Trip Report The "Could be better....could be worse" Trip Report - October 2018

Well....we've been back for almost two months and I've finally gotten our pictures organized! (Hard task when you're chasing around a one year old all day...especially because she learned how to climb on the couch by herself this week....Yayyy!!! :arghh:)

A brief introduction before I get my FIRST EVER trip report started!

Who: Me (Megan), my husband (George), and our little princess (Ryleigh)

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When: October 19th through October 22nd

Where: Grand Floridian :inlove:

Why: Why not? Life has been a little rough lately and our Mickey loving daughter needed to go meet him!

For a more detailed intro, you can read my Pre-Trip here: The "After The Last 8 Months We've Had, We NEED This Trip" Pre-Trip Report

So bear with me during my first time writing a Trip Report and find out the following: Do George and I survive our first trip as parents??? Did Ryleigh love the characters??? Did I become a HEA convert??? Was the GF as glorious as I've been imagining for the last 26 years??? Just how many bite size cheesecakes did I eat at Chef Mickey's??? And on that note...

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(And write a trip report!)
 
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MegRuss626

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday, October 18th

This day was
spent tying up lose ends....getting my nails done, making my sister a pot of spaghetti sauce as part of her payment for staying at our house and watching our zoo, and the dreaded packing! Now, I am anxious over-packer. I'm always afraid I'm going to forget something so I just pack everything. I also like to have at least two outfits for each day...you never know! We're staying for a short 3 nights, so just how many pieces of luggage would we need???

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If you think I wasn't going to take full advantage of our Southwest allotment, you just don't know me very well at all! And yes, I filled all of them!


Now the original plan was for my husband to have to go out that evening for midnight shift but his "vacation creep" set in and that afternoon he decided to schedule another vacation day. So we thankfully got to spend a nice evening home together and he was able to get a good night's sleep before our trip! We set out our plane outfits (well, Ryleigh and I did)
and I tried to get some sleep despite the Disney excitement!


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Tomorrow we find out if all of my research about TSA with a toddler will pay off and if Ryleigh likes flying!
 

MegRuss626

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Friday, October 19th

I was up around 8:00 am and quietly got myself ready so Ryleigh could sleep as close to her normal time as possible (I have a girl who loves her sleep like her mama!). I changed our countdown for the last time!
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Ryleigh got up around 8:45 and was ready to go!

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(The paci was a big thing during the trip because her molars were starting to come in. If that paci wasn't in her mouth then her fingers were and lord know the germs that she would get in there on this trip so paci it is!)

We left for the airport around 9:15 (15 minutes later than planned...not bad for me!) We are very fortunate that our drive to the airport is only around 25 minutes. We decided to just park since it was a short trip. (Plus, my mom was our usual airport drop-off person.) Now, on past trips, they always have those little cart rental stands to help with getting the luggage to be checked. EXCEPT they were nowhere to be found anymore! I walked briskly up the entry way, through the front part of the airport, everywhere and I found nothing. I started walking defeatedly back to the car trying to come up with a game plan for two people to juggle a stroller, diaper bag, 3 big suitcases, and two carry ons. And right outside the door is A CART!! I started speed walking to get to it before someone else did, checked to see if it belonged to someone, and took it out to the car. Heres where our title starts...George and I started noticing throughout the trip that there were moments of could have been better but it also could have been worse. I could have found the cart like I normally do right by where we walk in BUT I could have also not found one at all so we'll take it!

We got our bags checked with no issues and headed into the TSA line. We waited maybe 10-15 minutes so it wasn't bad at all. Then, it was go time! All of my research and anxiety was ready to go...I read it was easiest to put any liquid stuff (bottle of water, applesauce pouch, etc...) in a clear ziplock to make it easier so they don't have to go through your bags to find things. We had a million things on the belt and George and Ryleigh went through the metal detector, they took the stroller through, and then....a really loud alarm started going off and we had to freeze in our places! :oops: It ended up just being a drill but holy crap did it make my heart stop! I was finally allowed to move to go through the metal detector aaaaaand I set it off! :banghead: Note to any females...Alex and Ani bracelets will set off the TSA detector. Who knew? The stroller got swabbed down and passed the test so we were on our way to our gate! From our driveway to our gate took about an hour so not too bad for first time parents!
 

MegRuss626

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hope everyone had a great Christmas!! I haven't forgotten about my trip report but the Christmas funk hit our family! :arghh: It got Ryleigh last year on Christmas night (lasted two weeks) then worked its way around the house. So nervous me kept her in the house for two weeks before Christmas as a precaution buuuuut it found us! It hit my grandma, two of my cousins, my sister and myself on Christmas night this year. Ughhhhh! Things are finally looking up here (KNOCK ON WOOD) so I'll be getting back to our airport shenanigans soon! Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!! (And some Christmas Ryleigh so this isn't just text!)
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sheriffwoody

Well-Known Member
Following along! Sorry you guys were sick at Christmas :cry: I got a bad cold on Christmas Eve of course. So annoying! It's the one time of year it's hard to stay home and rest.
 

MeeskaMooska0714

Well-Known Member
Following! I totally get your title - our first trip with the kids was the same way. Lots of things went wrong, but they could have gone worse! Looking forward to hearing how Ryleigh did! :)
 

DisSplash

Well-Known Member
Ryleigh is so cute! I hope that the creep has finally left your house!! I had it right after Thanksgiving, and it was no fun.
Looking forward to hearing more and about it your trip adventures! 😄
 

MegRuss626

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Yay! Glad you started your report! Can't wait to follow along!
Following! I am an over packer too. My husband fusses every trip because I literally fill the whole car. I would rather pack too much than not enough though. Ryleigh is precious! :)
I'm following along!

Welcome!!

They also set off the Disney detectors 😒

So excited to read all about your trip! 😄

I surprisingly had no issues with it getting through park security?

Count me in! I also overpack. I usually will bring 2 outfits per day as well, must be a girl thing. Loved yours and Ryleighs plane outfits.
Kelly.

Thanks!! And you just never know what you might need! Especially our first day was so hot that we ended up changing halfway through the day!

Following along! Sorry you guys were sick at Christmas :cry: I got a bad cold on Christmas Eve of course. So annoying! It's the one time of year it's hard to stay home and rest.

And even worse for your cold...no medicine when you're pregnant! Hopefully I get this trip report done before LP starts walking! haha

Following! I totally get your title - our first trip with the kids was the same way. Lots of things went wrong, but they could have gone worse! Looking forward to hearing how Ryleigh did! :)
Ryleigh is so cute! I hope that the creep has finally left your house!! I had it right after Thanksgiving, and it was no fun.
Looking forward to hearing more and about it your trip adventures! 😄

Thanks for following along!!
 

MegRuss626

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Ok...let's get some more added! We left off after a mild TSA heart attack....

We found our gate (next to the Cinnabon as usual....love me some center of the roll!!! :inlove:) and then proceeded to scope out the surrounding gates for a quieter area to wear Ryleigh out before our flight. Luckily, one right next door had no flights coming in or out of it during our time there so we set up shop. Our "first time flying with a toddler" plan was to tire her out as much as possible so she would sit in one of our laps on the plane!
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(A nice lady took this photo for us when she saw me trying to prop my phone up on the chair.)
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We took turns watching the luggage and keeping her corralled in the area. I walked over to a small generic airport store to grab some bottled water and met a very "interesting" cashier while there. :cautious: It was a small store with the cash register in the middle. She LOUDLY complained the entire time I was in there. "Why do people keep coming in here?" (It was me and one other person...she nearly lost her mind when another customer came in while she was ringing me out.) "I am ready to lose my *%(#$& mind on this place." "I absolutely could not hate this job more than this." :jawdrop: Very awkward. I returned back to our private gate for Ryleigh's snack time.
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Our airport outfits off the hangers!
After snack time, Ryleigh discovered one of the highlights of her entire trip....MOVING SIDEWALKS!! There was one at the end of the terminal that she had all to herself.
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MegRuss626

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It was almost time to board so we went with Ryleigh's (and @Tuvalu ) favorite....Chick-fil-A! George and I ate our sandwiches quickly (no fries because I had to have the obligatory Center of the Roll!) and saved Ryleigh's for the plane. We did a quick diaper change and got into the line for family boarding. We were able to get seats together with no problem towards the back of the plane. We got lucky with the person who ended up sitting with us...she sat down, talked to Ryleigh for a few minutes, and then went about her business watching a movie on her phone. I was holding Ryleigh in my lap in the middle while we got situated. The plane started taxiing a little bit and by the time tires left the runway....
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She was OUT! It was a very uncomfortable first part of our flight because I was not ready for her to be sleeping but could be better....could be worse! She was sleeping so George and I watched some House Hunters. She woke up with around 45 minutes left, had lunch, and watched some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on my iPad. She had no issues with the landing and we successfully survived our first flight with a toddler!!!! :joyfull: And here is a fun fact we learned upon landing....if someone has to use REALLY use the restroom, the plane cannot continue making its way to the gate until they have returned to their seats. Fun times! So after about 10 minutes, we arrived at our gate and made our way to the fonorail.

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Ryleigh's first fonorail ride! (Spoiler alert...that face of indifference is going to appear a lot in this trip report!)

We made our way to the Magical Express with a diaper change stop along the way. We encountered no line and only had to wait about 5 minutes once boarded. We had to stop at Ft. Wilderness then the Poly and finally the Grand Floridian!
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So here we are around 3:55 and still no room text. :bored: I remembered to check the app and sure enough...
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:banghead:
Now, we called before we left to make sure our room requests were still showing, and we were assured they were. This building was nowhere near our requested building. And from my endless research about the GF, I was almost positive this was the top floor which meant a dormer room with a weird balcony. :arghh: I know I sound a little bratty because its just a balcony but I waited so long to stay here and I wanted the "full effect" of finally staying there. (Could be better, could be worse right?)


We were making good time. I was feeling confident that we would have no issues making our reservation for Chef Mickey's....
 

MegRuss626

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hi everyone! I’d say I’m officially a trip report slacker! I’ve been following along on most of yours but have definitely been neglecting mine 😔 Maybe I'll try to make some time when Ryleigh goes to bed tonight 🤞🏻Life with a toddler is just not forgiving sometimes 🤷🏻‍♀️ Just wanted to jump on here and share my find at Kohl's today with all my Disney moms with little daughters (@sheriffwoody @ScarletBegonias @dryerlintfan and anyone else I forgot...maybe for Tuvalette and Tuvaleen @Tuvalu )

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