Disney: Day 1 - In need of a little Disney Magic

Our first day at Disney was supposed to start off with an early morning arrival at the Magic Kingdom, walking into an empty park before opening, snapping a few hard to get shots of the girls in front of the castle without a soul behind them, then heading over to Crystal Palace for breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and friends.  However, our morning didn't start off this way.  Instead, it started off with a little princess, still trying to feel better from a long night of being sick, and me calling Disney Dining, to cancel our precious reservations at Crystal Palace.  :(  Thankfully, the CM's at Disney are usually very helpful, and were able to waive the cancellation fee that we would have been given.  So we turned our focus on getting the little one feeling better, and the older girls, though disappointed about not getting our reservation, enjoyed sleeping in a bit longer.

By mid afternoon, our little princess was feeling a little better, and decided that she wanted to try to go over to the Magic Kingdom.  Meeting Ariel was #1 on her agenda, with the other princesses following behind. She got herself dressed, donning her favorite Ariel Tshirt, and we packed up our necessities, and headed over to The Magic Kingdom.  This would be Amanda's first time there... ever.

The most wonderful sign in the world!

Entrance to Magic Kingdom!  Getting excited!

Even though she doesn't feel too good, she finds a smile :)

VERY excited to be taking the Monorail!

Monorail!

Obligatory photo at the MK entrance

One very excited princess, walking into The Magic Kingdom for the very first time!

Amanda was all smiles, walking into the Magic Kingdom for the very first time.  So much to see, and so much to take in.  But she had her sights on that huge castle at the end of Main Street.  So off we go... but of course, I take a few more photos along the way :)

And we've made it to the Castle... well almost!

Now we are here!

We arrived at the castle just in time for a castle show!

More Arrival day

So after the pool, we headed out to dinner.  We just had to find STEAK AND SHAKE!  We don't have them at home, so this is always a treat for us, and it's inexpensive, too!  Below is the wee one, wearing her awesome SnS paper hat!

After dinner, we headed over to Downtown Disney for some shopping fun!  

Snapped a picture with the Crocodile, so in the even that we meet Captain Hook, we can scare him!  H and A tried their best to avoid Stitch spitting on them, outside of World of Disney! (they weren't very successful!)

One sassy little princess, and the highlight of the evening, meeting SANTA CLAUS!

Downtown Disney was fun, but soon it was time to head back to get some much needed rest for our first day in the parks!  By the time we got back to the condo, the little one wasn't feeling so good.  Unfortunately, she ended up getting sick, and was sick all night, and most of the next day. :/  Most likely a case of food poisoning from her Mac n Cheese from Steak and Shake :/

Arrival day.. continued..

After we settled into the condo - the 3 girls unpacked immediately, and claimed their 'spaces' in what was pretty much their own condo (they were thrilled) - we decided to take advantage of the beautiful Florida sun, and head down to the pool.  It also gave my husband some time alone to take a nap;  something that was much needed after the long drive.

This 'resort' had several pools to choose from, but we decided to just check out the one that was at our building (building 10).

A poses before jumping in!

Wide shot of the pool area

Mushroom waterfall in the kids pool

A little Florida scenery

Last stop... hot tub!

The pool area was very spacious, clean and very well landscaped.  Pool was a good size, and the wee one was able to go most everywhere.  She also got a kick out of the mushroom waterfall in the kid pool.  The kid pool wasn't very big, therefore the interest didn't hold long.  Main pool was heated.   Hot tub was a decent size, and had a lot of seating.  You can see the bench ledge that goes pretty much around the entire thing in the picture above.  

Once they were tired of the pool, we headed upstairs to shower and get ready for dinner and an excursion to the Outlets to find the Disney outlet!

We're here!

FINALLY!  All the planning and prep that went into this Disney trip, and we are HERE!  We opted to save a TON of money and stayed offsite.  Thanks to a friend of my husbands, we were able to get a really nice condo for LESS than it would have cost us for one night at a Disney Value Resort... ANY of them.  Though I really, really, really wanted to stay on property, we couldn't pass up such a good deal.  Our bank account is very thankful.  The only downfall to this was that we would have to pay to park at Disney every day.  This, however, turned out not to be such a bad thing considering how high the crowd levels were.

We pulled into the condo's office parkinglot with a very sleepy crew.  The 'resort' that we were staying in was called Vacation Village at Parkway.  The resort was nice, and the staff was also nice, though there is a huge push to become a timeshare member.  We didn't really have the time, nor did we really want to give the time to listen to the sales pitch.  We were already full to the gills with Disney plans.  Not much time for anything else..

So, the Vacation Village at Parkway was a bang for the buck.  No doubt about that.  We only hit one of the pools (the first day- upon arrival), and never were able to take advantage of the many planned activities they offered.. and there were a lot.  The condo itself, well we actually had two adjoining condos.. were clean and nice.  Not luxurious, but very nice even so.  Here are a few pictures:

Main entrance to adjoining condos.. each side was identical, but mirrored

Dining room & Living Room

Kitchen

Bathroom

Jacuzzi tub in Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom

We'll take a trip out to the pool next...

Disney Bound!

It's finally time!!  It's the day that we leave for the Sunshine State of Florida, and to one of my most favorite places on earth... WALT DISNEY WORLD!  The time when all my planning and preparations come together.  Excitement is in the air, and we are ready...

Unlike many other travelers, we drive to Disney.  It's nearly 900 miles to the Happiest place on Earth, and roughly 13 hours of driving, not taking into account stops for food, bathroom breaks, or just to stretch (or sleep).  We have done this drive several times, most recently this past June when we took a family vacation to Siesta Key, Florida, to celebrate my oldest daughter's 16th birthday.  Which, I should add, that I failed to blog about, but thinking that once my Disney trip blog is complete, I may just have to do so.  Siesta Key is BEAUTIFUL.  Okay, back to Disney... The girls attended school this blustery November Thursday, and I used this time to finish packing the little things, and start to load the car up.  Also dropped the dog off at the boarders, and finished some things around the house.  Since it's a long drive, we had all of the necessities packed and accessible in the car for our entertainment.  Thankfully, our van is equipped with two DVD screens/players, so all of the girls could be entertained.  Of course then there were the phones, ipods, tablets, etc...

When the girls got home from school, we finished loading up the van and then we were off!  A few movies into the ride, and sleep got the best of them..

We arrived in the sunny state of Florida the next day, and as always, it's extremely exciting to see this sign:

Only a few more hours, and we will be in the Happiest Place on Earth!!

Disney Magic!

First let me say that we had a fabulous time in Disney!  I have lots to blog about, and am in the process of getting everything written down.  Life has been much of a whirlwind since we returned from our vacation, so it's been a challenge to get the blog post down.. but stay tuned.. it's coming!


For those of you currently planning  a Disney trip, or will be soon, I found a great place for more advice in doing so..   Head on over to "Planning Disney"  and check it out!

Packing

Now that most of my planning is done.. at least to the point where we could leave tomorrow and I have a good idea of where we are going, what we are doing, and when... I turn my focus on the next big undertaking... PACKING.

I find that the key to this chore is not my husband's idea of waiting until the last minute, then frantically running around, throwing stuff into a bag, crossing your fingers, and hoping you got everything that you need!  No, I have to make a list.  Yes, I'm one of those people.. List people!

I make a list of things to pack in our suitcases.. I cover all bases!  I also make a list of things that we will carry with us in the park, as well as things we will need at our accomodations.  Oh, and I can't forget things for the car.  We drive to Disney, so it's important with a small child, to have lots of things to keep her busy.  Hubby is in charge of all of the electronics.. DVD's, Leappad, Ipods, etc..  I'm in charge of the rest.

Here are a few fun things I've picked up for our trip:

Pens for Character Autographs:  *Don't use the green sharpies.  Characters don't like them :)

Hand wipes!

Activity books and light up fans for the lines :)