Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Walt Disney World!

I feel a lot cooler when I call it WDW.  Like I am part of some cool club.  Whether I am part of a cool club or not, I LOVE Disney!  Disneyland...Disney World...or just a Disney movie, I love it all!  Even as I sit here typing, we have the Pandora Disney station on, and Jordyn is dressed like Repunzel dancing around. 

We went with most of the Barton family (minus Tarrin & Tyrell's family with their new baby, and minus Tyler) the first part of November.  We really debated on whether or not to take Adalynn.  We made our plans and got our flights before she was even born.  We assumed Addy would be an easy baby like Jordyn was and that it would be no big deal.  Wrong!  If we had known, we would have dropped her off in Utah and then flown out of SLC.  But, we did not, and after lots of debating and working hard to get her into better sleeping habits, we took her with us, and she was great!  I was nervous at first about nursing in the parks, but after a day, I lost all shame.  I nursed everywhere and anywhere.  No shame.

The biggest drama of the trip was just getting there.  We had so much stuff; 3 suitcases, 2 car seats, 1 big stroller, my pump, my nursing pillow (a life saver on the plane), a carry-on for Jordyn and a carry-on for Chad.  And only 2 adults to carry it all.  We got to DIA a good hour and a half before our flight and with all our stuff, stood in the Frontier line for 45 minutes to check our bags and get our boarding passes.  We tried to do all that online the night before, but because we were flying with an infant we had to check in at the airport.  The line was huge and by the time we got to the front, the unhelpful worker told us we were 4 minutes too late.  They will not check any bags or print any passes if it is less than 45 minutes before departure.  So to recap, we waited in line their line for 45 minutes only for them to tell us we were 4 minutes to late.  The next Frontier flight we could get on would get us to Orlando the next day at 10 pm.  So aggravating.  Chad never loses his cool and I don't think I have ever seen him so upset.  With the help of the nicest little airline, we found a flight on Southwest and $900 and a 5 hour flight later, we were in Orlando and ready to get our Disney on!

Chad's parents rented an amazing house to accommodate us all. Our first day was in Animal Kingdom, followed by a day at a water park,  a day at Magic Kingdom, and a day at Hollywood Studios.  We had to go back to Magic Kingdom a second day, because it is just that fantastic.  Somewhere in all of that we squeezed in 2 days at Universal Studios and the much anticipated Harry Potter World (an absolute wonder!) and the last day was at Epcot.  It was all just so fantastic I can't describe!  This post would be endless if I tried!  If you want an analysis on each park, the best rides, how to squeeze in the most entertainment, the best ways to get around long lines, then contact Chad.  He still looks on his apps to see how long lines are on any given day.  If you want to know the best spots for entertaining a 3 year old, or the most private places to nurse a baby, then call me cause I think by the last day I had it down to perfection!

And now for pictures!  I just printed about 200, but I will not share them all here, just the best ones!  Lets start with Animal Kingdom!
Safari Ride at Animal Kingdom.  Jordyn loved it.  Adalynn did not.

Goofing around with cousins.  Jordyn adores her cousins!

Tired Addy.  She had to have this little pillow to nuzzle into in her car seat.  We also got a little white noise machine you see on the left.  Another life saver.


Donald Duck!
 
Blizzard Beach Water Park
Cute Adalynn.  The was by far the easiest park to take a baby too.  She was so good!

Jordyn loved this park.  In absolute heaven.  She went on slide after slide and had a blast.  She loves the water and she loves slides so it was great!  She threw a royal fit when we had to leave.  The workers there were so nice to her and spoiled her with little toys to cheer her up. 




A friend gave me a swim suit that fit Addy and it was adorable!  Little polka dots with a tutu.  I was so excited to put it on her!


 
Universal Studios-Island Adventure

To my dismay, I got no pictures of Harry Potter World.  How did that happen?  I was just taking in all the magic and I was so enthralled by it all that I forgot!  Butterbeer and all, it was fantastic!

On Pop-eye's ship.


This park had fun little kid playgrounds, which was awesome for all the little ones we had with us.  This was in the Dr. Suess land, and it was adorable!  Cute little rides, and all the characters.  Jordyn loved it!



Magic Kingdom

I hope heaven is like this, only without the crowd!  My favorite ride is Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Chad's favorite is Space Mountain. (We are such nerds!) If you ask Jordyn about it, she will tell you the planes were too fast (talking about a little roller coaster Chad took her on.) but that she liked Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, and the ghosts (Haunted Mansion). 





Tea cups!

I think this is a funny picture.  Chad looks like he is super stoked to be on he merry-go-round. 


Jordyn thought it was so lovely that Snow White kissed her autograph!



Rapunzel was so cute!  She played and talked with Jordyn and was kind enough to share her hair with our bald little Addy!

Jordyn, so proud of her Minnie shirt.



Hollywood Studios
I learned on this trip, especially at Hollywood Studios, that Jordyn loves the live shows.  She was totally zoned into the Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, and Disney Jr shows we saw. 
The Toy Story ride is awesome.  Not awesome enough to stand in the 2 hour line more than once, however.

Jordyn is obsessed with Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  She was over the moon to see Jake!  We saw a little stage show as well and she collected about 20 gold deplumes and smiled the whole time! 







Goof ball!  Getting ready for the Muppet Show.

Addy had some big smiles for Grandma!
Universal Studios
Chad says this was his favorite day.  This park was empty and he went on each ride a bazillion times.  They had a super fun kid zone that we spent half the day in.   Aparently, I was getting tired cause I only took a couple pictures!


Epcot
This was the last day.   I admit, I was pretty ornery this day!  Sorry to anyone who had to spend this day with me.  It was rainy, and I was away from the stroller most of the day, which meant I did not have my camera, and thus... no pictures. 

The trip was amazing.  So much fun.  I cannot thank my in-laws enough times for taking us and sharing the fun memories. The flight home was thankfully uneventful.  We got home and it took me about a week to recover from the lack of sleep and sheer exhaustion!  I can't wait to do it all again someday!

1 comment:

Enrique and Lindsay said...

Oh the joys of traveling with little kids. Try adding customs to the mix of lines every time you travel. We did "Walt Disney World" (can I be in the cool club too?) my junior year of high school. But only for 3 days. That looks utterly exhausting with little kids but so worth it! Danny lives an hour away from Orlando. It's time to go visit him again! Last time we went, we just did Sea World. And sorry, but that's not nearly as awesome as Disney! Haha, your kids are adorable, by the way!!