When: February 27, 2015 - March 6, 2012 Where: Staying off-site at Lake Buena Vista Resort Village and Spa Who: Me and DH (mid-30's) and our 3 kids - Jacob (8), Riley (6) and Lauryn (21 months) The Plan: We planned to hit Disney World 3 Days - 2 Days at MK and 1 Day at Hollywood Studios and 1 day at Legoland. The other 2 days were for shopping/Downtown Disney/pool
I only started planning this trip in December and January/February were busy months for us, so this trip was done with very little planning and access to good ADRs and Fastpasses, but I think we did ok. I tried to keep the trip as minimalist as possible because we'd never travelled with our toddler before and needed to work around her naps and moods. My DH is also very into "relaxed" vacations and doesn't consider carting 3 young kids around parks to be very relaxing.
Here we are:
DH and I are IT professionals. The boys are very much into Lego and Hockey. Lauryn is our wild child - full of spunk and personality. This is our second trip to Disney. We went 3 years ago and the boys barely remember. We also stayed off site that trip. I'm already in the very beginning stages of planning our next trip and I swear, we are gonna go all out and stay 2 weeks onsite. I'm done with travelling and parking fees and out of pocket dining.
As you read, this trip was a SURPRISE for the boys! They had no clue. We were going during their week break from school, referred to in Canada as MARCH BREAK.
Our flight left at 12:23PM on a Friday morning. We flew out on Allegiant Air from Bangor, ME, which is a 3 hour drive from our house. We got up before the kids, showered, finished packing, packed up the truck and woke up the kids trying to act as normal as possible. I'm practically busting with excitement. Barely slept the night before. Because we were getting up earlier than normal and the kids wouldn't be taking the school bus (cuz Disney), we had told them a couple of days before that they had early dentist appointments. They ate breakfast as normal, grumbling about their appointments. We left home about 7:30am, just on time.
Here they are in the truck on the way to the "dentist".
BAHAHA.
Our reveal was a video that we'd recorded the day before we play a little game of where would you like to go today? After we'd be driving about 20 minutes and they started to question where we were, we played the video on the DVD player in the truck.
Their reaction was pretty tame. I think they were in shock. Riley said we were big "tricksters". LOL. They wanted to watch the video over and over again on the way to the airport. The more they watched, the more excited they got. Overall, I'm glad we surprised them. I think the surprise was more exciting for me than for them. I doubt we'd surprise them again in the future.
Ate breakfast at a Burger King and boarded the plane with no issues. I was really nervous about how Lauryn would act on the plane. We boarded her as a "lap child", but the seat next to DH was empty, so she sat there. She really was a trooper on the plane. Wouldn't nap, though.
If anyone has flown into Orlando on Allegiant Air before, you'll know that they don't fly into MCO, but Sanford, which is about 45 minute drive from Disney area. We arrived at Sanford right on time (about 4pm local time). We had rented an SUV, so picked that up, loaded up the GPS and drove to our hotel. It was 5pm on Friday driving through Orlando, so of course we hit traffic. Gross nasty traffic. Our kids had hit a wall, being on the road since 7:30am. They were hungry, tired and cranky. Lauryn sit hadn't napped all day. And we were stuck in traffic. Needless to say, we were happy to get to the hotel.
The BVRVS (the hotel) was gorgeous. I booked the room through vrbo.com from an owner. We got a 3 bedroom, 2 bath with fireworks view. We were very happy with the resort. We were very easy walking distance to the Buena Vista Factory Stores and spent lots of time shopping!
The last picture is our fireworks view - which is supposed to show the Epcot Illuminations. We could see them, but not very well.
We ate supper at the Pizza Hut in our building and called it a night!
So where we live, we have literally gotten 13 feet of snow this winter. It's been terrible. Record setting snow. We were very excited to have some nice weather. That said, the first day in Orlando was a torrential downpour. I had known this and a few days in advance, planned for this to be one of our "off days". We had a 10:40 ADR at Chef Mickey's! But other than that, this day was a write off. We tried to do some shopping, but the rain never let up.
After a relaxing morning, we headed to Chef Mickey's for breakfast! We had a quick stop in Downtown Disney to buy some Magic Bands and I made sure they were linked to my Experience account and memory maker. I'd just like to say that the construction in Downtown Disney made parking a nightmare! No parking by MarketPlace at all, which made the walk from the West end to the PIN Trader store very long. In the rain.
We were very excited to see the characters! Lauryn LOVES Mickey Mouse, so I couldn't wait to see her reaction to meeting them. This was her reaction from a distance..
But once they got close, she screamed like she was on fire. We gave up trying to get her in any pictures with them.
She did do pretty well with Mickey Mouse himself, though..
Buffet was normal breakfast food.
All pretty decent. The CM were excellent, but I found the character interactions very short and rushed. This was probably our worst character experience of the trip. We had very little wait for a table though, and the hotel was awesome! I really want to stay here our next trip!
My plan for the day was to hit the park at rope drop. Do as many rides in the morning as possible, ADR at BOG at 12, watch the 3pm parade and then head back to the hotel so Lauryn could nap and do the pool at night.
The weather was MUCH better. Lots and sun and HOT for the rest of the week. I had packed light coats, jeans and sweaters. None of it was used.
We were up early and left the hotel by 8am.
The boys had decided they wanted to try pin trading, so they came armed with their lanyards we'd bought the day before. I just wanna say the pins are expensive. Why is it $10 for a pin? Really? Anyway..
Our first view of the castle from the monorail..
We got to the gate in lots of time to watch the opening ceremonies. They get me misty-eyed every time.
And into the park!
I wasn't very impressed by the big *** crane that is stuck in all my castle pictures from this day.
I didn't really have much of a plan. We hit Peter Pan and it's a small world and the Carousel right away. No lines. The boys loved Peter Pan and the Carousel, but were bored by IASW. Lauryn LOVED them all. Lots of OOOHHH and AHHHH. I loved watching her reaction! We walked by Seven Dwarfs ride and the wait was only 45 minutes. The boys had seen it on TV the night before and wanted to ride. I tried for weeks before to get a fastpass for this, but they were all gone. We decided that 45 minutes wasn't that bad and probably the best wait time we would see so the boys and I got in line. DH took Lauryn on the Carousel a few more times while they waited.
The wait was long and tedious. Really slow moving and not much to do in the queue. There were a couple of toys/games, but we only got the chance to play them for a few seconds before needing to move along.
Here's Riley during the wait..
And after..
Needless to say, we all thought the wait was worth it! It was a great ride!
Shortly after, we had a fastpass for Barnstormer, so we headed over there. DH went on the ride with the boys, I took Lauryn over to the splash area and she LOVED it! It was getting pretty hot!
After the boys got done on the ride, it was time to head to our lunch reservation at Be Our Guest! I was soooo excited!
We were quickly checked in and headed up to the castle!
The restaurant was beautiful! But it was a mad zoo. Lots of people going in lots of different directions. It was quite chaotic! I don't have pictures of the food, but the boys got grilled cheese and tomato soup, turkey sandwich and fries and macoroni and fries. We got the pulled pork with garlic mash potatoes and green beans. The food was fabulous. Probably our best meal. The potatoes were delicious! The fries were also very tasty! The boys each got fruit and a chocolate cupcake and Lauryn had a cookie. I got a stuffed pastry thing that was gross. The total was about $90. The portions for the kids meals were small, however. The food was yummy and the atmosphere was great! I really wish the CMs would seat you though. There were a lot of people wandering around looking for seats and ruined the atmosphere a little bit.
I really enjoyed that it was quick service so we didn't have to wait around for our bill and to pay after we were done eating. We left very full and satisfied! We will definitely do this again!
The kids being kids, I knew they would want to do Tomorrowland Speedway, so I had a fastpass for this. DH took the boys to this after lunch and I took Lauryn and went to do some exploring and picture taking. Lauryn fell asleep in the stroller (YAY!) and I took some pictures and bought some souvenirs..
Again with that crane!
After the boys did that ride, Lauryn was still sleeping, so DH took them on the Buzz ride. The wait time was 30 minutes so I did more exploring. Lauryn woke up, I bought her some popcorn and we waited for the boys.
Once we all met back up, it was time for our fastpass to meet Mickey Mouse!
Again, Lauryn wasn't a big fan. We were super happy that the Mickey Mouse here talks! That was super cool. Riley kept saying, that must be the REAL Mickey Mouse!
This interaction was super cool and they took their time and took lots of pictures. Mickey did the hotdog dance!
It was now about 2:30 and time for the parade! We found a spot on Main Street and I went to grab some Mickey Bars! It was pretty hot for our Canadian standards!
Soon the parade began!
All the kids LOVED the parade.
After the parade, we left the park and called it a day. We were all exhausted and hot and couldn't wait for a swim!
Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.
