khertz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2008
The evening star is shining bright
So make a wish and hold on tight
There's magic in the air tonight
And anything can happen...
So make a wish and hold on tight
There's magic in the air tonight
And anything can happen...
Hello friends, old & new! Welcome to my 8th trip report on the DIS boards! I can't wait to share our adventures from our sort of last minute, definitely very short May weekend trip. Despite the fact that this was nowhere near any of our first trips, we still managed to experience some all new things. That's one of my favorite things about Disney World, despite numerous trips over the years, there are still new things to try! But here I am going on as if you know me. Most of you do, but for those that don't how about some introductions?
05-079 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Next up is DH. He probably doesn't want me to put in writing that he is 30 years old, but alas, it's happened! He's officially out of his 20s! Aside from being an awesome husband and father, he is an engineer in the oil field working specifically with radiation sources. Interesting stuff, right? But more importantly, at least for you readers, he has developed a strong interest in photography, and loves being behind the lens during our Disney trips to get that perfect shot. He loves Disney World just as much as I do, although he is not quite as interested in the planning aspect. While I like to plan endlessly from the moment we decide when we are taking our trip, he prefers to go over plans when they are nearly relevant, such as just before our 180 day mark for ADRs and 60 days for FP+. He enjoys collecting Vinylmations, Disney photography, and all things Donald Duck.
And finally, there's DS. Like I said at the beginning, he is 3.5 years old, and such a handful! He definitely keeps us laughing, but he has his moments where he can drive us absolutely crazy. Such is being 3 years old, though, I suppose! He has been brought up correctly to love all things Disney, and was just as excited about this trip as we were. If you read my last TR, you know that DS quickly proclaimed Cinderella Castle to be HIS Castle on our last October trip. I have to tell you, he has since claimed all of the other park icons, and they can now be known as HIS big hat, HIS big ball, and HIS big tree. He is a big fan of pretty much any show on Disney Jr, loves Disney movies especially Cars, Planes, and Toy Story, and a huge lover of all things transportation, particularly trains, and as we learned on this trip, Disney buses, as he excitedly pointed out Every. Single. One.
The biggest milestone for us on this trip was that after months and months of measuring him almost daily, he made the 40" mark! We were really excited to try out riding some of our favorite rides as a family that had previously been off limits. Hence, the title of this Trip Report!
Since I didn't do a PTR for this trip, heres a brief overview of our plans...
WHEN: May 1st-5th
WHERE: The Wilderness Lodge! Our first time staying onsite in several years (not since our honeymoon in 2007) and our very first time staying deluxe!
WHAT: One night in Destin followed by three nights at Wilderness Lodge. We had 2 day base tickets, so our only park days were Saturday and Sunday. Another first for us this time with DS was driving to Disney World. We haven't done that since our last trip prior to DS's arrival when I was about 6 months pregnant with him. But since it was a short trip and we wanted to save money, we drove rather than our usual mode of flying Southwest.
WHY: Why? Because I need Disney in my life! In a nutshell, we were not supposed to visit Disney World in the year 2014. DH and I are taking part in the upcoming DIS Unplugged Viva Italia ABD trip later this year, which has been saved for and in the works for several years. But then...you know, you just start thinking, "how can I get myself there even for just a little while?" I pitched the idea to DH and he was on board, so we started looking at prices and dates. We started looking at the MK resorts simply for their proximity to the parks because our time there was so short and we didn't want to have to worry about getting back and forth to our usual resort, Wyndham Bonnet Creek, to maximize our time in the parks. There was a spring room discount out for the time we were looking at, and that's how Wilderness Lodge came within the realm of possibility and it met our needs!
Well, I hope that didn't get too long winded and that you are still interested in reading about our wonderful, albeit short, trip to the World! Despite that short time, we managed 3 DIS meets, all of them people I have looked forward to meeting for a long time. It was so perfect that our trips all lined up so well! Also, my aunt and uncle were there at around the same time with their three kids, all on their first trip! And I also had the chance to meet up with an old friend who was in town with her husband to run the Expedition Everest 5K. I couldn't believe we had so many people to meet up with in such a short amount of time, but we managed it all! So I hope you will follow along as I share all the details of our deluxe May weekend in Disney World!
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I think Izzy has a similar puzzle to that one (little Minnie/Daisy one in a tin from the Target dollar section). Glad he was able to amuse himself with the puzzles and coloring. And DQ is always a good road trip stop! We have tons of them around here (HQ is here), but we always stopped at plenty on road trips as a kid. Can't beat an ice cream break! 
We often have random conversations in the car about which of his icons we will visit first on our next trip.
Women's restrooms are not always a picnic either, but it was pretty awful in there so I got in and out as quickly as humanly possible.
It's about 12 hours without stops, so without DS we have done it all in one shot, but we knew we had to do it a little differently with a toddler. He can really go one way or the other on long car trips, but he was great that first day! He kept himself really well entertained with coloring and other games and puzzles we brought and didn't watch the iPad nearly as much as I had thought he would.
Landon would have loved to have met Paxton. He thinks any guy older than 2 is immensely cool, especially if they talk to him.
That was terrible to see cars floating in the parking lot when we pulled up!
