Trip Report Happy Birthday! Surprise! We're going to Disney World and you're going to be a big sister!

Hello everyone! I am back with another trip report!

Who: Me, Joseph, Sadie, Patrick (my brother), Taylar (his wife), and Bell (Taylar's daughter).

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Where: Cars Suite at Art of Animation because Mater is one of my brother's favorite Disney Characters.

When: November 13-16. Another short but sweet trip!

Why: A little back story, Patrick (my brother) & Taylar have been together for about 4 years now, and just got married in June. We went to Disney together in September 2020 without kids (I suggest every parent does that at least once). They had been living at my mom's and we were seeing them daily but they just purchased their first house at the end of September and now live about 40 minutes north of us and it sucks. I miss seeing Bell every morning and walking to the bus stop together. Back in August, Patrick & Taylar told me they were planning on taking Bell to Disney World for her 9th birthday and invited us to join them for the long weekend. Of course, I couldn't pass up a chance to go back to my most favorite place in the world, so I said yes. We decided to keep it a secret until the night before and tell the kids at Bell's birthday party. Taylar made a birthday box for Bell that included "tickets" for the three kids, a birthday shirt, and birthday Minnie ears. I had to edit the video to cut out the kid's full names that were on the tickets so it starts after she realizes what is going on.


If you watched the video, you can tell that Bell was very excited and Joseph was overcome by emotions and shedding those happy tears. He totally takes after his mommy and has an undying love for Disney World. After the excitement of the Disney trip announcement, Taylar had a box for Patrick. I'm sure you can guess what was in the box from the title of this trip....yup! Taylar is pregnant! YAY!! She made a onesie for the announcement! (this is still a secret but I figured I could tell you guys lol)

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This is the part when Sadie got excited, she has been wanting a baby since she was like 2 years old, and we have been telling her she had to wait for Uncle Patrick and Aunt Taylar to have a baby and now they finally are! Boy did we have an eventful night. Bell just couldn't stop talking about how she was going to be a big sister again (her dad has another daughter) and how she is going to Universal to get a wand and to Disney with her cousins. So much going on but we needed to get home since our flight was at 6:30am. The kids were too hyped up and didn't fall asleep on the long ride home, all they kept talking about was the new baby, what rides Taylar would and wouldn't be able to ride now that she is pregnant, what they wanted to ride, and so much more. I think they fell asleep at home around 9:30 and I wasn't far behind them. The fun was just about to start!
 

Cetta

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Congrats to Taylar, Patrick, Bell and all of you on the big announcement. Sending this separately from my first post because I had to send that one off quickly so no one beat me to being #1!
Thank you! and it's always nice being first ;)
Priceless video!
My favorite part was Bell, “We’re going tomorrow!?!”
Totally in…..
Pop Tv Yes GIF by Schitt's Creek's Creek
I will cherish that video forever! thanks for tagging along.
I'm here too!!! Those happy tears were soooo sweet and congratulations to all!
Thank you! I wasn't expecting him to cry...this was his 4th trip and I just thought he would be like "COOL!" not full on bawling.

Following along! Perfect reason to celebrate!
it really is! thanks for joining.
Excited to hear about your trip!
It's a short trip but I promise we have lots of fun!
What fun! I'm in and looking forward to reading more!
thanks for reading :)
Can't wait for the report....
welcome
Congratulations to all

And...
peter pan fun GIF by Disney


Max
thank you! I'm excited to be an aunt again, but this time from the very beginning lol
 

Cetta

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I woke up around 3am and packed the last couple of important items like phone chargers and devices to keep the kids occupied on the flights. I got the kids up around 3:20am and we were in the car by 3:40am. I usually take a picture on the car ride to the airport but didn't this time since it was still pitch black out. It usually takes us about 45-50 minutes to get to our local airport. We live northeast of Indianapolis and the airport is on the southwest side. Around 4:15 Patrick sent me a text letting me know where he parked in the economy lot and about 15 minutes later he said he already checked their bag and was waiting by the Indy sign. We were parked in the parking garage and walking into the airport by 4:37am
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Sadie loves the moving walkways and the Indy airport has plenty! I made sure my new suitcase fit within the Spirit airlines carry-on sizer thing. By the way, I love my new suitcase, it is nothing special but it's a hard shell one and it's totally an upgrade to the one I have been using since high school. Hopefully it will last 15+ years like my old one did. It fit perfectly and we were off to meet up with Patrick's family by the Indy sign.
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We wished Bell happy birthday since this was her actual birthday. I gave her the birthday sash I had so everyone would know it was her birthday all day long. We hung out a little bit and snacked on some things we had in our bags before saying goodbye to my husband and heading towards the TSA area around 5:05am. Our flight was scheduled to take off at 6:30 with boarding starting at 5:45.
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My husband is a trooper letting us go to Disney without him so often. He is in his fourth year of plumbing school/apprenticeship and has classes on Mondays so he had to stay home to attend class. We have a trip planned in March during his spring break. Hopefully he will join us on that trip. Indy airport is not anywhere as close to as busy as MCO so we were through TSA pretty quickly and rode some more of the moving walkways before getting to our gate. Patrick sat the kids down and gave a little Dad/Uncle speech about how he expects everyone to act during our trip. The three kids have very different personalities and sometimes they clash lol. Sadie is super shy and quiet, Bell doesn't stop talking and will tell every stranger her life story, and Joseph tends to be more of a thinker. Most of the time it is Bell and Joseph who clash the most, almost like they are an old married couple arguing. Patrick touched on the subject of no arguing with each other, be kind, don't complain, and we all worked really hard to be able to do trips like this so don't be mean or rude.
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Sure looks like the kids were paying attention....for the most part they got a long pretty well this trip. I think they do great as long as they are kept busy. This trip I also gave Joseph one of my old coworkers phones to use while we were in Disney World. This gave him the ability to take pictures and use the MDE app to check wait times and give suggestions on what to do next. He really loves maps and things like that but he didn't have the phone the whole time. So you will be seeing some crazy pictures in this trip report because they were taken by a 7 year old. The flight was pretty uneventful and we landed on time.
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We were boarding the Fonorail around 8:50am
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Next stop was Dunkin' for some coffee and bagels before grabbing Patrick's checked bag.
 

Cetta

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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Since this was Bell's actual birthday they decided to take her to Universal. They invited us to join them for the day but I really wanted to explore some Disney decorations so told them no, They even offered to pay for Joseph's ticket and take him with them for the day but I just couldn't let them do that so they changed at the airport into shorts and took an Uber to Universal while I took all the luggage and headed to Magical Express.
2 kids + 2 suitcases + stroller + backpack = too much for one adult!
We got off the elevator and I was shocked by how long the Magical Express line was....why are they getting rid of it when it is obviously used so much?!?!? Joseph thankfully took this picture of the line that you cannot see the end of
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The line is deceiving because we were at the end of the line within 20 minutes and on a bus not long after. (photo of the line was taken at 9:32am and the photo of the ME doors was taken at 9:48, and we were on the bus by 9:51am)
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Joseph fell asleep on the bus but Sadie powered through. She even clapped when we went under the Disney World Welcome Sign.
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We were the first stop thankfully! The clapping woke Joseph up and he was able to take some picture of the Art of Animation sign-well part of it.
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Swissmiss

Premium Member
I love the picture of your brother talking to the three kids. And wow - your husband is a keeper: getting up in the middle of the night to drive his family to the airport for a fun trip he can‘t take part in! I hope the spring break trip works out for him - he definitely deserves it! 😊
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
How exciting! I wish I could take my kids for their birthdays, but they don't fall in a vacation, and we aren't allowed to take the kids out of school for vacations here.

Does your husband like going to Disney? Mine doesn't, so he's actually asked us to go without him next time. But that's so sweet of your husband to go with you to the airport and see you off. And kudos for him going to school! I have a friend whose son is going to school for plumbing and she said he's really loving it. They have a family friend or relative who has their own company, so the kid already has a job and everything he's been kind of interning since he was in high school. How much longer does your husband have before he's done?
 

Cetta

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I love the picture of your brother talking to the three kids. And wow - your husband is a keeper: getting up in the middle of the night to drive his family to the airport for a fun trip he can‘t take part in! I hope the spring break trip works out for him - he definitely deserves it! 😊
He is a keeper! He even picked me up at the airport in the middle of the night in May after Taylar's bachelorette weekend in Fort Lauderdale. We were talking this morning about maybe driving to Disney for spring break....I told him I was going to tie his hand to the steering wheel so he had to come with us lol
How exciting! I wish I could take my kids for their birthdays, but they don't fall in a vacation, and we aren't allowed to take the kids out of school for vacations here.

Does your husband like going to Disney? Mine doesn't, so he's actually asked us to go without him next time. But that's so sweet of your husband to go with you to the airport and see you off. And kudos for him going to school! I have a friend whose son is going to school for plumbing and she said he's really loving it. They have a family friend or relative who has their own company, so the kid already has a job and everything he's been kind of interning since he was in high school. How much longer does your husband have before he's done?
My kids will probably never go for their birthdays because they are both in the middle of July (which is also when Patrick & Taylar's baby is due) and it is way too hot for me then haha. My husband does not like doing Disney, too many people for him. He is more of a camping or cabin vacation guy. So we usually do multiple camping trips during the summer. I have gone to Disney without him 4 times now, but I specifically picked his spring break week for our next trip so he doesn't have an excuse. My husband and I met at a local grocery store where we both worked after high school. He stayed there and worked his way up to a manager until the company closed down. It was a good time for him to try something new and he decided he wanted to try plumbing. He worked one year with the company he is with now before entering school for it. He is in his final year (4 years total) and will be graduating in May and then he can take his big test to get his plumbing license. He enjoys the work and the people he works with. It was a great choice for our family because we finally have him home on the weekends!
 

Cetta

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We had arrived at Art of Animation around 10:30am, so we still had the whole day ahead of us. I had received two texts since landing notifying me that our room was not ready yet, so my plan was to drop off luggage and head to the pool for a little. That change as soon as I saw the line for Bell Services....oh goodness! it was all the way into the Cars section and I was not about to stand in that line. Instead we went to the front desk. A kind cast member, Rich helped us, I pretty much just wanted to get Bell a birthday button and find out if we could take our luggage to the pool area or not. Rich gave us the button and told us a birthday song we needed to sing to Bell when we gave her the button later. He also said that we could take the luggage into the pool area if we wanted to but he also called housekeeping to inform them that we were here waiting and open to any room in the Cars section. Rich was the rock star of the day!
Here are some pictures Joseph took while we were in the lobby.
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We headed to the Big Blue Pool bathrooms to change into our swimsuits.
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As soon as we were in our swimsuits, I got our room ready text! YAY FOR RICH!!! We headed to the cars section so I could put the luggage in our room and decorate our door with a birthday sign for Bell (which I didn't take a picture of:rolleyes:). Joseph took some random pictures of the room.
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We were in building 3, room 3703 and it had an awesome view of the Cozy Cone Pool. Totally loved staying in this area. Not a long walk for anything at all! LOVED IT!!!
 

Cetta

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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We applied sunscreen and we were on our way to the pool!
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Of course on the way to the pool, Sadie was running and slipped and fell. She got a little scrape on the top of her foot and knee. Nothing dramatic but enough that she was crying. The high was about 78 degrees for the day, so it wasn't too hot but it wasn't too cool. I know they say the pools are heated but um....the water was totally colder than the air! I didn't get in past my hips and we only stayed in the pool maybe 45minutes because I was freezing!
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While at the pool I mobile ordered lunch from Landscape of Flavors because it was about noon and we hadn't really had a real meal (I don't think donuts and coffee at the airport count as a meal). We got back to the room, changed, and as we were leaving the room, I clicked the prepare my order link.
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While we were eating, I got a text from Tay's Treats saying that Bell's birthday cupcakes I ordered were delivered to the front desk for me to pick up. Perfect timing!
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All we had was 2 kids chicken finger kids meals and I also got the refillable mug because I knew we would be hitting up some more resorts later in the day and I wanted a cool cup for home! I had packed the kids NuiMOs from our last trip so we went to the giftshop and picked our new outfits for them after our lunch. We also decided to get Bell a Minnie Mouse one and an outfit as well. We went to the lobby to grab Bell's birthday cupcakes and then headed back to our room. We put the cupcakes, Bell's birthday button, and new NuiMOs on the table for her to surprise her as a birthday gift when she got back from Universal.
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Joseph was pretty tired and starting to get cranky at this point. I told him I had some fun planned but he didn't want much of it. We hung out in our room until he calmed down and decided he was ready for some adventures. I had created a photo scavenger hunt for the monorail resorts, but he didn't want the print out, he just wanted me to them what to look for. So we headed to the MK bus stop to start.
 

Cetta

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The bus was waiting for us and we hopped right on!
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Joseph fell asleep on the way which was much needed.
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We arrived at the MK bus stop and headed to the Monorail, but first Sadie wanted a picture with the cake. Joseph was still cranky and refused even though a nice woman had offered to take our picture all together.
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I didn't tell the kids exactly where we were going (or who we were going to see) but we got on monorail peach and each stop they were asking if it was ours.
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We finally made it to the Grand Floridian to see the gingerbread house and meet up with some friends of ours.
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From the second story we took a look down and I pointed out Nick and Taylea to the kids (you might remember them from our last two trips....they were in Daytona for a music festival but decided to take a day off to visit MK). This finally perked Joseph up and he was back to being himself. We didn't stand in line to buy anything from the gingerbread house because it was pretty long and there was nothing I needed to have. I had seen pictures of the gingerbread house online so I had a couple things I wanted the kids to find on the house. They enjoyed the little scavenger hunt before we sat down and talked to Nick and Taylea for a little.
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After hanging for a bit and refilling our mug, they wanted to head back to MK to catch a couple more rides before finding a spot for the fireworks. We took the monorail with them because the Polynesian was our next stop and it was raining so there was no way we were going to walk.
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They got off at MK and we continued on...I had planned on stopping at the Contemporary too but I promised the kids dole whips so we skipped it. Plus we have been to the Contemporary plenty of times.
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There were 4 things we had to find at the Polynesian before we could get our dole whips....Moana, Stitch, hidden Mickey, and a Tiki man taller than me.
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Joseph found the Stitch stuff and took a picture with his phone and Sadie found Moana stuff not far behind.
 

Cetta

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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Found our Tiki man and then we were off to get some dole whips. we took some silly pictures while waiting in line.
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Sadie decided she didn't want a dole whip, she would rather have a sucker/lollipop that she had seen in my backpack earlier in the day. Joseph ordered the Lime 50th anniversary dole whip and I got the good old classic pineapple.
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After we finished our dessert, we headed back upstairs to catch the monorail. We stopped at a penny press machine (because I had brought pennies and quarters with me in anticipation-well that was disappointing...cash and card only....why can't it be all change too?)
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We got on the monorail to head back to MK to catch a bus back to Art because it was about 4:30 and I knew Patrick and family was going to head back around 5-6 so I wanted to be there for when they got back.
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Speaking of Patrick and family, Taylar had sent me a text earlier in the day saying that Bell was chosen at Olivanders to have her wand pick her! I was almost in tears! Patrick said it was all because she was wearing her birthday sash that I gave her. She got her birthday wish! It was the perfect wand for her too, because it was the one with the unicorn hair (I'm sure if you love Harry Potter a bunch you know which wand I am talking about but I do not 🤷‍♀️).
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