If you are interested in the pre-trip report - here is the link: https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...rip-report-and-first-full-family-trip.936955/
Part 1 - Travel
We were up at 3am on Jan 17th to catch a 6:30am flight. DDRey and DDBelle were up pretty quickly, but DSBuzz was pretty much "why are we waking up in the middle of the night?", LOL. I had actually gotten some sleep (went to bed around 11pm), which NEVER happens the night before we leave on a trip. You know, DH packs his little bag and goes to bed at 9pm while I am packing for myself, three littles, every climate possible and every illness/injury that could happen on planet Earth, so... Plus, both DDs have food allergies (epipens, Benadryl, etc.) and DDBelle has asthma so we've got the nebulizer, albuterol, budesonide, prednisone - essentially we are a walking pharmacy, haha!!
Anyway, we all got ready and were out the door and pulling out of the driveway in record time (for us!) - 1 hour and 15 minutes.
We got to the airport and it was cold, as in, subzero temps before the windchill (I think it was -6F and around -25F with the windchill), but we didn't want to lug our heavy winter coats with us, so we just dressed in layers with jackets and wore our hats and gloves. Besides, it was a little chilly in FL that day, so we figured we'd want our hats and gloves that evening anyway.
We dropped off our bags (already checked in online) and went to security. The line was pretty short - we had about a 10 minute wait. While we were in line DS looks out the window and notices the planes all parked at the gates and begins shouting "Mommy! Look! Look! Airplane!" He was so excited. We told him he was going on an airplane, but really, what does a not quite 3 year old know about riding an airplane when they have never been?? He just kept shouting and getting louder. As we were in the security lane, I kept trying to keep him somewhat quiet, but then one of the planes moved. OMG, it was like all his dreams in life came true and he went NUTS! Jumping up and down and screaming and laughing and shouting and pointing. Everyone in the security area became silent as they tried to see what on earth would cause any kid to become so loud and crazy. At least the family next to us thought it was amusing. Other people, not so much
I finally convinced him to talk about something else, and he did quiet down.
After we went through the podium, I told the girls to do exactly as we had practiced - DDRey was to take out one of our baggies of liquids and put them in a bin, along with her Mickey bag. DDBelle was supposed to take out her nebulizer and put it in a bin along with her Mickey bag. DH was supposed to take DS through security and I had the camera bag, snacks and another bag of liquids to separate (plus shoes and my jacket and DS's Mickey bag and my carryon). I have traveled a lot, especially for work, and getting stuck behind a family that has no clue or just isn't prepared was always annoying, so I tried NOT to be that family and had practiced with both DDs before our trip. Of course, everything went out the window and both of them were asking me 5000 questions about WHY do they have to do this and "Can't we just...?" No, no you can't just do whatever it is you want. Just please do what we practiced so we can get out of security. "But, what about..." and "Mom, I want to hold my ticket" and "Can we eat snacks before we get on the plane?"
In a panic as I see everyone behind us standing there waiting as our family took up the entire belt area, I just grabbed a stack of bins, layed them out on the belt and started throwing things into them while pushing each member of my family through the metal detector just to get them the heck out, LOL. Then, when I got through, the kids were arguing on which stuff was theirs and whatever, so I said "Everything is MINE. I paid for it and it's mine. You get whatever I hand you and you will carry it to the benches and we will sort it out there." Which is exactly what I did. Not really sure how I was able to carry 5 bins and 4 bags, but I guess it was the Disney adrenaline or something, LOL.
Once that all got sorted out, we got to our gate and everyone calmed down. DS was content to stare out the window at the plane that was parked there and the girls were interested in some activity books in their Mickey bags. I had to take our tickets to the counter to exchange them for pre-board passes and peanut allergy alerts for the girls. I wasn't really sure how that all worked since we had never flown SW before, but had read online that I would be able to get onboard first and wipe down the seats for the girls and that they would only hand out pretzels instead of peanuts for a snack on the flight. We have flown Delta before and they had a similar policy, but the flight attendants were pretty obnoxious about it and got on the intercom to complain to the rest of the flight that because of us, they couldn't hand out peanuts. It was embarrassing and especially for DDRey, she hates any attention brought to her because of her allergies since it is usually ignorance and/or negativity and she has dealt with it for so many years she just wishes it would go away.
Anyway, when it was time to board, we were let on first and they actually told my DH and DS to go ahead and board with us to make sure we could sit together as a family, which was really nice considering on Delta they would only allow one parent to preboard, which was weird considering we had assigned seats anyway.
We got onboard but they were boarding people right after us, so trying to wipe down seats while people are trying to get in and sit down was a bit of a hassle - and something that happened on every flight. I wish they would give us at least 5-10 minutes so my kids aren't having to move from seat to seat and blocking the aisle while I wipe down everything as people are trying to board, but what can you do?
We got settled in our seats - DDRey was at the window, I was in the middle, DDBelle was in the aisle and then in front of us DS sat by the window with DH in the middle. The plane started to move and DS resumed his excited state and began shouting again. I reminded him we were on a plane and other people don't want to hear him shout. So, he shouted in a whisper instead, which I found really funny, but it was probably not as funny to other people, haha. Then the plane stopped because it had to be de-iced. At which, DS starts shouting out loud "Mommy! Plane is BROKEN! It not going!" I told him it wasn't broken, we just had to wait for them to clean the plane. He was fine with that, but then when the truck drove to our side and started spraying the plane, he thought this was really fun and laughed and laughed. Then the truck moved on to the next section of the plane and he starts shouting "Wait! My truck! My truck is LEAVING!" Thank goodness it only took a few more minutes before we started moving again. Pretty sure most of the people on the plane were relieved when my very excited son finally calmed down.
As we took off, DS was mesmerized by staring out the window, DDRey got out some assigned reading for school and DDBelle got out her math homework. The flight crew offered pretzels, but didn't say anything about peanuts until someone near us asked about them and she just told them "We don't have any for this flight." It was a great relief to not be called out in front of the whole plane or to be treated as an annoyance by the flight crew!
Our flight was pretty short but we were still late. When we got off the plane and got to our next gate it was already about to start boarding. This flight had some computer issues, so we sat at the gate for quite awhile. When we finally got in the air, everyone kind of took turns snoozing, except for DS. He was still staring out the window. No one asked about peanuts, so once again we were relieved that it was a non issue. Our flight was about an hour and a half and then we had a stop (but we didn't need to get off). We had about 20 minutes before the next group of passengers would start boarding, so we had some snacks, cleaned up and then DS started to get really whiny and grumpy. He hadn't slept at all and he normally takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. For a 2 year old to be up at 3am and eight hours later still be awake, he was doing pretty good. We finally convinced him to put his head down and he fell asleep for most of the last leg of the flight. Good thing too, because he woke up later super happy and refreshed! The rest of us also dozed off a bit.
We landed in Orlando about 2pm, about an hour late. We got on the tram at MCO to the main terminal, which was another amazing experience for DS. When we got off, we saw the Disney store and DS went bonkers for the fake Mickey. For a 2 year old to ride in a plane for the first time, take a "train" and then there is a Mickey Mouse bigger than you, well, I think he pretty much thought that WAS Disney World. Seriously, the kid lost it. He ran up to Mickey, kissed him, tickled him, tried to hug him, laughed and well, you'd think he lived in a cave and never got out much. He was just THAT excited. Neither of my girls were ever that excited over anything at that age, so it was a whole new experience for me! Although, they thought it was hilarious that their little brother was so excited over a plastic statue.
Next up - Part 2 - Magical Express and Art of Animation
Part 1 - Travel
We were up at 3am on Jan 17th to catch a 6:30am flight. DDRey and DDBelle were up pretty quickly, but DSBuzz was pretty much "why are we waking up in the middle of the night?", LOL. I had actually gotten some sleep (went to bed around 11pm), which NEVER happens the night before we leave on a trip. You know, DH packs his little bag and goes to bed at 9pm while I am packing for myself, three littles, every climate possible and every illness/injury that could happen on planet Earth, so... Plus, both DDs have food allergies (epipens, Benadryl, etc.) and DDBelle has asthma so we've got the nebulizer, albuterol, budesonide, prednisone - essentially we are a walking pharmacy, haha!!
Anyway, we all got ready and were out the door and pulling out of the driveway in record time (for us!) - 1 hour and 15 minutes.
We got to the airport and it was cold, as in, subzero temps before the windchill (I think it was -6F and around -25F with the windchill), but we didn't want to lug our heavy winter coats with us, so we just dressed in layers with jackets and wore our hats and gloves. Besides, it was a little chilly in FL that day, so we figured we'd want our hats and gloves that evening anyway.
We dropped off our bags (already checked in online) and went to security. The line was pretty short - we had about a 10 minute wait. While we were in line DS looks out the window and notices the planes all parked at the gates and begins shouting "Mommy! Look! Look! Airplane!" He was so excited. We told him he was going on an airplane, but really, what does a not quite 3 year old know about riding an airplane when they have never been?? He just kept shouting and getting louder. As we were in the security lane, I kept trying to keep him somewhat quiet, but then one of the planes moved. OMG, it was like all his dreams in life came true and he went NUTS! Jumping up and down and screaming and laughing and shouting and pointing. Everyone in the security area became silent as they tried to see what on earth would cause any kid to become so loud and crazy. At least the family next to us thought it was amusing. Other people, not so much
I finally convinced him to talk about something else, and he did quiet down. After we went through the podium, I told the girls to do exactly as we had practiced - DDRey was to take out one of our baggies of liquids and put them in a bin, along with her Mickey bag. DDBelle was supposed to take out her nebulizer and put it in a bin along with her Mickey bag. DH was supposed to take DS through security and I had the camera bag, snacks and another bag of liquids to separate (plus shoes and my jacket and DS's Mickey bag and my carryon). I have traveled a lot, especially for work, and getting stuck behind a family that has no clue or just isn't prepared was always annoying, so I tried NOT to be that family and had practiced with both DDs before our trip. Of course, everything went out the window and both of them were asking me 5000 questions about WHY do they have to do this and "Can't we just...?" No, no you can't just do whatever it is you want. Just please do what we practiced so we can get out of security. "But, what about..." and "Mom, I want to hold my ticket" and "Can we eat snacks before we get on the plane?"
In a panic as I see everyone behind us standing there waiting as our family took up the entire belt area, I just grabbed a stack of bins, layed them out on the belt and started throwing things into them while pushing each member of my family through the metal detector just to get them the heck out, LOL. Then, when I got through, the kids were arguing on which stuff was theirs and whatever, so I said "Everything is MINE. I paid for it and it's mine. You get whatever I hand you and you will carry it to the benches and we will sort it out there." Which is exactly what I did. Not really sure how I was able to carry 5 bins and 4 bags, but I guess it was the Disney adrenaline or something, LOL.
Once that all got sorted out, we got to our gate and everyone calmed down. DS was content to stare out the window at the plane that was parked there and the girls were interested in some activity books in their Mickey bags. I had to take our tickets to the counter to exchange them for pre-board passes and peanut allergy alerts for the girls. I wasn't really sure how that all worked since we had never flown SW before, but had read online that I would be able to get onboard first and wipe down the seats for the girls and that they would only hand out pretzels instead of peanuts for a snack on the flight. We have flown Delta before and they had a similar policy, but the flight attendants were pretty obnoxious about it and got on the intercom to complain to the rest of the flight that because of us, they couldn't hand out peanuts. It was embarrassing and especially for DDRey, she hates any attention brought to her because of her allergies since it is usually ignorance and/or negativity and she has dealt with it for so many years she just wishes it would go away.
Anyway, when it was time to board, we were let on first and they actually told my DH and DS to go ahead and board with us to make sure we could sit together as a family, which was really nice considering on Delta they would only allow one parent to preboard, which was weird considering we had assigned seats anyway.
We got onboard but they were boarding people right after us, so trying to wipe down seats while people are trying to get in and sit down was a bit of a hassle - and something that happened on every flight. I wish they would give us at least 5-10 minutes so my kids aren't having to move from seat to seat and blocking the aisle while I wipe down everything as people are trying to board, but what can you do?
We got settled in our seats - DDRey was at the window, I was in the middle, DDBelle was in the aisle and then in front of us DS sat by the window with DH in the middle. The plane started to move and DS resumed his excited state and began shouting again. I reminded him we were on a plane and other people don't want to hear him shout. So, he shouted in a whisper instead, which I found really funny, but it was probably not as funny to other people, haha. Then the plane stopped because it had to be de-iced. At which, DS starts shouting out loud "Mommy! Plane is BROKEN! It not going!" I told him it wasn't broken, we just had to wait for them to clean the plane. He was fine with that, but then when the truck drove to our side and started spraying the plane, he thought this was really fun and laughed and laughed. Then the truck moved on to the next section of the plane and he starts shouting "Wait! My truck! My truck is LEAVING!" Thank goodness it only took a few more minutes before we started moving again. Pretty sure most of the people on the plane were relieved when my very excited son finally calmed down.
As we took off, DS was mesmerized by staring out the window, DDRey got out some assigned reading for school and DDBelle got out her math homework. The flight crew offered pretzels, but didn't say anything about peanuts until someone near us asked about them and she just told them "We don't have any for this flight." It was a great relief to not be called out in front of the whole plane or to be treated as an annoyance by the flight crew!
Our flight was pretty short but we were still late. When we got off the plane and got to our next gate it was already about to start boarding. This flight had some computer issues, so we sat at the gate for quite awhile. When we finally got in the air, everyone kind of took turns snoozing, except for DS. He was still staring out the window. No one asked about peanuts, so once again we were relieved that it was a non issue. Our flight was about an hour and a half and then we had a stop (but we didn't need to get off). We had about 20 minutes before the next group of passengers would start boarding, so we had some snacks, cleaned up and then DS started to get really whiny and grumpy. He hadn't slept at all and he normally takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. For a 2 year old to be up at 3am and eight hours later still be awake, he was doing pretty good. We finally convinced him to put his head down and he fell asleep for most of the last leg of the flight. Good thing too, because he woke up later super happy and refreshed! The rest of us also dozed off a bit.
We landed in Orlando about 2pm, about an hour late. We got on the tram at MCO to the main terminal, which was another amazing experience for DS. When we got off, we saw the Disney store and DS went bonkers for the fake Mickey. For a 2 year old to ride in a plane for the first time, take a "train" and then there is a Mickey Mouse bigger than you, well, I think he pretty much thought that WAS Disney World. Seriously, the kid lost it. He ran up to Mickey, kissed him, tickled him, tried to hug him, laughed and well, you'd think he lived in a cave and never got out much. He was just THAT excited. Neither of my girls were ever that excited over anything at that age, so it was a whole new experience for me! Although, they thought it was hilarious that their little brother was so excited over a plastic statue.
Next up - Part 2 - Magical Express and Art of Animation
