The Top Ten Reflections From Disney World
Last week, at this exact time, I was braving a torrential downpour at Epcot with Nolan, Judah, Carter, and my mom. The wind was howling, the rain was pelting us, and we were sloshing around as water soaked through our socks and shoes. Somehow it feels like ages since we've been on vacation! Disney World was magical, of course. But, I also learned a LOT bringing kids here for the first time!
I'm a sucker for a top-ten list so here are my top ten reflections from our trip:
1.) My kids are freaking rockstars: Doing Disney World is hard- it's hard waiting in lines, it's hard waiting for busses, it's hard waiting for meals, it's hard waiting to get into the park. There's SO much walking- we did at least 5 miles each day. Naps and schedules were non-existent. We spent two full days in the car driving to and from.
I have four kids five and under and they were AMAZING! I don't know that I should've or could've expected any better from them. Nolan and Judah were troopers constantly- they were game to try anything, ride anything, see anything, walk anywhere. Those two never complained. Carter was occasionally difficult- he was tired and cranky and often did not want to be in the stroller, but also did not want to walk- BUT HE IS THREE!!!! He smiled big, went on any ride, was star-struck seeing characters like Mr. Incredible, and was one of the saddest to go home. Preston, even though he hardly slept at night (he is teething and was scared of not being in his room), was in a good mood, happy, and flexible as we literally dragged him all over Disney World.
And when that Sunday came, that Sunday I keep referring to- the one with all the rain, there was NEVER a question of IF we would go to the park. Nolan, Judah, and Carter expected to go, never asked about not going, never thought about not going. They put on their winter coats and ponchos and were in. THAT, my friends, has earned my respect. That makes me excited for our future travels- if they are game to do that, they'll be game to do just about anything. Those three faired better than I did that day. Truly.
They are rockstars, plain and simple.
A part of me doesn't want to do Disney again for several years, another part of me is ready to go back tomorrow ;) That trip was everything.
I'm a sucker for a top-ten list so here are my top ten reflections from our trip:
10.) Bring help, send help, get help: I have four kids, four YOUNG kids. Most of the time I don't notice that as being atypical because it's our typical. However, the more out in public we go, the more I find myself thinking four kids is a lot. We could have never EVER done this trip with my kids at their current ages, if we did not have other adults with us. My mom and Josh's parents were GOD-SENDS/ANGELS to us: extra hands to hold onto my children, extra entertainers during the endless lines for rides, lines to catch buses, lines to get INTO the parks, extra savers-of-seats as we were purchasing food, extra pushers-of-strollers, extra people to stay behind with Preston, and, most important to my children, extra people to sit next to on rides.
I will never be able to thank them enough for coming with us. The more adults the better is my mindset ;)
I also have to shout-out to my dad who stayed back in Michigan and took care of our house and Prim while we were gone. Also a HUGE help, especially when we got dumped with snow and windchills were forty below zero. Having him checking on things gave us peace of mind.
9.) Day driving sucks: Driving to Disney World is our 3rd long car-ride destination. We've also driven to St. Augustine, Florida and Denver Colorado. Up until our way home from Disney, we have done ALL those drives overnight. It's hard on Josh and I because we get little to no sleep, but the boys DO sleep and it passes the time. Driving overnight also helps a lot with traffic.
Because of the polar vortex, we were nervous about driving such a long time over night with it being so cold- you hear of flat tires happening more easily or cars not starting and it was well into the negatives from Tennessee upward. If something happened to us in the middle of the night, we were going to be screwed. So, we decided to leave early in the morning and do the bulk of the driving during the day. Then we could decide to just power through for a few hours and make it all the way home or stop and stay the night in Kentucky if the roads seemed bad or the cold seemed dangerous. Let me tell you, driving with four kids in the car all day is just horrible. People were antsy and bored (despite all the stuff we had packed to do in the car) and hungry, and had to use the bathroom. Our drive was slow and not fun. It seriously felt like we would never get out of the state of Georgia because we had to stop so much. No thank you. Night driving is a much better fit for my people.
8.) Podcasts are awesome: Speaking of driving, I am a little late to the game on listening to podcasts, but they really help time go by! I am obsessed with music and rarely get to listen to what I want to listen to in the car so I relish time to blast my own tunes. I also like to listen to audio books as well so podcasts have never been something I've tried. On our way home, I listened to the podcasts versions of Watch What Happens Live on Bravo and was alert, engaged, way more awake and enjoying myself much more at 2:00am than when I've driven late at night before. It was delightful.
7.) The jury is still out on packing cubes: For this vacation, I tried packing cubes for the very first time. While I DO think they provided a wonderful way to organize stuff and while it was nice to stuff those as full as possible, I just can't figure out if I like them better than packing normally or not. I'm not exactly sure yet the best way to use the cubes- do you use them by person? do you use them by day? do you use them by theme like all the pants go in a cube? I just can't decide yet.
6.) Pack for ANY weather: This could also be called 'the case for the poncho.' As I began packing for this trip, the weather continually looked like it was going to be in the low 60s- some days more sunny than others, but that was it. My mom and I kept talking about how much or how many of things we were going to bring and I was making sweeping declarations about things I wasn't packing. Just having six people to pack for makes a crapload of crap; there was no way I was bringing anything just in case, bringing anything for extras. I was not bringing ANY shorts for ANYONE. I wasn't bringing a raincoat. I wasn't bringing a backpack for myself, etc, etc. My mom kept trying to convince me to bring all kinds of things and I was having none of it.
Eventually, I conceded to bring ponchos since they took up so little space even though I was CERTAIN I wouldn't wear one. Then, Sunday happened- the day I referred to above- the torrential downpour. It ended up raining almost 1.5 inches and down-pouring the ENTIRE day, every single minute. Those ponchos were an incredible help- I don't know if we would've been able to go to the park without them. Lesson learned. I cannot stress enough to pack for anything just in case. No one wants to be miserable on vacation because important things were missing. Thanks, Mom!
5.) A stroller was necessary- even better, rent it, but NOT from Disney: When we were first planning our trip, we were trying to decide what stroller to bring. I was assuming that Nolan and Judah would walk everywhere. Man, was I wrong. As I continued reading and researching, I read over and over about families getting strollers for their seven or eight or nine year olds because you do truly walk miles and miles each day. This led me to learning about www.kingdomstrollers.com- a rental place that brings a stroller right to your hotel that you can use in the park. We rented a double stroller and brought one of our own from home and thank GOODNESS we did. The strollers was sensational and we used them constantly. We also rented a scooter through Kingdom Strollers for my father-in-law, which was a huge help.
4.) Contrary to research and popular belief, there may be no slow time at Disney world anymore: It's obvious I do a lot of research before vacationing; so does Josh. I read all kinds of blogs, read articles, and looked at data about wait times and fast passes and dining and sleeping and breast feeding and packing ideas, etc, etc, etc. The end of January has traditionally been one of the deadest times to visit Disney- my mom has been there at this time of year and had virtually NO wait on any ride she wanted. We were looking forward to walking on to rides and being able to ride some over and over if we wanted.
However...
One of the blogs I was reading talked a lot about how last year, at the end of January, it was shockingly busy. The writers, HUGE Disney goers, did not know what to do with this new data- was that a new normal or was it an anomaly? I just kept hoping and hoping it was an anomaly. That was not to be- it was CRAZY busy!!!! It felt even busier than when I've gone at Christmastime before. I don't even know what to say really; it was insane.
3.) I have successfully brainwashed my children into loving Cinderella: If you asked my children what they were looking most forward to when going to Disney World, each of them would've answered, "Cinderella's Castle." I don't know how I did it, people, but my kids LOVE Cinderella. Watching them look at the castle for the very first time was a moment I will never forget- hearing their ahhhhs and ooooos, watching their faces light up, having Carter say, "It is so boootiful." I can't even. Each time we passed the castle, they all looked at me to see if I was crying and then would take their own moment to enjoy as well. That is a #boymom win if I've ever heard one!
I will never be able to thank them enough for coming with us. The more adults the better is my mindset ;)
I also have to shout-out to my dad who stayed back in Michigan and took care of our house and Prim while we were gone. Also a HUGE help, especially when we got dumped with snow and windchills were forty below zero. Having him checking on things gave us peace of mind.
9.) Day driving sucks: Driving to Disney World is our 3rd long car-ride destination. We've also driven to St. Augustine, Florida and Denver Colorado. Up until our way home from Disney, we have done ALL those drives overnight. It's hard on Josh and I because we get little to no sleep, but the boys DO sleep and it passes the time. Driving overnight also helps a lot with traffic.
Because of the polar vortex, we were nervous about driving such a long time over night with it being so cold- you hear of flat tires happening more easily or cars not starting and it was well into the negatives from Tennessee upward. If something happened to us in the middle of the night, we were going to be screwed. So, we decided to leave early in the morning and do the bulk of the driving during the day. Then we could decide to just power through for a few hours and make it all the way home or stop and stay the night in Kentucky if the roads seemed bad or the cold seemed dangerous. Let me tell you, driving with four kids in the car all day is just horrible. People were antsy and bored (despite all the stuff we had packed to do in the car) and hungry, and had to use the bathroom. Our drive was slow and not fun. It seriously felt like we would never get out of the state of Georgia because we had to stop so much. No thank you. Night driving is a much better fit for my people.
8.) Podcasts are awesome: Speaking of driving, I am a little late to the game on listening to podcasts, but they really help time go by! I am obsessed with music and rarely get to listen to what I want to listen to in the car so I relish time to blast my own tunes. I also like to listen to audio books as well so podcasts have never been something I've tried. On our way home, I listened to the podcasts versions of Watch What Happens Live on Bravo and was alert, engaged, way more awake and enjoying myself much more at 2:00am than when I've driven late at night before. It was delightful.
7.) The jury is still out on packing cubes: For this vacation, I tried packing cubes for the very first time. While I DO think they provided a wonderful way to organize stuff and while it was nice to stuff those as full as possible, I just can't figure out if I like them better than packing normally or not. I'm not exactly sure yet the best way to use the cubes- do you use them by person? do you use them by day? do you use them by theme like all the pants go in a cube? I just can't decide yet.
6.) Pack for ANY weather: This could also be called 'the case for the poncho.' As I began packing for this trip, the weather continually looked like it was going to be in the low 60s- some days more sunny than others, but that was it. My mom and I kept talking about how much or how many of things we were going to bring and I was making sweeping declarations about things I wasn't packing. Just having six people to pack for makes a crapload of crap; there was no way I was bringing anything just in case, bringing anything for extras. I was not bringing ANY shorts for ANYONE. I wasn't bringing a raincoat. I wasn't bringing a backpack for myself, etc, etc. My mom kept trying to convince me to bring all kinds of things and I was having none of it.
Eventually, I conceded to bring ponchos since they took up so little space even though I was CERTAIN I wouldn't wear one. Then, Sunday happened- the day I referred to above- the torrential downpour. It ended up raining almost 1.5 inches and down-pouring the ENTIRE day, every single minute. Those ponchos were an incredible help- I don't know if we would've been able to go to the park without them. Lesson learned. I cannot stress enough to pack for anything just in case. No one wants to be miserable on vacation because important things were missing. Thanks, Mom!
5.) A stroller was necessary- even better, rent it, but NOT from Disney: When we were first planning our trip, we were trying to decide what stroller to bring. I was assuming that Nolan and Judah would walk everywhere. Man, was I wrong. As I continued reading and researching, I read over and over about families getting strollers for their seven or eight or nine year olds because you do truly walk miles and miles each day. This led me to learning about www.kingdomstrollers.com- a rental place that brings a stroller right to your hotel that you can use in the park. We rented a double stroller and brought one of our own from home and thank GOODNESS we did. The strollers was sensational and we used them constantly. We also rented a scooter through Kingdom Strollers for my father-in-law, which was a huge help.
4.) Contrary to research and popular belief, there may be no slow time at Disney world anymore: It's obvious I do a lot of research before vacationing; so does Josh. I read all kinds of blogs, read articles, and looked at data about wait times and fast passes and dining and sleeping and breast feeding and packing ideas, etc, etc, etc. The end of January has traditionally been one of the deadest times to visit Disney- my mom has been there at this time of year and had virtually NO wait on any ride she wanted. We were looking forward to walking on to rides and being able to ride some over and over if we wanted.
However...
One of the blogs I was reading talked a lot about how last year, at the end of January, it was shockingly busy. The writers, HUGE Disney goers, did not know what to do with this new data- was that a new normal or was it an anomaly? I just kept hoping and hoping it was an anomaly. That was not to be- it was CRAZY busy!!!! It felt even busier than when I've gone at Christmastime before. I don't even know what to say really; it was insane.
3.) I have successfully brainwashed my children into loving Cinderella: If you asked my children what they were looking most forward to when going to Disney World, each of them would've answered, "Cinderella's Castle." I don't know how I did it, people, but my kids LOVE Cinderella. Watching them look at the castle for the very first time was a moment I will never forget- hearing their ahhhhs and ooooos, watching their faces light up, having Carter say, "It is so boootiful." I can't even. Each time we passed the castle, they all looked at me to see if I was crying and then would take their own moment to enjoy as well. That is a #boymom win if I've ever heard one!
2.) Doing Disney with kids is knock-you-on-your-butt-different: Listen, I knew taking kids to Disney World was NOT going to be what Josh and I were used to. BUUUUUT I.HAD.NO.IDEA. The things you need to bring with you to the park, how slow everyone walks, how long meals take, and most importantly, the EXTREMELY high level of executive functioning we needed, as parents, was truly shocking. I feel like I hardly saw anything- my eyes were on my kids making sure they weren't lost. The end.
I counted my children literally hundreds of times a day. If there was something to touch in line, they were touching it (I'm talking to you, tons of barrels in the Frozen ride line, or all the freaking chains, or flowers by the carousel). If they got free from a hand for a second, they were walking away or going behind us or ahead of us in line. Carter even got his head stuck while peering at a small lake at Epcot through an iron fence. It was constant. There were days where we literally just rode the rides we had Fast Passes for and nothing else- how would there ever have been time to do more?! This trip was magical, don't get me wrong, but also the most challenging trip I've ever taken.
Now I FINALLY get what it means when people say I need a vacation from my vacation. I've used that phrase before- Josh and I would get home from Cancun after days of pigging out and taking naps and lying in the sun and say we needed a vacation from our vacation. Idiots. Someone should've slapped me silly.
I have never been more exhausted than during this Disney trip- it didn't help that Preston hardly slept, we drove all night and never got caught up, and were up early every morning and going to bed late every night. Whew. Just writing all that makes me want to take a nap.
I counted my children literally hundreds of times a day. If there was something to touch in line, they were touching it (I'm talking to you, tons of barrels in the Frozen ride line, or all the freaking chains, or flowers by the carousel). If they got free from a hand for a second, they were walking away or going behind us or ahead of us in line. Carter even got his head stuck while peering at a small lake at Epcot through an iron fence. It was constant. There were days where we literally just rode the rides we had Fast Passes for and nothing else- how would there ever have been time to do more?! This trip was magical, don't get me wrong, but also the most challenging trip I've ever taken.
Now I FINALLY get what it means when people say I need a vacation from my vacation. I've used that phrase before- Josh and I would get home from Cancun after days of pigging out and taking naps and lying in the sun and say we needed a vacation from our vacation. Idiots. Someone should've slapped me silly.
I have never been more exhausted than during this Disney trip- it didn't help that Preston hardly slept, we drove all night and never got caught up, and were up early every morning and going to bed late every night. Whew. Just writing all that makes me want to take a nap.
1.) My kids are freaking rockstars: Doing Disney World is hard- it's hard waiting in lines, it's hard waiting for busses, it's hard waiting for meals, it's hard waiting to get into the park. There's SO much walking- we did at least 5 miles each day. Naps and schedules were non-existent. We spent two full days in the car driving to and from.
I have four kids five and under and they were AMAZING! I don't know that I should've or could've expected any better from them. Nolan and Judah were troopers constantly- they were game to try anything, ride anything, see anything, walk anywhere. Those two never complained. Carter was occasionally difficult- he was tired and cranky and often did not want to be in the stroller, but also did not want to walk- BUT HE IS THREE!!!! He smiled big, went on any ride, was star-struck seeing characters like Mr. Incredible, and was one of the saddest to go home. Preston, even though he hardly slept at night (he is teething and was scared of not being in his room), was in a good mood, happy, and flexible as we literally dragged him all over Disney World.
 |
| Preston napping on the go- he is awesome! |
They are rockstars, plain and simple.
A part of me doesn't want to do Disney again for several years, another part of me is ready to go back tomorrow ;) That trip was everything.
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