Hello Princess, Welcome Home - TR About This Page:

[Colexis Mom]

Great start!

[stardust190]

So now that you all know the details of the trip I figure I should take just a second to explain the TR title. I probably should have kept it consistent with the PTR title, but I found "Hello Princess, Welcome Home" to be more fitting after we got back. These two phrases were heard constantly while we were at WDW and the kids just LOVED it.

Everywhere we went people were saying "Hello princess" whenever we walked by with Mallory. She got so much attention and she ate it right up. I remember Cameron getting a lot of attention on his first trip, but nowhere near the amount of attention that Miss Mal received. I'm not sure why. Maybe because she is a girl? Cameron was plenty cute when we took him for the first time so I'm not sure why more attention was paid to Mallory, but I'm pretty sure she liked it.

And since we were staying at a DVC resort we were always greeted with a "Welcome Home" and Cameron really enjoyed it. We would get off the bus and he would look at me and say "Mom they said 'Welcome home'". Someone told him it was because Kidani was his "Disney Home" and I think he thought that was He still talks about how people said "Welcome home" every time we went back to "da botel".

So I guess "Hello Princess, Welcome Home" just seemed fitting.

Now I know I wrote a PTR and it has the pre-trip details in there, but I thought I'd include a little tidbit on our pre-trip week and why this trip was really what our little family needed. DH and I both work full time and my mommy guilt has set in pretty badly lately. I really want to work part time and care for my family, but it just isn't in the cards. My guilt over leaving my children and not having enough time to spend with them got really strong around the holidays. We had a HUGE deadline at work and I was putting in 50-60 hour work weeks all December and January. DH had injured his back and had physical therapy 2x a week and was playing catchup at work as well during this time. I felt like our kids had taken the back burner to our jobs and that just wasn't OK with me. We needed time as a family and to focus on the kids. So although this trip had been planned long before my work got busy and DH was injured it came at a perfect time for us to regroup and remember what is important in life.

The trip also came at a perfect time for us to get the heck out of Minnesota! Seriously this winter has been brutal. My niece's school has been canceled a total of 4 times this winter because of extreme cold. Like -40 degrees with the wind chills. And I know I live in Minnesota and I should know that it's going to be cold and snowy. But this has been FREEZING. The winter and I don't usually get along in the first place, but this winter I was ready to kick in the pants and say "see ya later!"

The weekend before our trip I ran around like a crazy person trying to pack as much as possible. I knew I would have to put in some extra hours at work and packing in the evenings after the kids went to bed wasn't something I wanted to have to do. I managed to get everything mostly packed, which actually just aggravated me all week because I was "ready" to go and couldn't leave yet. Note to self for next time: Don't pack too early. The Monday before was another "OMG it's cold" day and I was just itching to leave.

Another bad thing about packing so early for me was that I kept feeling like I needed to shuffle things around. When traveling with little kids not only do you have to bring half your house (well maybe you don't have to, but for some reason we think we do), but it's important to have the things you will mostly likely need the most accessible. There's nothing worse than listening to a 3 1/2 year old whine for 10 minutes while you dig out his "favorite" coloring book that he's had FOREVER and never touched for more than a minute just because you didn't pack it an accessible place. So I kept trying to anticipate what we might need accessible and re-pack as needed. I spent Tuesday and Wednesday evening doing just that. With my little helpers that manged to unpack more than pack.

Then Thursday was my last work day before vacation. Man was it hard to make it through that day. I toughed it out though as I needed all my vacation hours for the next week. On my way home I got stuck in a snow storm. My 40 minute drive took me 2 hours this night! On my way home I saw many cars that had spun out and were in the ditch. One of which was a Radio Disney van with The Jonas Brothers picture on the side. I found this amusing. See when DH and I took our Honeymoon to WDW in 2009 The Jonas Brothers were EVERYWHERE. Posters in the parks, on the buses, everywhere we turned we saw them. On that trip DH and I decided we had to be in with The Jonas Brothers because clearly Disney was telling us to be. It's a little joke we have going since that trip. If anyone asks us about "boy bands" we say "I love the Jonas Brothers!" Yes we are nerds. In reality I know very little about the Jonas Brothers. I don't know any of their music and have no idea if they are any good or not. But we were told to love them and love them we do! So seeing that Radio Disney van reminded me of our Honeymoon and filled my head with happy thoughts while I was mostly aggrivated about moving 5 MPH on the freeway. (see we needed this vacation I was loosing my mind )

The one good thing about my obsessive, far too early, packing was that I had time on Friday to go and get my nails done. I sent the kids to my moms when Nate left for work. Enjoyed some coffee and got some laundry going. I might have rearranged some stuff in the suitcases and then I headed off to the salon. It was nice to have those 2 1/2 hours to just unwind. I picked the kids up from my moms around lunch time so that she could get her packing finished and we headed home to wait. That was the longest evening in the history of ever. Being all ready to go kind of stinks.

We put the kids to bed that night and DH didn't really have anything to do. I think we went to bed at 9 PM ourselves and set the alarm for 4:45 AM to get ready for our 9:35 AM flight. It was Disney time and boy were we ready.

Up Next: Travel day! Can we survive a flight with a 3 1/2 and 1 year old?

[OhToodles!]

Great start! Isn't it fun traveling with little ones?! I'm sure you were glad for extra hands - I always am at least.
I hear you about winter, while it hasn't been -40 cold it's colder than i ever remember it being and I'm over it too!

[MayraLR]

I love the title! I am one that usually doesn't stick with the PTR title and always change it to a more fitting one after the trip.
You were in dire need of that vacation!

[lfredsbo]

Your TR title makes perfect sense!!! And I hear you on the packing woes!!! Congrats for getting done so early the night before leaving......I am usual yup till after midnight when I have to leave the house by 4am!!!

[Cam22]

I had wondered where your title came from! Perfect! After reading all you had going before the trip and knowing this frigid winter, I totally understand you all needing this vacation.

[HopeAnna79]

Totally understand! Love the name. I'm boring and stuck to the same name, i guess I could have called it the extremely crazy busy trip! Looking forward to more.


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[Russi01]

Sounds like a vacation is what the doctor would order!! Can't wait to hear all the details.

[stardust190]

Originally Posted by OhToodles!

Great start! Isn't it fun traveling with little ones?! I'm sure you were glad for extra hands - I always am at least.
I hear you about winter, while it hasn't been -40 cold it's colder than i ever remember it being and I'm over it too!

Traveling with little ones is definitely an adventure. I was really glad to have my parents along - especially when Mallory was cranky as Grandpa can fix all her problems apparently. We did brave 2 parks with the kids by ourselves. So we had a mix of days with help and days without. And we braved the flights solo too.

Originally Posted by MayraLR

I love the title! I am one that usually doesn't stick with the PTR title and always change it to a more fitting one after the trip.
You were in dire need of that vacation!

Thanks. The vacation was good for us. Although I could have used a little more rest after we got home. This being back at work has been a real downer.

Originally Posted by lfredsbo

Your TR title makes perfect sense!!! And I hear you on the packing woes!!! Congrats for getting done so early the night before leaving......I am usual yup till after midnight when I have to leave the house by 4am!!!

I used to be up late the night before a trip, but with the kids being little I'm never up late anymore. We wake the kids up at 6 AM on weekdays to go to work and so on weekends they are early risers too. Without my weekends to catch up on sleep I find that I'm snoozing by 9/10 PM every night. Or I'm miss cranky pants all day. And DH doesn't want to be traveling with Cranky Missy so he makes sure I get to bed on time before a trip!

Originally Posted by Cam22

I had wondered where your title came from! Perfect! After reading all you had going before the trip and knowing this frigid winter, I totally understand you all needing this vacation.

It was wonderful to get away from the frigid winter. And to spend time with my family. Everyone's always so busy these days it's hard to just hang out with your family without distractions.

Originally Posted by HopeAnna79

Totally understand! Love the name. I'm boring and stuck to the same name, i guess I could have called it the extremely crazy busy trip! Looking forward to more.


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You're not boring, you're consistent.

Originally Posted by Russi01

Sounds like a vacation is what the doctor would order!! Can't wait to hear all the details.

I just wish the doctor had ordered a sedative for the children for the flight...

[TheAyers]

Great start! I'm signing on to join in on the adventure!

[stardust190]

Originally Posted by TheAyers

Great start! I'm signing on to join in on the adventure!

Welcome!

[travismom]

Looks like a great title to a much needed trip!!!
I've never travelled with young children, (my DS was 11 when we took him on his first trip to WDW), so I'm amazed at all you have to go through.
I try not to pack too early before my trip because I"m one of those folks who will over pack because I feel like I'm forgetting something!!!
Sounds like you've got everything under control!!!
Can't wait to hear about the flight.....

[stardust190]

Originally Posted by travismom

Looks like a great title to a much needed trip!!!
I've never travelled with young children, (my DS was 11 when we took him on his first trip to WDW), so I'm amazed at all you have to go through.
I try not to pack too early before my trip because I"m one of those folks who will over pack because I feel like I'm forgetting something!!!
Sounds like you've got everything under control!!!
Can't wait to hear about the flight.....

I will say that traveling with small children is quite the chore. I'm really looking forward to the day when they can carry their own bags and don't need a stroller. But you get through it and I think that flying is much easier than the car ride would have been for us coming all the way from MN.

[stardust190]

We had a 9:35 AM flight out of Minneapolis that was set to arrive in Orlando at 1:50 PM. Originally, when I booked the flight, it was supposed to depart at 10 AM. This also happened to coincide with one of Mallory's naps. Delta was a pain with our flights and changed this one and our flight home quite a few times on me, but I was still pretty happy with the 9:35 AM departure. It was a little earlier than I wanted, but it also meant getting to Orlando earlier so it was fine. And then Mallory went and dropped her morning nap about a month or so before the trip. No nap for the flight. Not exactly what I wanted, but I stocked up on snacks and activities for the kids and hoped for the best.

We managed to finish packing early and were asleep the night before our trip by 10 PM. I think that might be a record for a pre-flight for me. Seems like I'm always getting last minute stuff done and get almost NO sleep right before a big trip. This time I actually got some rest - except when the children woke me up a few times. Even so I didn't feel very well rested when the alarm went of at 4:45 AM. It is, however, easier to get up that early when you are going to Disney World and not to work.

Nate and I got ready and loaded up the car. Our goal was to be done with our stuff and waking the kids and on the road by 6:30 AM. This kids were not amused by their wake up calls:



We ended up leaving the house right around 6:30 AM giving the kids breakfast on the way to the airport. We gave them bagels and before we did I asked Nate if he thought Mallory would be OK with a bagel or if she would choke. We decided that she would be fine and just gave her the whole half a bagel. Well about halfway there I realized I hadn't heard her in a while and I panicked. I tried talking to her and NOTHING. I reached back and grabbed at her hand (she was directly behind me) and it was cold. Cue mommy freak out. And then she grabbed at my finger. Here I thought she had maybe chocked on her bagel. She didn't, but it sure woke me up for the day.

We usually have someone drive us to the airport, but with car seats and whatnot we decided to just drive ourselves and park. We had 2 large checked bags, 3 carry-on bags and 3 "personal items" to haul around. Plus the 2 kids and their strollers (2 umbrella type strollers). We weren't sure how we were going to handle balancing that at the airport, but I found out that if you parked in the ramp you just had to take an elevator down to the Tram level and Delta had a "curbside" check-in area so we opted to try that. We parked pretty close to the elevators and pack-muled our way to the check-in area.

After getting rid of our two checked bags we made our way to security as I had printed our boarding passes at home. Nate was managing our carry on luggage and I had the two strollers connected and was pushing the kids. The airport was CRAZY busy at 7:30 AM though and it was hard for me to navigate with the wide load. A nice security guard started escorting us to the correct security check point for families. He suggested we should try and disconnect the strollers and while it was easier to maneuver the strollers single file it meant that each of us had a stroller to steer and a carry on bag to pull. It wasn't easy, but we finally made it to the security check point only to realize that the line was backed up quite a ways and we had passed the end of it long ago.

A nice group of people told us to just get in line with them. I think they saw us walking with all our crap and felt sorry for us. So we joined them and then a security person came up to us and said "you with the strollers head this way". And we were ushered to another line. The pre-check line! I had tried to qualify for TSA pre-check, but my boarding pass didn't end up with it. I'm not sure why, but we just didn't qualify I guess. Well we were told to go to the pre-check area and so we did. We didn't have to take off shoes or liquids out of our bags. It was really pretty slick. If it hadn't had been for needing to fold up the strollers to go through the scanner I would have even called it easy. It was also MUCH faster than the line we would have had to stand in had we not had the kids with us. So the kids bought us a shorter and less complicated line. Score!

It was about 8 AM once we made it through the check point and we got Caribou Coffee and muffins and headed to our gate. The kids, for some reason didn't eat the muffins and with chasing them around I don't think Nate and I really ate that much either. We watched the planes for a bit:



We put the strollers in the gate check bag and let the kids run around as they would be cooped up for the next 3 hours or so. Pretty soon it was time for potty breaks and boarding. At first I was going to have Nate board with all our stuff and then bring the kids on board last minute, but we were in the last boarding area anyways so it didn't really matter and we all boarded together.

For the most part the flight went well. Mallory started to not want to sit with us about half way through and I ended up walking her down the aisle a bit. Cameron kept asking "Are we there yet?", "Did we land?", "When are we going to be at Mickey's?" So that was kind of fun. We watched Planes:



Mallory started freaking out when there was a little over an hour left of the flight so I changed her diaper and we started a Dora on the DVD player. She snuggled and fell asleep with her dad and stayed that way for the rest of the flight. Cameron had a rough 2nd half of the flight. He was so impatient and just kept saying he wanted to go and kept unbuckling his buckle. I managed to keep him entertained with potty trips and snacks, but he was very whiny towards the end. And then once we landed and couldn't get off "right now" he kind of lost it a little. It's hard for a 3 1/2 year old. I will say that even though both kids had difficult parts of the flight I think they were more whiny than just screaming and loud. So hopefully we didn't bother others on the flight.

Once we were able to get off the plane things were better. We waited for the strollers at the gate and then went about getting some real lunch for the kids. Cameron said he didn't want anything because he was "too excited to eat", but this kid has blood sugar problems and if he hasn't eaten in a while his blood sugar gets too low and things do not go well (this has an impact on our trip). I managed to get an apple/cracker/cheese tray for like $100 (ok that's an exaggeration, but it was EXPENSIVE). We got on the tram to go to the baggage claim area. Cameron was excited about his "first ride" on the tram. He even said "Mickey's house is so cool." So I'm really questioning why we spent all that money on park tickets when the airport tram was a big thrill.

We got a little turned around, but were soon on our way to Disney's Magical Express as we didn't need to collect our bags at baggage claim. My favorite thing about staying at a Disney resort. I don't have to deal with luggage and juggle my small children at the same time. It's just magical. We had about a 15 minute wait for a bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani. The bus we were on made stops at POP, Jambo and then Kidani. It was kind of neat to drive by POP as that was where we stayed on our last trip, but I would have preferred to go directly to our resort as I had to explain to Cameron about 7 times why we weren't getting off the bus even though it stopped.

I think we got to Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani around 2:30 PM after a fairly successful flight. It was a little nerve wracking at times, but we survived traveling with two kids and I felt proud of myself for that.

Up next: What greets us at check in?

[shazza]

Your flight went well! The kids are so cute in their wake-up photos, and on the plane.