Family, Friends, and Freezing! PHM 2015

[ARmom30]

Hello! Welcome to my trip report. I travelled in February to Walt Disney World to run the Princess Half Marathon and the Frozen Family 5K. We had a fabulous trip planned for February 18-25 at Port Orleans Riverside. My mom and two younger sons came along for the ride. We had a fabulous trip and my mom and I are planning to go back next year without the little boys so she can participate in the races too! So, let's get this show on the road!

 

[ARmom30]

Introductions:



Me: I'm Brandy, TR writer, instigator and planner of trips, wife, mom and daughter. I am blessed enough to be a SAHM and recently became a Travel Agent. I have 3 sons who are 19, 8 and 2. Coltin (my oldest) didn't get to come on this trip. He is attending a trade school and couldn't miss that many days. My wonderful DH Doug also is not coming. WDW isn't his favorite place. I enjoy running, reading, traveling, watching football and baseball (especially when my kids are playing!). Previous trips include stays at the Swolphin, All Star Music Family Suite, All Star Movies, Art of Animation and one trip offsite.



Sandra AKA Nanna: My mom is a banker by trade, involved in our church and local Relay for Life. She shares my love for WDW and is the main person that has to listen to me talk about it night and day. She is an amazing Nanna to my 3 boys and my niece. Previous stays include the Swolphin and AoA.



Eli: My 8 year old son. He is a 2nd grader and loves all sports. He plays baseball, football, basketball and soccer. So far his favorite seems to be baseball. He is the catcher for his team, and he played All Stars last year. He is very competitive and didn't want to accept the 2nd place trophy at State! He is our middle child and he likes being in the middle. Previous stays include AoA, ASMusic, and ASMovies.



Tebow: My 2 year old son. His birthday was 13 days before our trip. He is the perfect caboose to our family. He is obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. His 1st trip was at 4 months old to AoA.

 

[ChattaAlley]

Looking forward to your report. You seriously have a 19 year old? You look like your in your 20's.

 

[ARmom30]

Allison! Thanks for joining in. Yes, I have a 19 year old. Thanks for the compliment! Some of us started early. lol.

This is us in January. I took them to the Cowboys playoff game. He was so excited that I cheered for the Cowboys. I love the Giants!! I was really just cheering for my team's conference.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Yay! Subbing!

 

[momabaarjo]

I am so in...still trying to figure out how you have a 19 year old

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Consider yourself lucky! I have a 19 year old AND a 20 year old (soon to be 21) and no one says I don't look old enough!

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

This is us in January. I took them to the Cowboys playoff game. He was so excited that I cheered for the Cowboys. I love the Giants!! I was really just cheering for my team's conference.

You almost lost me, but then redeemed yourself. I'm a huge Giants fan. Can't believe you rooted for the conference! My rivalries run too deep for that haha.

But I'm in!

 

[nilla]

Following as well! I agree with HSMndLKfan92....as a Vikings fan, there is NO WAY I'd ever cheer for the Packers!

Were you at the Lions game or the Packers game?

Anyway, sounds like a fun trip! Looking forward to your TR.

 

[ARmom30]

Yay! Subbing!

Yay! TweedleBossy is here. Lol.

I am so in...still trying to figure out how you have a 19 year old

Well, I was 15 the day he was born. I am just not the one who gave birth to him. He's been with me 11 years though so it's just like he is mine.

Consider yourself lucky! I have a 19 year old AND a 20 year old (soon to be 21) and no one says I don't look old enough!

I guess "technically" I'm not old enough. I'm always going to be happy when people say I look young though!

You almost lost me, but then redeemed yourself. I'm a huge Giants fan. Can't believe you rooted for the conference! My rivalries run too deep for that haha.

But I'm in!

I'm still not sure how 2 of my kids ended up Cowboys fans and I am a Giants fan. Lol. My middle child's name is Eli! Come on kids!

Following as well! I agree with HSMndLKfan92....as a Vikings fan, there is NO WAY I'd ever cheer for the Packers!

Were you at the Lions game or the Packers game?

Anyway, sounds like a fun trip! Looking forward to your TR.

We were at the Lions game in Dallas. It was the most fun I have ever had at an NFL game. I screamed my head off the whole time.

 

[ARmom30]

Before the boring travel day:
We were scheduled to leave on Wednesday the 18th. On Valentine’s Day, Eli was really quiet and still all day. I thought he was upset because I didn’t buy him a big gift. DH took him to the sporting goods store and bought him a basketball he had been wanting. And he still wasn’t acting like himself. That night we were sitting on the couch and without any warning, he leaned over and threw up. Thankfully he had told me that his stomach felt upset earlier in the day and I had a bucket right next to him. So, he was sick with a stomach bug 4 days before we were supposed to leave for WDW.



This is how I know he feels bad, he is still and actually sleeps during the day. :/ He wasn’t too bad sick, but he obviously felt bad and couldn’t really eat or drink. Then, on Monday, we had an ice storm, and lost power.



Yeah, 2 days before we were supposed to leave I had a sick kid and no electricity. And yes, I know this amount of accumulation is pathetic for shutting down the whole town! I called our electric company and they couldn’t give me a time frame for it to come back on, so we loaded up and headed to my IL’s to spend the night. Eli seemed better and hadn’t been sick in over 12 hours so he was on the mend. In the middle of Monday night FIL woke me up to tell me Tebow was throwing up. Yay! This was about 3 am on Tuesday. We got him cleaned up and back to sleep. He got sick one more time on Tuesday, then he was over it.


He seemed to bounce back quicker than Eli did. So, Tuesday afternoon I went back home to pack up and gather anything I needed to wash before our trip. We took care of the dogs and went back to the IL’s to spend the night. My mom even came to stay the night because we needed to leave at 5:30 am to head to the airport. Our flight was at 10:30, but it would take us 3 hours to get to the airport.


Here's a nice just rolled out of bed after only a few hours of sleep selfie! We were all up early the next day and we got out on time.





The drive was pretty uneventful until we were about 30 miles from the airport. We ran into ice covered roads. This is the south, we don’t have resources for winter weather. So, we just slowed down and kept going. The closer we got to Memphis the better the roads got. By the time we got to the airport the roads were fine and all the snow and ice were on the sides of the roads. We found the long term parking easily. Getting all of our luggage and the kids to the terminal was another story! It was so cold out, and I wasn’t bringing my own stroller, so I had to carry Tebow, while pulling a suitcase and corralling my mom and Eli. Thankfully Memphis offers luggage carts for free. So we loaded one up and Nanna pushed while I carried Tebow and Eli tried not to freeze! We made it to the counter to check our luggage and get our boarding passes. Security was right there and a breeze to get through. I did forget to pour out Tebow’s juice, but they tested it and let him take it on through. He loves his juice! We found our gate, got some breakfast and boarded the plane. We took our sausage biscuits on the plane with us. We were the only people with kids on the plane!!! A plane bound for Orlando and I think we were the only ones headed to WDW. The flight was uneventful and Tebow fell asleep 15 minutes before we landed.



Just for fun comparisons. This was the last time Tebow flew to WDW.




Eli was a little nervous on the plane, even though it wasn’t his 1st time to fly. When we got off the plane we stopped for bio breaks then headed to “B” side for Brandy to find the Magic Express.

 

[ARmom30]

I know not everyone loves this service or the new videos, but I think it’s one of the best things Disney offers! I love not having to drive while on vacation! Shortly after we checked into ME (while we were waiting for the bus to leave) I got a text that our room was ready and we could head straight there with our Magic Bands when we arrived at the resort.


On the way we stopped at Saratoga Springs, Old Key West, Port Orleans French Quarter and then finally Riverside. We stopped by luggage services to get the stroller I rented then went straight to the room, and took a bit of a long way around.

 

[ARmom30]

We finally got there about 3:30.











Mom and I unpacked our carryon bags and got settled a bit. Then we went to the food court to get our mugs and catch the boat to DTD. Riding the boat to DTD was one of the big draws for this resort for me. I hadn’t been to DTD since 1998, so Eli had never been. We were just planning to look around, eat, and get back to the room at a decent time so we could get a good night’s sleep to start off our trip.







It was so cold! I have no idea how these people were swimming!!!







We got off the boat and headed in to the shopping. The very 1st store we saw was the Christmas store, where we seemed to get lost for a while. I did find a cute ornament that I had personalized for the race. Tebow napped in the stroller while I waited in the line for the personalization.

 

[ARmom30]

Eli was getting really hungry, so went to look for supper. I wanted Earl of Sandwich, so we headed there and got in line. We looked at a menu and Eli decided quickly he wouldn’t like anything there. I knew there was pizza at Wolfgang Puck Express so we headed there. The line was pretty long. My mom headed in to find a table, which prompted Tebow to scream his head off because he wasn’t right beside me anymore. I finally made it in to order, got our drinks and sat down and waited for our food to arrive. We got our food, and I loved mine! Mom and I both got the bacon wrapped meatloaf sandwich.









For dessert I had to get the Crème Brulee. Mom went with the cheesecake.





So good! Eli wanted the pepperoni pizza. I knew it would be plenty big enough to share. I got Tebow’s cut up, and Eli started eating his. He took one bite, and said he didn’t like it. I tried it. It tasted ok to me, but definitely not what he is used to. He sat there, then said, “Oh no!” covered his mouth and had a panicked look on his face. I jumped up and tried to get him to head to the door, and he just threw up all over his pizza, right there in the middle of the restaurant! I got him outside as quickly as I could. He seemed to be okay, so I left him in the fresh air while I made sure mom and Tebow were ok and someone was cleaning up the mess. I got him to come back inside then and he sat very patiently while we finished eating. They did bring us a new piece of cheesecake (to go) because he got it too. I don’t know if they offered to bring him a new pizza, but we wouldn’t have taken it if they did. I was ready to head back, but Eli was very disappointed to miss the Lego store. I told him we could go if he really felt ok, and he promised he did. We went and he picked out a set quickly and we got out of there. That store was super overwhelming! Tebow was enjoying himself too.










We made a quick stop in the co-op store, then went to the buses. We were all tired from the long day, and I was really worried about Eli. He isn’t usually sick, and this was the 5th day of him feeling bad and moving slowly. Our luggage was in the room, which meant I had snacks. Mom put Tebow in the bath tub and I got Eli some milk so he could have a bowl of cereal. Eli and Nanna got in bed and I ran over to meet Betsy! Her flight got in pretty late, but I wanted to say hello. Tebow went with me. She had doughnuts, but I didn’t want to fill Tebow up with sugar. I found out later she had a snickers doughnut, I should have had one!!!

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

Our flight was at 10:30, but it would take us 3 hours to get to the airport.

That's a very long time.

I know not everyone loves this service or the new videos, but I think it’s one of the best things Disney offers! I love not having to drive while on vacation! Shortly after we checked into ME (while we were waiting for the bus to leave) I got a text that our room was ready and we could head straight there with our Magic Bands when we arrived at the resort.

I agree! I love Magical Express.

 

[nilla]

Yuck! Our family battled a stomach bug a few years back, starting the night before we left for WDW. That part of the trip was NOT fun. It is a memory, though - our kids may forget a lot about our trips, but our daughter will never forget throwing up at 1900 Park Fare

Good to see your kids seem to be recovering, though. Can't wait to read more!

 

[ARmom30]

It was a long drive for so early in the morning! We live in a rural area, so we can either fly out of the close airport and pay over $400 per person or drive a bit longer and spend half the money and get a non-stop flight. It was an easy pick for us!

 

[ARmom30]

Yuck! Our family battled a stomach bug a few years back, starting the night before we left for WDW. That part of the trip was NOT fun. It is a memory, though - our kids may forget a lot about our trips, but our daughter will never forget throwing up at 1900 Park Fare

Good to see your kids seem to be recovering, though. Can't wait to read more!

Yes, the sickness plagued us a bit in the beginning, but thankfully it didn't affect our trip too much! Tebow still had a few troubles too, but nothing as dramatic as Eli's at WPE!

Thanks for following along!!

 

[luckylady]

I'm in. Sorry the boys got sick before the trip and Eli on the first day. I hope it was the only time.long. All your boys are cuties.

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

It was a long drive for so early in the morning! We live in a rural area, so we can either fly out of the close airport and pay over $400 per person or drive a bit longer and spend half the money and get a non-stop flight. It was an easy pick for us!

I live in NJ so I have a wide variety of airports to choose from that are relatively nearby.