Trip Report STOP RUINING MY HAPPY PLACE! Feb 2020 TR!

I'M BACK!

I have been a fool y'all. I have sat here and read trip reports that detailed the struggles of traveling/vacationing with family and truly thought that I would never face that issue.

Did I have plenty of drama and issues with my OWN family growing up going to Disney during my childhood? OF COURSE. But it feels so different when it is your own flesh and blood. So.. this TR is going to be an interesting one. But just know.. Ian (my husband) and I looked at each other at the end and said "I can't wait to come back just us".

SO..

When: January 29 - February 4, 2020
Who: ME (Annie), my husband Ian, his twin brother Nate, SIL Kristy, nephew Jaxon, Kristy's parents Dicky and Julie and Kristy's niece Aubrie

Why: This trip was all about Jaxon's first trip to WDW. It was Nate's first trip as well! The rest of us had all been at least once.
Where: If you read my PTR, you know that we were upgraded from AS Sports to AKL! It was a fun surprise and one that everyone was very excited about.


Are you all ready to stick with me even if every day wasn't sunshine and rainbows and magic?

 

[DryerLintFan]

Okay. I'm here. You can start now.

 

[DryerLintFan]

Wednesday, January 29th 2020

The day finally arrived!! I should not have been SO ready for a vacation already (the university closed for 10 days during the holidays/New Year), but I definitely WAS and Ian was too.

We are fortunate to have my parents who live in the same town as us coming to stay at our house and take care of our dog, Gus! He was pretty sad that we wouldn't be together for the Super Bowl, so I got him a special treat in advance

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The best boy!

We live in Maine, and flights out of Boston are always HALF the cost of flying out Portland. The rest of the group preferred paying the extra cost for the ease of being close to the airport with kiddos, so we were on our own. Our flight was at 6 AM, so my dad came to pick Ian and I up at 2:30 AM.. HAPPY VACATION

Luckily, we were excited to be headed to our happy place, so it wasn't too painful.

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Ian was doing last minute packing at 2 AM which drives me INSANE!! To give him credit, he never seems to end up missing any items!

The drive in was pretty quick and before long we were at Logan. I so appreciated my dad helping us out. He had been hospitalized with undiagnosed issues the week before and ended up scheduled for gallbladder removal surgery for February 6th. I am VERY close with my mom and dad, so I left for this trip a bit worried. Just as an update - the surgery went perfectly and he is on the mend!!

Ian and I got in the very short line at security. It was at this time that I made the discovery I mentioned in my PTR

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What is this photo missing? MY APPLE WATCH! I wear my watch ALWAYS. At home when not on vacation, I work out 5-6 days a week. (about 8 years or so ago I lost 100 pounds, so I'm pretty diligent). Having the watch at Disney helps with my mental gymnastics of YES I am eating quite a bit but also LOOK AT ALL THE CALORIES BURNED.

I asked Ian if he thought I should text Kristy to pick it up from my house on her way to the airport later. This was his face:

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Despite that glare, I messaged Kristy and asked! Worth a shot, right? I knew she was asleep but crossed my fingers.

I asked Ian for the first, very tired, selfie of the trip

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Let's get on this plane!!

I have started booking our plane tickets and selecting seats differently in the past few years. We are both curvy folks, and at least like the window to lean against on the flight. SO - we typically do not sit with each other. We didn't even on our honeymoon We spend plenty of time together. Don't you worry!

Boarding went quickly, it was not even a full flight. I hit the jackpot!

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EMPTY MIDDLE SEAT! When they closed the doors I looked at my neighbor with a big smile on my face. Now, was Ian sharing in my joy?

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Not so much! No worries, he fell asleep right away. In fact, he was snoring a BIT loudly. I woke him up once by reaching back behind me, as I didn't want his neighbors to get too disturbed. Poor guy, we had only 3-4 hours of sleep!

His beauty sleep was once again disturbed when we landed in Charlotte

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Luckily, we had an hour and a half until our flight to MCO. Great news, because it was basically lunchtime for us in our sleep deprived world and we needed FOOD. I was excited because I went to college in Greensboro NC, and I remember getting Salsaritas on my campus a few times a week. I got a breakfast quesadillas with chips and queso (I'm on VACATION), while Ian went the lunch route with a Jersey Mike's sub. Apologies for this food photo, I was hungry haha

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We made our way over for flight 2/2. This plane was HUGE and PACKED. We were separated once again for our windows seats, but in much smaller spaces. My seatmate had a 2 month old who was so well behaved! An angel. I tried my best to help mom out (with her soda, adjusting the baby, etc.) but I was trying to keep my distance because I was recovering from a cold.

The flight flew by, and eventually we were headed for the fonorail!

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Off to the Magical Express!

To be continued...

That snack Magic Band was the one I was waiting for, but settled for IaSW instead

 

[Loco_driver]

Following along. Gotta love family, right?! Also love some salsaritas, there’s one dangerously close to us!

 

[LadyBelle]

I love the CLT airport. My favorite place to connect.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Okay, I'm here and definitely intrigued by your TR title! Can't wait for the rest!

 

[annienevells]

January 29th continued...

When we last left off, Ian and I were headed to the fonorail! We made our way to the Magical Express, but first I did a quick change into some warm weather clothes. It was only about 65, but that was about 50 degrees warmer than it had been in Maine!

Let's head to AKL! We had a pretty short line, and only waited about 15 minutes or so. The majority of our bus was filled with a cheer team headed to Coronado.

About 10 minutes into our ride, Kristy texted me to let me know that they had landed. Yay! They would not be far behind us. We made excellent time, and before long we were pulling up to Animal Kingdom Lodge. I was ready to soak it all in, because I had never even visited the grounds for dinner or even to just check it out!

Walking in sort of took my breath away. I have seen photos, but something about the enormity really got to me.

We stepped outside quickly to see the view from outdoors

While we were gawking about, we received our room ready text! Well, let's go on then!

Mirror selfie to capture my comfy dress (featuring Dole Whips!!)

Ian was ready for a break, but I really wanted to get my refillable mug and check out the rest of the resort. It is so hard for me to sit still at Disney, especially on day 1! We compromised, and he laid down for 20ish minutes while I sat on the balcony and watched the animals. I also touched base with Kristy, and they were en route. No room ready text yet for her or her mom though!


To be continued...

 

[annienevells]

January 29th continued..

Just some more room photos while Ian rested his weary soul LOL

Yay products!

Loved this! Ian and I sing Lion King songs to each other CONSTANTLY.

It was pretty quiet on the animal front this time of day, but certainly lots of zebras at least.

One thing I do a lot in my travels is I make sure I take photos with me IN them, and not just of scenery or cool things. Why? I want proof I was there! Anyone can Google a cool photo of AKL, but I want to look back some day and say I WAS THERE

Look who's up! Sleep Beauty himself!

Time to adventure...

 

[Darstarr]

#teamdolewhip
I knew I liked you!!!
Cute dress BTW

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Nice view from your room. Someday I'll stay at AKL hopefully with a view like that. Also your Gus is a cutie pie!

 

[Back!Elbow!Shoulders!]

One thing I do a lot in my travels is I make sure I take photos with me IN them, and not just of scenery or cool things. Why? I want proof I was there! Anyone can Google a cool photo of AKL, but I want to look back some day and say I WAS THERE

Excellent point! DH and I are terrible about this but we’ve done slightly better our last few trips.

 

[MickeyCB]

One thing I do a lot in my travels is I make sure I take photos with me IN them, and not just of scenery or cool things. Why? I want proof I was there! Anyone can Google a cool photo of AKL, but I want to look back some day and say I WAS THERE

Absolutely! Even if I might not be super pleased with how I look etc. I definitely want to look back later and be able to bring up those wonderful memories! And on trip reports I love seeing peoples expressions. Joy, annoyance, awe etc.!

 

[Spash007]

yay I'm in!

Sorry to hear about the drama, but I'll admit I'm half looking forward to reading about it!

 

[annienevells]

#teamdolewhip
I knew I liked you!!!
Cute dress BTW

Any team based on food is a team I can jive with!

 

[annienevells]

January 29th continued...

Ian was up and feeling slightly more refreshed. We decided to adventure a bit and get our mugs. We were on the second floor with a savanna view, so we were very close to the lobby....... for now. (ooooooh foreshadowing)

It took us a little while to figure out where The Mara and the pool area was located, but we eventually found our way

It had already been such a long day, so this little caffeine boost with our Diet Coke was much appreciated.

While we were filling up, Kristy texted to let me know they were in the lobby. Her mom had not received her room text yet, so they were at the front desk. We met them upstairs and Jaxon was pretty excited to see us! He seemed a little confused as well LOL the first thing he said was "time to go to uncles? time to go home?" no dude, we just got here!

I am going to take the time now to explain a couple of things. Jaxon just turned 3 in the fall. Nate works day shift, and Kristy works overnights, so Jaxon has never been in school and daycare. This has led to a certain level of speech delay (it makes sense. if everyone in your world knows what you need at all times, what reason do you have to learn new words?!) He started daycare when Kristy became pregnant with baby number 2 in October and it has helped quite a bit. BUT - the struggle was apparent on this trip with a lot of his meltdowns (lack of communication).

SECOND is a note about Kristy's niece, Aubrie. This child has a thing for me. I do not know what it is, but she was stuck to my hip this entire trip. I will detail a few moments over the course of the TR in which Ian almost lost his mind, but it didn't bother me as much. The child has divorced parents who have both remarried and had children with their new spouses. The kid has had a tough time.

ANYWAY - we made our way to the rooms. Only to discover that Kristy's parents were placed right next door to us.. while Kristy's room was probably a 5-8 minute walk down the hallway. Kristy started to lose it over this fact, while Ian and I showed the kids our balcony

They were pretty awestruck!

Jax wanted to play hide and seek with "uncles"

Ian and I were quietly chatting during this time. He did NOT want to be next door to Aubrie with how attached to me she can be. He recognized that this was a family trip, but wanted to have at least SOME alone time with me. I suggested that, though it would put us far away from the lobby and the group, we offer to switch rooms with Kristy. She was pretty happy about this arrangement, and we went to the front desk to make the switch.

It was at this point that Jax started his first meltdown. He was DEVASTATED that we could not go in the pool. Our plans for the night included a 6:30 reservation at Whispering Canyon, and there was just not enough time. After a couple minutes of screaming in the hall, Kristy gave up and took him to take a quick nap. The rest of us decided that treats were in order

For me - zebra domes! I have heard mixed reviews on here about these beauties and I am now FIRMLY in the camp of absolutely loving them. They were so delicious.

Ian opted for a classic

Rice krispies treat! YUM!

We all sat at a table and took our time having our snack. We sat and chatted about the plans for the night/week and headed back to the rooms after an hour or so. During my explanations, I started to feel a bit of stress build. This group did not seem happy about the transportation route for dinner (bus to MK, boat to WL), but it didn't seem that difficult to me? I felt like all they had to do was follow my lead, so what was the big deal? Well..

When we returned, Jax was ready to go! He was pretty excited about riding the "school bus" and this became a theme over the course of the week. We got to the bus stop and the time for the MK bus said 5:05. GREAT. It was 5 PM. Then it became 5:10.. and 5:15... and 5:35... Jax was losing it. He couldn't understand WHY we were not getting on all of the other buses arriving.

Finally, we got on at 5:45

Jax refused to sit with any of his 7 closest family members on the bus with him, so his pregnant mama was stuck holding him

We finally made it to MK and made the mad dash over to the boats

Hi Magic Kingdom! I will be seeing you soon!! I really wanted to take a moment to appreciated where we were, but everyone just kept moving.

Time to make it to dinner! Or... not?

To be continued...

 

[DryerLintFan]

January 29th continued...

Ian was up and feeling slightly more refreshed. We decided to adventure a bit and get our mugs. We were on the second floor with a savanna view, so we were very close to the lobby....... for now. (ooooooh foreshadowing)

View attachment 448853

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View attachment 448855

It took us a little while to figure out where The Mara and the pool area was located, but we eventually found our way

View attachment 448856

It had already been such a long day, so this little caffeine boost with our Diet Coke was much appreciated.

While we were filling up, Kristy texted to let me know they were in the lobby. Her mom had not received her room text yet, so they were at the front desk. We met them upstairs and Jaxon was pretty excited to see us! He seemed a little confused as well LOL the first thing he said was "time to go to uncles? time to go home?" no dude, we just got here!

I am going to take the time now to explain a couple of things. Jaxon just turned 3 in the fall. Nate works day shift, and Kristy works overnights, so Jaxon has never been in school and daycare. This has led to a certain level of speech delay (it makes sense. if everyone in your world knows what you need at all times, what reason do you have to learn new words?!) He started daycare when Kristy became pregnant with baby number 2 in October and it has helped quite a bit. BUT - the struggle was apparent on this trip with a lot of his meltdowns (lack of communication).

SECOND is a note about Kristy's niece, Aubrie. This child has a thing for me. I do not know what it is, but she was stuck to my hip this entire trip. I will detail a few moments over the course of the TR in which Ian almost lost his mind, but it didn't bother me as much. The child has divorced parents who have both remarried and had children with their new spouses. The kid has had a tough time.

ANYWAY - we made our way to the rooms. Only to discover that Kristy's parents were placed right next door to us.. while Kristy's room was probably a 5-8 minute walk down the hallway. Kristy started to lose it over this fact, while Ian and I showed the kids our balcony

View attachment 448857

They were pretty awestruck!

Jax wanted to play hide and seek with "uncles"

View attachment 448858

Ian and I were quietly chatting during this time. He did NOT want to be next door to Aubrie with how attached to me she can be. He recognized that this was a family trip, but wanted to have at least SOME alone time with me. I suggested that, though it would put us far away from the lobby and the group, we offer to switch rooms with Kristy. She was pretty happy about this arrangement, and we went to the front desk to make the switch.

It was at this point that Jax started his first meltdown. He was DEVASTATED that we could not go in the pool. Our plans for the night included a 6:30 reservation at Whispering Canyon, and there was just not enough time. After a couple minutes of screaming in the hall, Kristy gave up and took him to take a quick nap. The rest of us decided that treats were in order

View attachment 448859

For me - zebra domes! I have heard mixed reviews on here about these beauties and I am now FIRMLY in the camp of absolutely loving them. They were so delicious.

Ian opted for a classic

View attachment 448860

Rice krispies treat! YUM!

We all sat at a table and took our time having our snack. We sat and chatted about the plans for the night/week and headed back to the rooms after an hour or so. During my explanations, I started to feel a bit of stress build. This group did not seem happy about the transportation route for dinner (bus to MK, boat to WL), but it didn't seem that difficult to me? I felt like all they had to do was follow my lead, so what was the big deal? Well..

When we returned, Jax was ready to go! He was pretty excited about riding the "school bus" and this became a theme over the course of the week. We got to the bus stop and the time for the MK bus said 5:05. GREAT. It was 5 PM. Then it became 5:10.. and 5:15... and 5:35... Jax was losing it. He couldn't understand WHY we were not getting on all of the other buses arriving.

Finally, we got on at 5:45

View attachment 448861

Jax refused to sit with any of his 7 closest family members on the bus with him, so his pregnant mama was stuck holding him

We finally made it to MK and made the mad dash over to the boats

View attachment 448863

Hi Magic Kingdom! I will be seeing you soon!! I really wanted to take a moment to appreciated where we were, but everyone just kept moving.

Time to make it to dinner! Or... not?

To be continued...

Is Jax a young three or a big three? Three is such a huge year in development, especially language.

 

[annienevells]

Is Jax a young three or a big three? Three is such a huge year in development, especially language.

3 this past September. He is a smart kid, he has picked up and learned so much now that he is in daycare. I don't think a lot is done at home, but I am not a parent so I definitely don't make any comments to them as it isn't my place! At my wedding in October he had a huge meltdown and screamed at the top of his lungs for hours, and that was the worst I've seen from him I think.

 

[DryerLintFan]

3 this past September. He is a smart kid, he has picked up and learned so much now that he is in daycare. I don't think a lot is done at home, but I am not a parent so I definitely don't make any comments to them as it isn't my place! At my wedding in October he had a huge meltdown and screamed at the top of his lungs for hours, and that was the worst I've seen from him I think.

He's a young three. My daughter has been in daycare/school since she was 6 weeks old, which has it's pros and cons but communication is an obvious huge pro. She's been pretty articulate since she was almost two, but even with her vocabulary and sentence forming, I just remember three as being a HUGE year for communication advancement.

Congrats on your wedding!! I'm pretty sure I said congrats in a different thread too, but I'm saying it again!

Lack of being able to communicate your problems leads to meltdowns in adults, so we can't really expect much different in kids

 

[Nunu]

January 29th continued..

Just some more room photos while Ian rested his weary soul LOL

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Yay products!

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Loved this! Ian and I sing Lion King songs to each other CONSTANTLY.

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It was pretty quiet on the animal front this time of day, but certainly lots of zebras at least.

View attachment 448684

One thing I do a lot in my travels is I make sure I take photos with me IN them, and not just of scenery or cool things. Why? I want proof I was there! Anyone can Google a cool photo of AKL, but I want to look back some day and say I WAS THERE

View attachment 448685

Look who's up! Sleep Beauty himself!

View attachment 448686

Time to adventure...

I totally get you not saying much about little Jax's behavior, I don't say anything to my youngest sister about my nephews and niece behaving spoiled or bratty at times. Once, my oldest nephew (then a 5yo), was snatching the food out of my hands and then, tried to slap my DH Frank in the face several times! My sister and BIL just stood there watching and said nothing. After the incident, I made the mistake of asking my sister about it and she got very mad at me! From then on, I decided it was best for me to , in order to avoid more family drama!

What a nice room you and Ian got, beautiful view from your balcony, too. Hope the one you exchanged it for, was just as nice. You deserve it!

I've been curious about the zebra domes, yours look yummy and fresh. Gotta try those sometime!

 

[DryerLintFan]

I totally get you not saying much about little Jax's behavior, I don't say anything to my youngest sister about my nephews and niece behaving spoiled or bratty at times. Once, my oldest nephew (then a 5yo), was snatching the food out of my hands and then, tried to slap my DH Frank in the face several times! My sister and BIL just stood there watching and said nothing. After the incident, I made the mistake of asking my sister about it and she got very mad at me! From then on, I decided it was best for me to , in order to avoid more family drama!

What a nice room you and Ian got, beautiful view from your balcony, too. Hope the one you exchanged it for, was just as nice. You deserve it!

I've been curious about the zebra domes, yours look yummy and fresh. Gotta try those sometime!

Wow, yeah, i would have said something too!!

 

[myhappyplace]

Definitely can relate to the stresses of planning trips for bigger family groups, my own as well as my best friend's family group that I went with once. They all wanted my "expertise" at planning, but then ALWAYS questioned what I planned...so annoying. I ended up just teaching them the transportation systems and told them "I'm going to be doing X at Y time...if you want to join fine. If not, you know how to get where you want to go instead".

Finding the pool at AKL was so difficult for me too!! We were only there a night, so I definitely didn't get used to the layout there very well, haha.

Looking forward to more adventures- though I did get to see many through your IG.