Disney World: The Finale

So, after 15 Disney World posts, I can officially say that I’ve documented it all! And, I’m so glad that I did!! Looking back at all of our amazing times will forever be something that my family and I will cherish.

But, for the grand finale, here’s a little interview with Quinn about our trip…
1. Who went with you on your trip to Disney World?
You, Mammer & Slickpaw, and Daddy, and Nash

2. How did you travel to Disney World?
on the plane
 
3. What was the first ride that you rode?
Stitch….remember those little guns that squirted water and smoke at us? Oh…and remember the robot?

4. What was your favorite ride?
Pirates of the Carry-been and the Pirates League
 
5. What was your favorite show that you saw on the trip?
Oh yeah…The Presidents! (my thoughts: WHAT!?!?!)

6. What was the scariest ride you went on?
The Mountain One (Big Thunder Mountain) because it was too fast.

7. What was the weather like?
It feeled good…it was warm! Not hot warm…really warm. Get it, Momma?

8. What was the yummiest food that you ate?
I didn’t eat when I was there. (My thoughts: Seriously!? Obviously food doesn’t matter to him! Nash would disagree!)

9. Who was your favorite character that you met?
Mickey at Animal Kingdom

10. What was the funniest thing that happened on the trip?
When that dragon guy (Figment) dressed up like a skunk. That was really funny!
11. What is your favorite sussy? What is Nash’s favorite sussy?
the Pirate Mickey toy…with him all dressed up; Nash’s favorite sussy is his Mickey Mouse we got him for his birthday.

12. Did you learn anything new on your trip to Disney World?
We readed funny stories in the airplane. (Disney Mad Lib) 



13. How did you feel at Disney World?
Gooder than good!

14. Would you like to create a ride for Disney World? What would it be?
I could try it. I think it might be a Mickey Mouse ride. Just Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Donald and Goofy and Minnie all over the place. When I’m a grown up, I could do that! And, when I’m a Daddy, I’ll go back to the ride I created.

15. If you worked at Disney World, what would you want to do?
I might want to work for one ride…just that ride that I created. But, I kinda just wanna be with you because I love you.

16. Do you want to come back to Disney World one day? If so, what is the first thing you’ll do?
I will. I just like going to Disney World. It’s one of my favorite worlds. … I won’t do Haunted Mansion. Don’t make me. I will do one of those rides that I wanted to do but I didn't do.

17. Tell me your FAVORITE Disney memory!
All of them and everything!!!!!

{picture of Mommy taken by Quinn!}

“I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse.” 
–Walt Disney

Disney world: TIPS & Confessions!!!

Now, don’t get me wrong…I’m NO Disney World professional! But, I did QUITE a bit of research and feel that our trip went pretty stinkin’ close to perfect! So…here’s my advice to you…

Before you go:
*Talk it up!!! Get online and order the free “Vacation Planning” DVD. (Click here!) Let your kids watch it OVER and OVER again! It got Quinn SOOO excited!
*Make dining reservations AS SOON AS YOU KNOW YOU’RE GOING! They book SUPER fast!!
*Make Pirate’s League, etc. reservations AS SOON AS YOU KNOW YOU’RE GOING! I had NO idea how crazy booked they’d be! Slickpaw came to our rescue, but I don’t think it’s typically easy to “squeeze in!”
*Pre-order the Photo Pass (Click here!) It was well worth the $100 to get the hundreds of pictures that the Disney photographers snapped of us all week long!
*Pre-order your park tickets through Undercover Tourist. We got an extra day for free for ordering through them as opposed to the park!
*Watch ALL of your Disney movies…and rent the rest! Quinn loved knowing the stories of everything he saw!
*Plan your days out a little bit. It’ll help you make sure to not miss anything that you really want to do. Just don’t be stressed out by your “schedule!” Be flexible!
*Don’t get too bogged down with all of the information out there. Pick a few resources that you trust and use those! I got myself SUPER overwhelmed when I started internet hopping. My favorite resources were these books…

The first one, Beyond the Attractions, I uploaded to my Kindle and got SO much good info. The others were great to have in hand! I actually took the Birnbaum Guide with me everyday to the parks! … And, Quinn LOVED having his Kids one. He got it for his birthday in March and looked at it ALL of the time!

At the Parks:
*Go as many days as you can. We had a 6 day pass and that was great. One day at each park just wouldn't be enough. And, even with the 6 days, we could have gone more!
*USE THE FAST PASS!!! I seriously couldn’t believe how many people didn’t have a CLUE! It’ll save you so much time!!!…and, it’ll make you SO happy to walk to the front of the line! And, it’s FREE! (Click here to read about how it works!)
*Either go to the Electrical Parade/Fireworks on a day when you don't go to the park…or, go in the morning, take a rest and come back! It makes for a SUPER long night…but you won’t want to miss it!
*Take your own stroller! Despite the annoyance of traveling with it, it was so nice to have while we were at the parks!
*To save money, grocery shop and take your own lunch and snacks!
*Decide ahead of time if you want to participate in Pin Trading. You can order a starter set online before you go and save money.
*If you buy anything of considerable size (Slickpaw bought us all some really cute popcorn bowls), they’ll ship it home for you for a very good price.
*Go back to my posts to see my ratings on the things we did each day. But, remember that it’s my opinion…and I have a 4 year old and not even 1 year old!… 
-Magic Kingdom (click here)
-Animal Kingdom (click here)
-Nighttime at Magic Kingdom (click here)
-Epcot (click here)
-Disney Studios (click here)
-Magic Kingdom (day2) (click here)

What to bring:
*A misting fan!!!
*Water bottles! These were our SAVING GRACE for the boys! They kept their water cold all day!

*Birnbaum Guide (see above!)
*A Sharpie so the characters can sign your autograph book easily
*A noticeable ribbon to tie onto your stroller. It’ll make finding it much easier in the sea of strollers.

My Confessions:
*It really was as magical as I described! I’m not exaggerating!!! It’s THAT great!
*It’s HOT if you go in the summer time! But, if you’re prepared to be hot, it’s not too bad! You get lots of breaks in between being hot to get cool in shows/rides/etc.
*It’s EASY to get wrapped up in hype and get “Mickey-crazy!” I may have considered purchasing WAY too many Mickey themed items!
*We rarely told Quinn no! He got pretty much every little “sussy” that he wanted. But, to my surprise, they weren’t THAT expensive. I expected it to be MUCH higher!
*I might have gotten chills NUMEROUS times every day…and may have teared up a time or two!
*We MIGHT already be talking about our next trip. We really want to go to DisneyLand…Cars Land opens next Summer!

When You Get Home:
*Document your memories before you forget!
*Print pictures for your kids to look at! (I’m writing this to remind myself!)
*Listen to Disney music! It takes them back! Quinn heard the “Soarin’” music and, without prompting, knew immediately what it was from!

 

I hope that helps all of you! Please feel free to leave a comment if you have a question that I didn’t answer! And, if you’re going…ENJOY EVERY MAGICAL MOMENT!!!

Disney World: Day 9…Going Home

When we got up on Monday morning, we ate a big breakfast and took a little walk. It was time to gloat a little bit…Can you blame us?
Then, around lunch time, we packed up everything and exhaustedly began the trip home. Turn in rent-a-van, check luggage/car seats/stroller, eat lunch, wait for plane, board plane, fly home, get luggage, LUG luggage, wait for our driver, and FINALLY drive home!!! And, even though we would have given anything to still be at the most MAGICAL place on earth, it felt great to be HOME SWEET HOME!

Disney World…Day 8: Fort Lauderdale Beach

On the morning of June 12th, we loaded all of our luggage and DisneyWorld paraphernalia into our rent-a-van and headed down the road 2 1/2 hours to Fort Lauderdale. Since our flight wasn’t until the 13th, and all of our Disney fun was (sadly) over, we thought it was a great time to take the boys to the beach for the first time!

After we checked into our hotel and got our beach bag packed, we rode the trolley to the beach. And, after a lunch at LuLu’s Bait Shack, we walked onto the sand. Quinn was so excited to build a sand castle and look for sea shells.



 


 
{fun with lemons…}

  



 

 




The few hours that we were there, everyone had a great time. Daddy built the coolest sand fort for the boys…and Mammer and Quinn found seashells of all kinds. Even though it wasn’t the most beautiful beach…and was full of quite a few “crazies,” it was sweet memories!!!











After we’d all had enough sand for the day (some a little more literally than others), we went back to our hotel for the evening. We swam, ate dinner, enjoyed the hotel’s free happy hour, and tried to quietly cheer the MAVS TO VICTORY while the boys slept! :) It was a great finale to our amazing vacation!