Day One!
After a long work day, I was exhausted going to bed but still managed to get up before my alarm clock at 2:15am Wednesday morning. Josh and I had already packed up the car that night and only had to get ourselves ready and grab the boys. Ryan was pretty easy, as he fell back asleep pretty quickly as we started to drive. However, Tyler wasn't quite as easy. We could tell that he was tired, but he was too confused to fall asleep. He asked me once when we were going to be home. I guess he thought we were going for a early morning drive??? Anyway, he dozed off and on throughout the night and morning. Josh and I were prepared for a lot of questions. We didn't get hardly any!
We stopped for breakfast right outside of Georgia at good ole greasy McDonalds. The kids were pretty awake by this time (7am). From there, we drove with very few stops. As we entered Florida, we started to see signs for Disney, and I was just waiting for Tyler to pick up. But he was too busy with coloring books, the iPod, etc. It literally blew my mind! A few times he mentioned to us that we were going to be really late for school. Josh and I giggled silently. Then he would ask us to check our GPS because he thought we were lost. But the best is when I asked him where he thought we were, and he said the name of the city we live in! Tyler is normally so observant, but this is one time where it paid off for him to be completely oblivious!! As we reached closer to the official Disney sign, I got my camera ready for his reaction. I was still amazed that he had not caught on. I mean this kid was told NOTHING before we left. We never told him we were going on vacation ANYWHERE! Kind of scary that we can put him in a car for 10 hrs and hardly get any questions!
The last hour was definitely the longest as I was anticipating the reveal. Finally, we approached the welcome sign, and Josh pulled over. The reaction was caught on video and pictures. Tyler was so funny. I don't think he really grasped what I was telling him, but later off camera he became super excited. He also had no real idea what was at Disney World because it was his first trip. So, he went into everything completely surprised which was really exciting to witness.
Here is his reaction to going to Disney!
http://youtu.be/3tHhkTw3a98
Ryan didn't quite understand, and his newest thing is saying "no" or "no way" at anything he doesn't understand or agree with ;) But once we went inside our beautiful resort, things changed for him!
We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge which was absolutely gorgeous. I wanted to stay at a resort nearest Magic Kingdom since we'd be there the most, and this was the cheapest deluxe resort there was. Though "cheap" is relative! :) I had read articles that this is the most beautiful resort at Christmas, and the writers are correct!
This was our view as we walked through the doors! The resort has a rustic, mountain-like atmosphere which perfectly suited the season! It also has a huge stone fireplace with rocking chairs in front to relax, and a bridge with a stream going underneath (inside the resort!).
All of us carried our suitcases through the lobby and up through the elevators. Even little Ryan. I wish I had taken a picture, because we were definitely a sight! As we opened our doors to the room, the boys were happy with their set up!
We had a room with a queen and a set of bunk beds. So yes...if you've caught on, that means Ryan was sleeping in a big boy bed!!! He did great considering some circumstances. More about that later :) As you can see above, Ryan thought he should be up top! Our room had a private patio with an upgraded view of the pool. We only paid for a basic view, but they upgraded us. We had a separate bathroom vanity, an in-wall safe, and a mini-fridge. It was perfect for what we needed.
After a little break and organizing, we headed downstairs for a quick lunch. We had the dining plan during our trip, so that included 1 counter service (think fast food), 1 sit-down meal, and 1 snack per person. So, that left one meal for us to figure out each day. Also, Ryan was not included in the plan because he was considered free overall for the trip because he is under 3. This worked out great because the portion sizes at Disney are insane! So, he ate off our plates most of the meals.
Back to our day though. After lunch (and learning how to use our dining credits), we caught the bus to Downtown Disney. We were ahead of schedule because we got to the resort earlier than expected, so we got to Downtown Disney around 3:00pm. Here are my men on the bus. Can you tell that Ryan is just a LITTLE excited to be riding a bus?
I explained to Tyler that this was not technically a park but just a lot of shopping and sights to see. They still had a great time exploring the stores!
And look who stopped to visit Downtown Disney?
After an hour or so, we had pretty much seen everything we needed/wanted to there. However, we didn't have dinner reservations at our restaurant in Downtown Disney until 6pm. So, I was able to push the time up, and we ate at the T-Rex Cafe! The restaurant is a sister restaurant to the Rainforest Cafe except that it has animated dinosaurs!
As we waited for our table, we hung out in the Discovery Center where the boys played.
Every hour at the restaurant there was a meteor shower. The lights would dim, and the dinosaurs would roar! The food was great, and the portions were HUGE!!! Did I mention that every meal includes dessert?? Disney wants everyone to get fat! Josh got a steak, I got a country-fried steak, Tyler got corn dog bites, and Ryan ate off several plates :)
By the time dinner was done, we were tired and ready to head back to the resort. So, we got back to the room and immediately got in bed for some TV time before sleeping. Ryan was so excited to be on the bottom bunk underneath his brother! We put pillows around him to help him from falling off the bed, although one night (I think it was Friday night) he did fall off! But he was OK after a few minutes of crying from being scared. I heard the boom, and I instantly woke up and said "Oh gosh!" Overall, he did awesome in a big boy bed. Although it helped that we were all exhausted at bed times anyway!
We had a LONG day to prepare for the next day, so we were in bed and asleep by 8pm! I woke up at 9:30 hearing music outside. I later realized that they have a water pageant at our resort at 9:30pm. It only lasted about 10 minutes, and it didn't detour my exhaustion!
Overall, our drive was totally smooth with no breakdowns, complaining, and not but ONE movie shown on the DVD player in the car! I had a basket in between the boys in the backseat that had all kinds of activities to do, and it apparently worked like a charm!
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