Well, my husband is in Afghanistan sniping terrorists right now, but I wasn't about to let that stop me from another visit with Mickey Mouse. 
Though I've gone to Disney a zillion times without him, I've always been accompanied by my parents or some friends or random relatives, and I've never been outnumbered by my children at a theme park before. I was very, very nervous about taking this trip. It meant driving a 4 and 6 year old 11 hours south, and navigating through 8 theme parks with them in the 95 degree weather, singlehandedly, without losing either of them. :lookaroun
But surprisingly, this ended up being one of the most fun, relaxing, stress-free trips I've ever taken. I enjoyed all the perks of taking a solo trip...I got to choose everything we did, never had to wait for anyone to look through the gift shops or go potty or make pressed pennies or wait in line for a soda every hour or anything like that, and never had to debate what to do next. See, the best thing about little kids is they just happily follow you around without their own agenda and think all the decisions you make are wonderful. So not only did I have a nearly equal amount of freedom as someone traveling solo, but I also had the company of my kids to fill in all the down time with magic and hilarity. I mean I had to skip Space Mountain, Everest, Tower of Terror, and all of that because they were with me, but it was so worth it.
June 11-13: GETTING THERE
As usual, this trip had to start off with some obstacles. I guess Mickey really needs me to prove my love for him before he'll accept me into his kingdom. In the last couple years I've had my van quit on me on the way to Florida TWO TIMES leaving us with an unexpected rental car. I was determined to make it to Florida this time without any van issues, so I actually bought a newer, much nicer van before the trip LOL. Well of course, 2 days before we left my new van broke down! But thank the Lord Almighty it only ended up needing a new battery. So I got my battery replaced, got an oil change, had the tires rotated, and had a mechanic look over the van and confirm that it was in good, working condition so that I wouldn't have to stress over it at all.
So Thursday at 5:30 PM, 13 hours before we were due to leave, I took my dog to the kennel thinking everything was fine because the van was running great. I chose a different kennel this time than I normally use because this one was much more convenient. Well I got the dog there a couple minutes before they closed and they informed me that her shot record was not good enough! Apparently she was supposed to get one of her vaccines when she was 14 weeks old and instead had it when she was 13.5 weeks old. So they refused to board the dog unless I got her that shot again! Thankfully there was an emergency vet around the corner and I was able to run her over there and get her the shot without much of a wait ($60 - cha ching) and run her back to the kennel just as they were closing. I was really unhappy that the start of her stay at a new place had to be so stressful and scary for her, but I was even more unhappy that this messing around caused us to miss 95% of my son's t-ball game. GRRRR.
Anyway, I couldn't believe it but we finally made it out the door at 6:30 the next morning and headed to Florida. The drive down was flawless, the kids behaved, and we made great time. We exchanged our time share and stayed at Silver Lake Resort, which is literally right next to Animal Kingdom. I timed the drive to Animal Kingdom Lodge one night and we were there in under 2 minutes, most of which was a stop light. The condo was really nice and the perfect size for the 3 of us, with a big old plasma TV on the wall and a jacuzzi tub in the bathroom.
By the time I finished unpacking everything I had reached that point of hunger where I could not think of anything to feel satisfied. So the kids and I drove up and down 192 for about 15 minutes, and even got on the list at Red Lobster for a while before I changed my mind and decided I didn't feel like eating out. :lol: So we went to Publix and bought a bunch of groceries and I ate a sub from the deli for dinner while the kids had lunchables at about 9:00 at night. Good enough! :lol:
Though I've gone to Disney a zillion times without him, I've always been accompanied by my parents or some friends or random relatives, and I've never been outnumbered by my children at a theme park before. I was very, very nervous about taking this trip. It meant driving a 4 and 6 year old 11 hours south, and navigating through 8 theme parks with them in the 95 degree weather, singlehandedly, without losing either of them. :lookarounBut surprisingly, this ended up being one of the most fun, relaxing, stress-free trips I've ever taken. I enjoyed all the perks of taking a solo trip...I got to choose everything we did, never had to wait for anyone to look through the gift shops or go potty or make pressed pennies or wait in line for a soda every hour or anything like that, and never had to debate what to do next. See, the best thing about little kids is they just happily follow you around without their own agenda and think all the decisions you make are wonderful. So not only did I have a nearly equal amount of freedom as someone traveling solo, but I also had the company of my kids to fill in all the down time with magic and hilarity. I mean I had to skip Space Mountain, Everest, Tower of Terror, and all of that because they were with me, but it was so worth it.
June 11-13: GETTING THERE
As usual, this trip had to start off with some obstacles. I guess Mickey really needs me to prove my love for him before he'll accept me into his kingdom. In the last couple years I've had my van quit on me on the way to Florida TWO TIMES leaving us with an unexpected rental car. I was determined to make it to Florida this time without any van issues, so I actually bought a newer, much nicer van before the trip LOL. Well of course, 2 days before we left my new van broke down! But thank the Lord Almighty it only ended up needing a new battery. So I got my battery replaced, got an oil change, had the tires rotated, and had a mechanic look over the van and confirm that it was in good, working condition so that I wouldn't have to stress over it at all.
So Thursday at 5:30 PM, 13 hours before we were due to leave, I took my dog to the kennel thinking everything was fine because the van was running great. I chose a different kennel this time than I normally use because this one was much more convenient. Well I got the dog there a couple minutes before they closed and they informed me that her shot record was not good enough! Apparently she was supposed to get one of her vaccines when she was 14 weeks old and instead had it when she was 13.5 weeks old. So they refused to board the dog unless I got her that shot again! Thankfully there was an emergency vet around the corner and I was able to run her over there and get her the shot without much of a wait ($60 - cha ching) and run her back to the kennel just as they were closing. I was really unhappy that the start of her stay at a new place had to be so stressful and scary for her, but I was even more unhappy that this messing around caused us to miss 95% of my son's t-ball game. GRRRR.
Anyway, I couldn't believe it but we finally made it out the door at 6:30 the next morning and headed to Florida. The drive down was flawless, the kids behaved, and we made great time. We exchanged our time share and stayed at Silver Lake Resort, which is literally right next to Animal Kingdom. I timed the drive to Animal Kingdom Lodge one night and we were there in under 2 minutes, most of which was a stop light. The condo was really nice and the perfect size for the 3 of us, with a big old plasma TV on the wall and a jacuzzi tub in the bathroom.
By the time I finished unpacking everything I had reached that point of hunger where I could not think of anything to feel satisfied. So the kids and I drove up and down 192 for about 15 minutes, and even got on the list at Red Lobster for a while before I changed my mind and decided I didn't feel like eating out. :lol: So we went to Publix and bought a bunch of groceries and I ate a sub from the deli for dinner while the kids had lunchables at about 9:00 at night. Good enough! :lol:
