Disney Trip 2013 - Travel Day

 After years of waiting, earlier this month it was time to go to Disney World. Todd and I had honeymooned there and I had been dreaming of taking Emily to my favorite place in the world since I found out I was pregnant. Originally we had planned on waiting until 2015 when Emily would be turning six. But I convinced Todd that this year would be better because she’d be turning five but still in pre-K preschool because of the way her birthday fell. He agreed and I started planning about 18 months in advance.

I worked with Sara, a travel agent with Mouse Fan Travel. She was excellent – answered all my questions quickly, got us some great reservations for dining and helped me with getting our Fastpass + fixed. Finally it was midnight on October 11^th, so it was time to go.

Since Todd had switched jobs a few months ago, he wasn’t working on that day so we were able to leave earlier than we had intended. We packed up the car, got Emily up and we were on the road before 1 am. The drive was pretty uneventful. I slept some and Emily slept a little. Todd opted to drive the whole way even though I did offer to do some driving. Around 11 am, we arrived at our resort.

We had picked the new Art of Animation resort because they had family suites. Todd’s a night owl so the

Trying watch cartoons and smile

separate rooms were really appealing to us since we wouldn’t have to go to sleep when Emily did. The outside was so bright and fun, and then inside was as well. I’d see lots of pictures and videos but it was even more awesome when we got inside.

Despite it being early, we went to check-in. Right next to the check-in stations there was a little room that had couches and a TV playing Disney cartoon. There was also a table set up that had free lemonade and cookies. Emily wanted me to watch cartoons with her, so Todd handled most of the check-in. I wasn’t surprised to hear our room wasn’t ready, so we left Disney World to go see my in-laws.

My in-laws had come down to Florida in part to see Emily around her birthday but also to visit some friends who were snowbirding in Orlando. Their hotel was actually pretty close by, maybe 15 minutes away. They were staying in a hotel in Kissimmee right next to Old Town. They were happy to see us, especially Emily. We visited for a while, then got some lunch.

Lunch at KFC!

We were going to go to the arcade in Old Town, but it wasn’t open yet.

We all went back to Art of Animation and we played in the arcade there. Todd got enough tokens that he was able to get Emily a stuffed puppy. Finally around three, our room was ready and we got to see it.

It was a great room, nice and big with a kitchenette and two bathrooms.

After we got the car unpacked and got Emily changed so we could go to Chef Mickey’s. Emily was so excited to meet all the characters, but especially Minnie Mouse. We had a lot of fun and the food was decent too. The only bummer was I had used my camera to take the pictures and for some reason when I transferred the pictures to the laptop later that evening they disappeared after a moment. I was very upset but figured all the characters we had met, we could meet again. I finally gave up trying to find the files and went to bed.

Up next post – Animal Kingdom and Ohana!