September
6th through the 9th we took our first family trip to
Disney World. To make it even more fun we
brought along my parents, Ben’s mom, and Ben’s sister. We decided that we wanted to go ahead and
make the trip even though Alethea is still so young because we were able to get
such a fabulous deal since Ben is in the military. Plus we live so close right now that we just
couldn’t pass up the opportunity knowing that we only have less than a year
left here in SC and after that Ben will most likely be moving on from the Navy
so we wouldn’t have the discount either.
And it turns out that even though she was only 18 months old she
absolutely loved it! We spent the
perfect amount of time there and there was plenty of fun to be had, even for
Alethea!
It is about a 6 hour drive from
Charleston so we left as soon as Ben was able to get away from work which ended
up being about 10am on Thursday. So that
got us to Disney by about 5pm with stops.
Alethea did awesome on the drive and we were all ready to start having
fun right away since we only had 2 half days and 2 full days to spend. So we quickly checked in and headed over to
the Magic Kingdom to grab some dinner.
We grabbed dinner and then scoped out a spot to watch the Electric
Parade. Alethea did awesome for only
having a 45 minute nap earlier that day.
We busted out the glow bracelets while we waited for the parade and we
all (including Alethea) had a blast watching the parade. It was our hope that we would keep Alethea up
just this night so she could see the parade and then the fireworks to
follow. However she fell asleep on the
way to our spot to view fireworks and slept all the way through. So she has still yet to see her first
fireworks, lol!
Checking out the Mickey towels
Chilling out on the bed while everyone gets bags put in the room
Ready to go to Magic Kingdom on our first evening!
The Castle!
She loves her Daddy and is very happy for dinner
Glowstick fight with Aunt Rachel
Tinkerbell: Such and awesome parade!
Mesmerized by the parade
She pointed at everything!
The night show!
And she's out :-)
We woke up when Alethea woke up
Friday morning, which ended up being about 7:30am, and once everyone was ready
we headed out to Magic Kingdom again, indulging in homemade banana muffins on
the way. J Our
plan was to center the time at Disney around what would be most enjoyable for
Alethea and only really doing the “adult” things if time allowed. So we went directly to Dumbo first and she
loved it so much that we rode it twice in a row. This was a great time of year to go because
we hit hardly any lines! We spent a good
part of the morning in Fantasyland hitting up the Mad Tea Party tea cups, Winnie
the Pooh, Peter Pan, It’s a Small World, and the Carousel. She didn’t really like Winnie the Pooh or
Peter Pan because they were both dark (at least I think that’s why), but she loved
the rest, especially It’s a Small World.
We actually rode It’s a Small World twice because she loved it so
much! She pointed at everything and was
so excited on that ride. J Next we headed over to Tomorrowland so that
Ben and his sister could ride Space Mountain.
While they rode that we tried to get pictures with Chip and Dale, but
Alethea wanted nothing to do with them.
She held on to me super tight and wouldn’t let go. After that we rode
Buzz Lightyear and the Tomorrowland Speedway go carts and she enjoyed
both. We went to Fronteirland for a
lunch break and then Ben and his sister went and rode Big Thunder Mountain
Railroad. While they rode that we walked
around Adventureland in hopes of getting Alethea to take a nap, but she was not
interested in relaxing, lol. So instead
we checked out the Tiki Room show (which she loved dancing to all the music),
then rode Aladdin twice, and went on the Jungle Cruise. Once Ben and his sister joined us we got
some Dole Whip and walked around the Swiss Family Treehouse (which she had a
blast exploring). After that Ben and his
sister went to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean ride while scored a great spot
for the afternoon parade. Thankfully
while we were waiting my dad was able to walk around and get Alethea to take a
nap that lasting until they announced the start of the parade over the loud
speakers and scared her awake, lol. Once
she was awake though, she loved the parade, except for when Donald Duck decided
to be friendly, but really just scared her to death. She loved to wave at the characters and point
them out as long as they stayed far from her personal bubble! We rode the railroad back the entrance,
walked around main street, grabbed some treats and then headed back to the
hotel to rest up a bit (thankfully just in time because it started pouring down
rain).
Ready for Dumbo!
Walking to the Tea Cups
So excited in the gift shops
She saw a squirrel, lol
so excited
Chilling out
Attempting to meet Chip and Dale
It's a Small World!
She waved at every kid and animal on the ride
time for the carousel
Aladdin
finally out for a nap
still sleepy for the first part of the parade
The Beast
An awesome balloon before leaving for the day
After Alethea went to bed, my
parents stayed with her so that Ben, his mom, his sister, and I could head over
to explore Epcot. We didn’t really have
much planned for Epcot other than seeing the lights show and grabbing some
dinner. When we first got there we just
walked around all the countries and found a spot to watch the lights show. It was a great show (not as good as Magic
Kingdom though) and then we grabbed some dinner in Mexico. I loved my empanadas, but evidently that was
a better choice than what the rest had.
Saturday morning we woke up with
Alethea again right around the same time and then grabbed some McDonalds on the
way to Animal Kingdom. This park definitely
turned out to be a hit! We headed over
to Asia to ride Everest twice right off the bat while Ben’s mom hung out with
Alethea. So much fun! Then we went to Dinoland and rode the
Triceratops Spin with Alethea and then the Primeval Whirl while the Grandma’s
watched Alethea and then ended off our time in Dinoland by catching the Finding
Nemo Musical. I was worried about going
to a show at first because I didn’t know that she would sit through it, but I
was definitely wrong. She was so excited
and pointing at everything throughout the show.
So cute! Then we headed over to
Africa to go on the Safari and the Exploration Trail. Alethea (as well as everyone else) loved
these. This was like a zoo on
steroids. Alethea made so many animal
noises and was super excited about seeing all the animals and we all enjoyed
watching her excitement. We grabbed
lunch in Africa before heading over to Camp Minnie-Mickey where we tried one
last time to get Alethea to meet a character, Minnie, but she wanted nothing to
do with it again. So we just headed over
to the Lion King Show which was awesome.
She loved this show too! She
actually started drifting off a little bit during this show at the end so we
kept trying to keep her awake so she would be able to nap longer in the
stroller. Well that plan backfired
because she ended up not taking a nap at all that day. Thankfully she was a great sport anyway and
you never would have known she hadn’t napped except for the occasional loopy-ness.
J We
got our spot for the jungle parade and then enjoyed yet another fabulous Disney
parade. After that Ben, his sister, and
my dad headed over to Hollywood Studios to catch some coasters while me and the
grandmas took Alethea to play in the boneyard and then to get some ice cream. She had a blast running around the boneyard
and then we took her back to the hotel to eat dinner and go to sleep.
So excited on the safari
She was very intent the whole time
"Look Ma!"
tapping on the glass at all the fishes
looking at the fishes with Mommy and Daddy
Waving at the gorillas
drink break with Papaw
trying to meet Minnie = fail
Waving at the characters in the Jungle Parade
Until they come to say hi, lol
So excited playing in the boneyard
I am not really sure all of what
they did in Disney before my mom and I joined them, but after Alethea was
asleep (which she went down almost instantly 30 minutes early without having
napped) Ben’s mom stayed with her, so we could go join the rest at Hollywood
Studios. We got there just in time to
grab more ice cream (yes I may I have a bit of an obsession and this was my
dinner, lol) and then we got our spot for Fantasmic. That is definitely my favorite nighttime show. The do a wonderful job!
Our last day we got up with Alethea
again, enjoyed banana muffins, packed up/checked out, and then headed back to
Hollywood Studios before we had to head home that afternoon. This last day was literally a wash since it
was raining the whole time, but we made the best of it. We caught two shows: Little Mermaid and
Beauty and the Beast, and they were both excellent and Alethea love them. She is such a musical kid! We also saw a short session about animation before
catching several rides. We rode the Toy
Story ride with Alethea and then rode the Rockin’ Roller coaster twice and the
Tower of Terror while Ben’s mom watch Alethea.
Ben’s mom had to leave to catch her flight so my Dad watched Alethea
while we rode the Rockin’ Roller coaster the 2nd time and much to my
surprise she was passed out on his shoulder when we go out. I guess a little Aerosmith I a good lullaby,
lol! She got a good 45minute nap while
we rode and then walked to the car, but she was woken up when we put her in the
car seat. So that created for an
interesting sleeping situation for the trip, but she was still a trooper and did
great in the car given the circumstances.
Beauty and the Beast
Papaw worked his magic
Tuckered out on the way home
Her new Mickey and Minnie kept her company too :-)
This was definitely a fast paced,
whirlwind of a trip, but it was oh so worth it.
We got to see everything we wanted to at 2 of the parks and a lot of
what we wanted to at the others. (We
didn’t have much interest in Epcot.) It
was a successful and fun trip full of great company and I am so glad we decided
to do it! This was our first big family
trip and it is full of many wonderful memories to last a lifetime!
