The "Couldn't Wait Until January" Trip-Day 1

[disneykid@hrt]

Cast:
Me: Jackie/Mom, 27. Love Disney!! I grew up on Disney!! I've been trying to figure out how many times I've actually been and it must be over 20. This was my fourth "dip" in the Magic pool this year.

DD: Brielle, 2.5 yrs. The new Princess in town! This was her fourth trip and with each new one she seems to be more "involved" She loves Snow White, Ariel, and Goofy.

So we were invited to the Mickey Moms Club Illuminations party about a month ago and booked a last minute trip to the World- only to find out the Mickey Moms Club thing had already filled up. DOH! Oh well, we'll still go and have a blast!! This trip was last weekend- August 20-23 and we stayed at the Best Western by Downtown Disney. We landed at Sanford airport at around 1:30 on Frieday afternoon, that was a little ahead of schedule. With it just being me and a 2 year old it was definitely a struggle getting ourselves and our stuff to the Rental car booth!! I'm sure we were a sight to see. When it got to the point that we had to cross into airport traffic I finally sat Brie on top of my rolling suitcase and carried everything else (stroller, carry-ons, car seat, etc.) Once we pulled out of the airport I did a big WOOOOOOHOOOO! Thank God that was over and WE MADE IT!!

It was very hot. It took about 30 minutes for the car to cool all the way off it seems! Sanford is about an hour away from Disney, but it was a really easy drive. It is really only about 18 miles further out than the insanity that can be Orlando airport. The direct flight made things very simple, and I have completely changed my opinion of flying. Brie was an angel. Her last flight was her first trip to Disney, in October 09, and she didn't do so well. But she was also considered a "lap seat" at that point when I really should have gotten her own seat, as she was definitely her own person at 21 months!

We made our way to the Best Western. Brie fell asleep. I had no service on my phone for some reason and I was getting pretty annoyed with that. I wanted everyone to know we had arrived safely and survived the airport and heat. There was a long line to check-in. We waited about a half an hour. I was hoping it wasn't a sign of things to come... however that was the only time I walked through that lobby and saw a line to check in! i just must've picked the absolute wrong time to arrive.

My original plan had been to swim and for Brie to get a nap, but since she had already taken a nap on the way to the hotel and the pool was "eh" I figured we should GET THIS PARTY STARTED!! I did take the time to unpack. Our room was actually pretty nice. We were on the 12th floor and had our own balcony. It was spacious and updated and if it would have had a mini-fridge it would be fine for a longer stay even if dad were to come along. The hallways were under construction but since it was the weekend we never heard any construction noise.

So first up: MAGIC KINGDOM. Or as Brie calls it: "The Castles"

I let Brie pick between the ferry and the monorail, and to my surprise she picked the ferry. She must've known they were going to play her Ariel song as soon as we got underway. It was around 5 in the afternoon and it seemed relatively crowded outside the gates. We passed under the bag check thing and the skies opened uP! I mean pouring! But it literally lasted 3 minutes and cooled things off about 5 degrees and cleared MainStreet for some quality picture taking . We first headed to get FP's for Pooh and Brie wanted to ride "My horse" aka Cindy's Golden Carousel or her Prince's... whoever's carousel it is, we rode it.

We bought the Princess ear headband for Brie and then she wanted to ride SNow White> There was about a 25 minute wait but that is the longest wait that I can remember for the whole weekend! Can't believe I was so worried about crowds.

Then it was time for our Pooh FP and so we rode Pooh. Headed over to Pirates where Brie then informed me that Daddy is a Pirate. We went over to do the Laughing Floor. Brie just recently saw Monster's Inc for the first time. It's too bad they don't use her favorite character more- "Kitty". It was funny though. She really go into greeting the monsters the "monster" way. Then we headed over to Toontown. Barnstormer had a pretty long wait so we skipped it and headed over to the WDW RR to hop on. "Choo-Choo" was fun. We got off at Main Street because I thought it was a good time to head out of the park. I was afriad that Brie could go inot meltdown mode at any moment- she also had REFUSED to use the stroller all day so I had to carry her basically EVERYWHERE. We stopped by the Glowy Cart and snagged a new Glowy thing. It is a Tinkerbell one. Brie has quite the collection of Glowy things. We decided to ride the ferry again and boy was I happy we left when we did because that is when Brie just started CRYING and CRYING! Thankfully the ferry was pretty much empty and I did calm her down after what seemed like forever!!

When we got back to the hotel we ordered some food. It was actually pretty good, but way overpriced for me. If I'm going to pay $2.75 for a Diet Coke there better be a Castle for me to drink it in front of. So that was the only meal we got from there.

Overall a pretty good day. We got more done than I had originally planned and were in bed much earlier than I planned- but I can't imagine how we would have survived the weekend if we would've stayed late!! Sleep that night was amazing!!

Up Next: Morning at DHS, and an evening at Epcot with the PRINCESSES!!!

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Thanks for the report

[faline]

Arrival and check-in completed! Yay! And...you even got some Magic Kingdom time on your arrival day! Nice start!

[T-Belle]

What a great start for you and your little princess!

[Disney4us2]

What a great start. Looking forward to reading more

Your trip to the car rental booth reminded me of my experience when DD was 22mos and we had to go from the terminal to the car rental area in Hawaii. I don't even remember how I did it.

[BluewaterBrad]

Great first day "Mom"! I am glad your daughter is having a good time, even with the mini "meltdown"!