Trip Report A Very Delsym Disney!

This is my VERY first trip report so be prepared...it may suck
I did a pre-trip report but it was very lame and basically only consisted of me whining every hour or so during my last 2 days at work. You can read it here if you want...
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/i-am-trying-to-can-right-now-but-literally-cant.904881/
but like I said...lame.

First let me give you a rundown of our trip attendees
Me - Jenn 40, (we left to drive down on my big 4 0 )
My hubby, Tom 43
My mom, Leona 61
My oldest daughter, Robin 21
My youngest daughter, Willow 16
And My son, Shade 6

This trip was literally our first family vacation in 10 years to the date! We arrived at WDW on 9/18/2005 and arrived this time on 9/18/2015 . We are from Chicago and moved to Lexington, KY 9 years ago...my mom followed us shortly after. Since then we have used every hour of PTO to go home and visit with family. This year we were greedy and used it for ourselves lol. Our countdown started at 477 days and it actually didn't take as long as I had expected it to. I wish I would have made a better pre-trip report because I planned the heck out of this vacation and it would have been fun to document...oh well, next time

I am at work so I will try to post as much as I can when I can and I will try really hard not to ramble and/or be too boring

To be continued...

 

[JennSmith]

Day One - 9/17/2015

Even though we didn't get to WDW until 9/18, I still consider this day 1
I took the day off...had an appointment to get my nails and toes done which ended up being a waste of money. I can do my toes myself - even with a french manicure, but thought I would treat myself to a pedicure. They ended up chipping within 3 days and I didn't even stub them or scrape them on anything. I also got a gel manicure thinking it would be better than having to re-paint my fingers every 2 days. They started looking dingy after about 2 days so I peeled it off. Big mistake because then my nails felt gross all week. Oh well, live and learn.
After my nail appointment my mom met me at my house with her 2 dogs and I hopped in her car to drop off her dogs with mine at the local Petsuites. I was super nervous about this. My dog had only been boarded once since we got him 3 years ago. My mom usually keeps him when we go to Chicago. The one time he was boarded was right after we got him and the staff flat out told us we should consider medicating him if we ever boarded him again. They said he wasn't bad but they could tell he was super nervous. I hoped this time would be easier because we were able to board mine...his name is Hank, FYI...and my mom's 2 together. So I hoped things would be easier because they would have each other but still... what do dogs think when they aren't boarded regularly?! Do they think we're done with them? Bye, Felicia? See ya never? I cried a little in the car on the way to the kennel because I was just way too sad thinking about it. Thankfully dropping them off was uneventful. I was so busy filling out all the paper work that I only had time to give a quick hug and kiss to Hank before a staff member was whisking him away.
This is the Hanksters...just so you can have picture association

After we dropped the dogs off my mom wanted to take me out for lunch for my birthday. I went home to change clothes first because I didn't think I should be walking around with 42% of Hank still attached to me...he sheds a lot. We ate at a local Mexican restaurant and thank God she did not tell them it was my B-day because I do not do well with extra large sombreros! Once we were finished eating I was pretty much over it...I was READY to leave!!! I decided to be even more irresponsible than I already was by pulling Willow and Shade out of school for a week and picked them up from school a little early so we could head out. Luckily my husband was down with that and had already finished up work and mowing the lawn. We were finally set to go! I don't think a car has ever been packed faster!!

We had made reservations at the Homewood Suites in Macon, Ga for tonight so that was our destination...we ended up leaving our house at 3:00 pm exactly. We stopped at the McDonald's drive thru for everyone other than my mom and myself and were on the road. We did end up hitting a little traffic in Knoxville and a TON in Atlanta! Like holy cow with the Atlanta traffic...at like 10 pm!! And I'm from Chicago...it takes a lot of traffic to phase me! Needless to say we checked in at the Homewood Suites at about 11:30ish? We ordered pizza from Papa Johns, set up our MagicBands with our little MagicBandits, which by the way almost all fell off , and finally went to sleep at about 12:30/1:00. I planned on us getting up, eating breakfast and being out the door by like 9 but our bodies had different intentions...

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Yay! I'm excited to read! Great start! I'm sure it's tough leaving the pets behind!

 

[Mindy16]

Happy Birthday! Looking forward to reading your report!

 

[JennSmith]

Day Two - 9/18/2015

I will stop here and mention the fact that a week prior to this day my son had a significant cough and my husband definitely had a cold. My son's cough seemed to have disappeared by now and my husband seemed to be getting better. My oldest daughter had just developed a cough two days prior to us leaving, but nothing more thankfully and I was popping Halls Defense like candy and drinking Airborne like it was happy hour at the local Walgreen's. I was not sick but I knew...I could just feel...something was off in my throat. I wouldn't say it out loud though and was convinced that through pure adrenaline alone I would persevere and my trip would be virus free! No one else in the fam seemed to have a care in the world in regards to colds or viruses so that was good. I will continue...

Soooo, remember how I said I wanted to be up, fed and out by 9 am? Yea well, apparently our bodies were all WAY too excited! My husband and I were all up and ready to go at 4:30 am!! We kinda just hung around until breakfast was ready at 6 am. Then we woke everyone else up so we could get the show started!! The breakfast there was REALLY good...and free! Other than pancakes I really can't think of anything they didn't offer. It all tasted very good too! I highly recommend the place! We kind of took our time eating because I knew we didn't have too, too much to drive and I knew there was a chance that our room wouldn't be ready if we got there too early. I think by the time we got everyone up and ready, ate, got gas and got back on the road it was maybe 7:30 or 8.

My husband and I switched back and forth with the driving both days but while I wasn't driving I was CONSTANTLY checking my email to see if we got anything from the resort regarding our room number and whether or not it was ready yet. I was actually pretty pumped that I was the one driving when we actually reached the resort too...it was kind of neat. At first I was bummed when I realized it was going to work out like that because I thought I was going to want to take pictures and soak in the scenery but once we started seeing signs for the parks and of course driving through THE WDW sign I no longer cared who was driving and was so excited I could have peed myself if my bladder was at all full!

So here we are at the resort! We stayed in a Lion King suite at The Art of Animation...but I still didn't have an email! It was 1:30 so I knew we were early but I didn't really know what to do with ourselves andI decided to go up to the desk anyway. I explained to the cast member that I knew we were totally early and I didn't get an email yet and that I didn't really know that I expected anything from them but figured I stop anyway, but they gave us a room anyway! Let me say that we had been to WDW 4 times before this but we had never stayed on property before so I was so confused as to what to do. I also knew I had groceries from Garden Grocers waiting for me somewhere. I mean I was lost! Thankfully the cast members were super awesome and helpful and we had our groceries and luggage in our room within 10 minutes of leaving the front desk.

It was after we were there for a few days before I realized I never snapped any pics of the room so they all have our junk in the background. Here they are though...

And here are some from the lobby...

And some of the kids out and about at the resort, (let us not focus on the TERRIBLY made Mickey tie-dyes...yes those ARE supposed to be Mickey heads! I am completely aware of how bad they look but we had fun making them so we wore them for just this one day only lol)...

We kind of poked around at the resort for a bit before heading out to Downtown Disney...I mean Disney Springs for a little shopping, a T-Rex ADR and some Characters in Flight...stay tuned

 

[JennSmith]

Happy Birthday! Looking forward to reading your report!

Thanks!

 

[JennSmith]

Yay! I'm excited to read! Great start! I'm sure it's tough leaving the pets behind!

Thanks...you inspired me
This whole wait so many seconds thing before replying stinks a bit though haha!!

 

[Cetta]

enjoying the trip report....looking forward to more! I plan on making ADRs at Trex on our first night too!

 

[JennSmith]

Day Two Continued...

So I had to get the kids out of the resort ASAP because I had bought a Welcome Celebration for them and it was set to be delivered in the evening sometime. It was expensive and probably NOT worth it but I still wanted to get it since it was Shade's first visit ever and the girls' first in 10 years. I had tweaked the contents a bit because you got 2 of everything and I needed 3. SO I skipped some of the stuff and added a third of other stuff and was very grateful that I was given the option of doing that.

We headed to Disney Springs and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to navigate the construction and parking garage situation. It's really neat how they tell you how many vacancies there are for each aisle! Shade was super cute because on most days he never really walked any where...he always danced to his destinations, and it was always a different dance depending on what kind of music was playing lol. So when we were by Raglan Road it was different than when we walked by Bongos which was different than when we were by the street performer playing top 40 music and so on. We did the Characters in Flight thing, did a little shopping and arrived about 15 minutes early for our 8pm ADR at T-Rex. We really liked it! I was not expecting much because I knew it was basically Rainforest Cafe but dino themed and I've eaten at Rainforest a couple times and was never impressed. Granted I never ate at the Disney locations but still. The food was great, the server was really nice but it did take forever to get our food and then forever again to get the dessert. We were fortunate to get the free dining promo applied to our existing reservation when that was released. I was booked with the dining plan and was going to keep it regardless, but getting it for free was definitely a bonus!! Anyway, that's why we even stayed for dessert because otherwise it was just taking way too long for all of it to come out that I wouldn't have even considered it.

Here are some pics of the evening at Disney Springs...

This is one of his dance walks even though it does you no good because it is not a video lol..

Characters in Flight...I have better pictures "beyond the net" on my actual camera...I will upload them later.

Randoms...

T-Rex...

After we finished eating we headed back to the room and I was super pumped that the Celebration had been staged! Also, my mom had secretly ordered me a birthday cake with my ultimate favorite Disney character on it - Robin Hood!!! It was the best tasting cake ever...seriously! I made sure to taste a piece before bedtime...I'm fat like that

Welcome Celebration...
Okay - never mind....I guess the Welcome Celebration pics are on my camera. I will post later, sorry!

Also, I am off until Monday and it is much easier for me to post here than anywhere else so I can't promise any updates until then. Hopefully I will find time to do it sooner though. I hope you stay tuned! Up next will be day three at Magic Kingdom!

 

[JennSmith]

enjoying the trip report....looking forward to more! I plan on making ADRs at Trex on our first night too!

It was really good!!

 

[Ciara]

I loved AoA! I couldn't resist walking over and having a photo shoot. So many little details, its great

Following along!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

Ohhhh I wanted to go to T-Rex! Looks awesome!

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Following! And yes, driving through Atlanta almost always sucks, but not usually at 10PM!

 

[JennSmith]

Ohhhh I wanted to go to T-Rex! Looks awesome!

It was really awesome and although I know very little about gluten free stuff I believe you can eat steak, right? Well the steak was really good!!

 

[JennSmith]

Following! And yes, driving through Atlanta almost always sucks, but not usually at 10PM!

I know, I was surprised!

 

[WildcatDen]

Know the drive well being up 75 in Cincinnati. We try to get on the road earlier to hit Atlanta prior to 2.

 

[JennSmith]

I am seriously trying to post more right now and my home PC hates me and my picture posting ways. At work all I had to do was paste, paste, paste. At home it won't paste and I hate everything. I will keep trying!

 

[JennSmith]

Okay this is definitely more painful than simply copying and pasting the pics but I think I've got it. These are more from the Characters in Flight sans netting

 

[JennSmith]

She actually bought this...I cannot even.

 

[JennSmith]

And this is Shade, (and other kids) playing with the spitting Stitch on top of the World of Disney store..