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a few pics...
Really quickly, while I inhale some lunch as alex sleeps...
it was an amazing trip. Moms, please don't ever listen to anyone who tells you, "but they aren't OLD enough for Disney! They won't remember it! It's a waste of money!' (etc). Kids under 2 get in for free and under 3 eat for free at table service restaurants in WDW. But it would have been worth it for us even if we had paid for those things for Alex. I think we went for the perfect amount of time for his age, too.
Our favorite memories...
~ watching Alex's reaction the first time we went through it's a small world (his favorite ride)
~watching him giggle his way through the Tomorrowland Transit Authority
~watching him look around in wonder at all the people and the new things to look at everywhere we went
~meeting the characters at breakfasts (we met Leo & June from Little Einsteins, Jojo & Goliath from Jojo's Circus - Alex loved June and Jojo but was not sure about Leo, was meh on Goliath...also met Goofy, Minnie and Dale at another breakfast- Dale made him cry)
~enjoying the AWESOME pool system at the resort, so worth the money
~taking off on the plane to come home, he did pat pat and blastoff as we taxi'd down the runway and we laughed like crazy because he understood that we were "blasting off" in an airplane
~every morning after the first one, alex would wake up, get his cuppy out of the fridge, and climb into his stroller in his PJs to let us know he was ready to go. This from the kid who hates being strapped in to ANYTHING but his car seat.
~discovering the joys of elevators and button pushing
~watching a tiny Alex run freely and discovering new things around the parks like water fountains, etc.
I could go on and on but I won't. Pics below.
Alex on his very first plane ride...
Alex at the castle:
Brushing his teeth with DH (he figured out how to climb up the vanity and sit in the sink):
On the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, his second favorite ride:
with his new ears:
Re: a few pics...
Heather, what a great recap! It sounds like you all had a wonderful time, and have taken some life-long memories home with you! He is adorable. Thanks for sharing!
Question - they did not require Alex to be in his carseat on the plane?
Awww... i am glad that you guys had alot of fun!
We are going to Disney in December (the first week) with Will. My MIL is going down and using her points to get us a room. I cant wait for the vacation. I know Will will be too young to remember, but it will still be a good time. The boys are not going this year, but will go next year. My MIL LOVES to go right after Thanksgiving so that she can see all the holiday things.
Stupid nest, let me try this again!
OMG Heather, I love it! You make me want to hop on a plane tonight & take Owen.
Did you only do Magic Kingdom?
Could he go on a lot of the rides? (we went to the fair this weekend & I think there was 1 ride O could go on)
Where did you stay?
It looks & sounds like Alex had a wonderful time! How did you hold up?
Wow - what a great sounding trip! Your pictures are adorable. I'm glad to hear you had a great time.
We're thinking about doing disney next summer. Would you go again this time of year?
Okay... well, I'm glad that I'm convincing some of you that Disney may be a better experience than you had thought.
We stayed at the Beach Club (not the Caribbean beach, the Beach part of the Yacht & Beach Club, across from the Boardwalk and right next to Epcot). That said, the Beach Club is technically a "deluxe" level resort. However, if your child enjoys the water...it's worth the price. They have their own water park called Stormaway Bay or something like that. You can only use it if you are staying at the Y or B Club. It is a sand bottomed pool with lazy river, water falls, even a slide and it is fantastic. I cannot say enough about this resort. Lots of cute programming (like movies on the beach under the stars and campfires w/ smores, etc.). I would recommend it in a heartbeat and we will probably stay there again next time we go with the kids specifically because what we spent to stay at the hotel meant we didn't have to get the water park and more option on our park hopper ticket.
Mindy...we went to Hollywood Studios, EPCOT and MK. We knew ahead of time that a lot of the park was out for a 17 mo old. That said, we spent the least time in Hollywood Studios. We went to Play and Dine @ Hollywood and Vine for breakfast to meet little einsteins and Jojo. Then we did Playhouse Disney live on stage (cute show) and met little einsteins and Darby, Tigger and Pooh outside in the Animation courtyard. We left right after that- that was all we figured they had for his age.
EPCOT was a surprise for us. Alex had a lot of fun in the Innoventions exhibits in future world. He also liked going on the ride in Mexico, the little boat ride with Donald Duck. We let him out of his stroller to play a bit in the fountains near Spaceship Earth and he was most able to stretch out in EPCOT.
MK had the most rides for him. He loved Tomorrowland Transit Authority and it's a small world, but we also got him on the Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan rides. The caveat with the last two is that they are a bit dark, but Alex didn't seem to mind. We skipped Snow White (too scary) and Mr. Toad (same), as well as Dumbo because as far as I could see there was no lap restraint and that made me nervous. He could have gone on the carousel but we do them at home so waiting in the line made no sense. We ran out of time (i.e. he fell asleep) but we were thinking about taking him to the Tiki Room and maybe the Jungle Cruise, as well. He loved watching the performers on Main Street (musicians and parades).
Mickey's Toontown fair is BUILT for kids their ages. Alex had the best time there and I would recommend it as a must-stop.
As far as the lines...we noticed a big difference as far as the time of day. When we got to MK when it opened, we had NO trouble getting him on all the rides he wanted right away with no wait. In the afternoon, the wait stunk
EPCOT and Hollywood Studios weren't really a problem b/c we did very little by way of rides there. I would def. recommend going at offpeak times, though. Our last day there, Labor Day, there was a noticeable decrease in teh amount of people in the parks. I imagine October and November and early December you'd have little trouble getting on the little rides for the kids. And our dining plan was free because of the time we went- which was a great deal.
I would go again this time of year, definitely. It was def. warm (highs about 90) and muggy, but a bit cloudy at times and a little sprinkle here and there, with heavy rain the day we landed) enough for swimming and that "Florida" feeling of tropic vacationing. That said, we lucked out- we were right between two hurricanes. So you take your chances when you go during hurricane season. Fortunately, Orlando is not at the southern tip of FL, nor is it on the coast, so generally, you should be okay and maybe just see rainy/cloudy stuff. I'd keep your fingers crossed.
From what I hear, WDW is amazing at the beginning of December. Hurricanes are done, and the holiday decorations are up and crowds are low. My grandparents go every year in the first or second week of December. I also heard May is nice. Depends on what you can do and how old your kids are (i.e. taking them out of school and such).
Oh, and Mindy, you asked about me.
I did okay. About what I suspected. We kept it very slow. The last night, though, we were at Downtown Disney and it just bit me in the behind. I was almost in tears because I was, at that point, feeling every step all the way up through my behind and into my lower back.
Molly did well- I hydrated as much as possible (obviously not enough one day when I woke up with a raging headache and downed two bottles of water at 2am), but I had more BH contrax than usual. In a related note, I had a hard time keeping Alex as hydrated as I would have liked b/c he was so distracted.
I'm feeling better now that we are home and I'm trying to rest up a bit. I did get the phone call at the hotel the last day that I bombed my 1 hr glucose test (again), this time by considerably more than with Alex, so I'm nervous about it. Yay for distractions.