for 2 and a half days.
The day we arrived in Orlando and checked into our resort, we made good, immediate use of the hotel transportation to MK. From Art of Animation, the ride was about 20 minutes, so not too bad. I have to say it's pretty cool to come up to the gate and hear "Welcome to the Magic Kingdom" over the bus loudspeaker. The sign into the park is still the same and it's at that point that your inner child can't help but bust out of you. It really is magical....
Because of the beauty of the Magic Bands (more specific info about those later), they are all you need for your trip to Disney. When you first visit any park, you have to set up your bands by tapping them to the Mickey until he lights up green and then choose a finger to set your print. It's just another added bit of security to make sure no one else but you can use your band to enter any park. It is really cool.
Once in, you need to do the obligatory photos in front of the train station and Cinderella's castle - I highly suggest investing in the Photopass before you go. There are photographers all over all the parks who will take your pictures for you using a professional camera. They will happily paparazzi you and your family wherever - even with your own camera if you prefer - and all you need to do is have them scan your magic band. You can see the photos by logging into your My Disney Experience account.
So, I like to think I had perfect timing, but I have to admit that it was purely coincidental that we happened to walk into the park just in time to get pretty good viewing for the 3:00 parade. It was a great way to get reacquainted with MK and see all the characters. I'm not going to lie - I did fan girl out just a little when I saw the characters in the parade. Even going so far as to wave to them and call their names in the hope that they'll see me and wave. The Magic Kingdom brings that out in you.
I had already set up some Fast Passes for some of the rides in Tomorrow Land, so we headed over there, met Buzz Lightyear, The Indredibles (who by the way were having a dance party!), rode the People Mover, and checked out the Monsters Inc. and Stitch "rides". Monsters Inc - pretty cool - the monsters tell jokes and interact with the audience. Stitch - kinda weird.....Stitch burps in your face and "spits" on you.....it's nasty. With our Fast Passes, we rode Space Mountain, Tomorrow Land Speedway, and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Before we left, we took in the view of Cindy's castle all lit up. There was the Electric Light parade coming up, but we decided to do that on a different night - we were all kind of tired from the travel and excitement of day one.
Riding the People Mover
Everybody dance now!
CSC wearing her "1st Visit" button and telling us how cool it was that Mr. Incredible kissed her hand while they danced.
Recently, the family went to Disney world. It was the first time in 20 years - yes I'm old - that I had been, so my memory was fuzzy at best of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and the park formerly known as MGM - when the hell did it become Hollywood Studios?? This trip had been in the works for over a year because that is how long it takes to plan a freaking trip to Disney now. My extremely generous parents gave us the tickets to Disney as a Christmas present and all The Hubs and I had to pay for was our way down there and any over-priced Disney souvenirs we wanted. Needless to say, all of us were excited. Naturally, since I have a tendency to not only plan everything I can, but to also research the hell out of whatever it is I'm planning, I took to the wonderful world of Pinterest and pinned everything I could about Disney and traveling there. I also posted questions on Facebook to my friends, who I know had been, and asked their suggestions and advice. The good thing about doing that is you get a lot of responses. The bad thing about that is you get a lot of responses. I had equal amounts of people telling me that the best Princess character dining was Cinderella's Royal Table and then others telling me that Akershus in Epcot was the best. Helpful and not helpful at the same time. Fortunately, I took what they had to say, combined it with some great resources I found on Pinterest and figured some things out for myself. Naturally, I felt the need to share my experience - not because I'm some sort of Disney expert, but because I was there like 5 minutes ago and can share what's currently going down in the House of Mouse. These are just my personal experiences and I suggest you do what I did - gather as much info and recon as you can and figure shit out for yourself.
Getting to Orlando This was a no brainer - no way in HELL were we driving or taking the train, so flying it was. I have heard recently that the Tuesday 6 weeks prior to your trip is the best time to book flights. Since that would require me setting a reminder on my phone and ain't nobody got time fo' that, I just went to Expedia. Turns out JetBlue - my new fav airline - had reasonable rates for the three of us out of National. Direct flight, first checked bag free, DirecTV and SiriusXM at each seat - done! JetBlue also has an app that is really good AND you can create a "family" of travelers that can pool your miles for future trips! If you can get a JetBlue flight - do it. If not, then the cheapest direct flight is the way to go. I do NOT recommend a connection if you can avoid it only because having to haul ass in the airport with a child to catch your connection is not ideal - I have done that before. If the cost difference is significant, do what you gotta do, but if it's not that much, fly direct.
Uber
I realize she's not in a carseat, but she survived, so whatever.
I had not heard of this wonderful creation until The Hubs suggested we use it to get to the airport. Uber is primarily for people in metro areas, but it's an awesome way to find a car to take you wherever you need to go. It's much more convenient than calling a taxi or a car service I was worried some sketchy person was going to pick us up and then we'd be on the next Dateline, but nope. This guy came in a nice, extremely clean SUV, AND the wore a suit! If you can Uber, do it, if not, get a car or a very nice friend/family member to drive you to the airport so you don't have to pay to park your car.
Flying with children
On the advice of one of my Pinterest finds, I took to the Dollar Tree and purchased a new coloring book and crayons to be opened the day of the trip. They came in handy for our wait for the plane.
Another handy helper was having a fully charged iPad complete with the digital version of Frozen and many other kid friendly (and FREE) apps to keep CSC entertained. Oh, and if you can see the straps that are on CSC that are clearly not part of the usual airplane seatbelt, it's a super cool add-on called the CARES system. It's the only FAA approved harness for flight. I bought it years ago when CSC needed to start using her own seat. It's super simple and I highly recommend it for parents who want their kids to have the benefit of a car seat on the plane, but not the hassle of lugging one around - which, btw, do NOT fit on a standard airplane seat.
All of which result in a happy Mom and a happy kid.
Who wanted to be helpful when looking for our bags, but which were actually delivered straight to our rooms at our Disney resort - awesome! If you plan to do anything your first day that you get to Disney, make sure you pack whatever you want (i.e. snacks, bathing suit, change of clothes, etc) into your carry-on because while your bags meet you in your room, it's not for several hours after you get there.
Art of Animation
We stayed on property at the Art of Animation - a relatively new resort that features characters from Lion King, Cars, Little Mermaid, and Finding Nemo. I know several people who have stayed here and I will join the "stay at this place" bandwagon. Staying on property has perks that staying off property does not - you don't have to rent a car to get to any of the parks, your Magic Bands work as super cool electronic keys - no more getting extra key cards! - there's a convenient bus that takes you to any of the other Disney properties (parks, Downtown Disney, etc) and to the airport. You get the general idea. We stayed in a Finding Nemo family suite which slept all 5 of us comfortably. It has a kitchenette which has a decent sized mini-fridge and a microwave. It also has paper plates/bowls/cups and plastic silverware so you don't have to bring your own. We brought breakfast food to eat every morning, but their restaurant has good food as well. You also get a really large travel mug for every member of your party and you can fill up said mug at the restaurant at the resort. If you LOVE coffee as much as I do, you can fill yours up with the nectar of the gods since you'll need it to make it through the parks. The pool area is awesome too, and the Finding Nemo area is the closest to the main building and transportation.
Overall, getting there was not bad and we all really enjoyed where we stayed. Coming up next: figuring out which freaking park to go to and how to get around.
