Disneyworld Vacation 2011 - Part 2

Friday, January 28, 2011

Happy Birthday Joan!!!  It's my mom's friend's birthday today!

We made our way across the Florida State Line and into Disneyworld today!  Oh the excitement of the kids!  We stayed at one of the value resorts - Pop Century!  It was fabulous!  Tip #1: If going for a value resort, stay at Pop Century!  While the other value resorts seem nice and even more fun, Pop has it's own bus system, so it makes it easier to get to and from places and not worry about other buses being filled up. It also has been refurbished more recently than the others. Tip #2: If you're trying to pinch pennies, get one of the standard rooms and then spring for the fridge.  A preferred room isn't always better located, but an in-room fridge is so helpful!  It's one of the small box fridges - not an upright rectangular, but it still has enough space for what you'll need it for.

Yay!  We're here!!!

Unless you have unlimited time and tickets, Tip #3 is to not waste a park ticket for the first day you get there.  Instead, attend one of the character meals. For the little ones, big stuffed characters can be scary!  So, to acclimate Monkey into seeing them a little more, we chose to do Chef Mickey the evening we got there.  So fun!  We took the bus from the hotel to Magic Kingdom and then hopped on the monorail to the Contemporary Resort.  They LOVED the monorail!

Chef Mickey's for Dinner

Monkey not so sure about the big Pluto, but she slowly got into the characters

Sweet Pea loving each new "friend"

Getting into the swing of the characters.  Maybe she just likes the female ones.

Nope! No excitement here!!!  ha ha!

The dinner at Chef Mickey's was really good.  Since I have a gluten allergy (no wheat, rye or barley), one of the chef's came to our table and brought me through my options at the buffet line.  I was pleased that there was quite a bit I could choose from.  They even had chicken without breading on it.  It was a little dry, but delicious!  The mashed potatoes were to die for! Normally, I like chunky potatoes, but with all the butter and cheese and 1000 calories per bite, it was so good!  Other fruit and salad options were good and The Hubster enjoyed some carved meats.

The dessert section looked heavenly, but of course I couldn't have any of it.  All of these bite sized treats of key lime tart, brownies, cheesecakes, cookies.  Oh, yum!!

One gripe is that most places we went, the kids had to choose from the kids menu, which mostly consisted of mac n cheese, pizza, chicken nuggets or something else equally fried and not so good for them.  Don't they know my kids like to eat salads and veggies???

As we were finishing up, we heard the fireworks from "Wishes" at the Magic Kingdom.  We could barely see them, but the kids liked what they could see, all the same!

Disneyworld Vacation 2011 - Part 1 (of many)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

We have been wanting to go on a family vacation, just the 4 of us, for quite some time.  Since we don't live near any family, all of our vacation time has been used to go to one side of the family or the other, both of which take a day of travel to get there and back.  This time, we decided it was time to go to Disneyworld!  The kids were ecstatic!  The Hubster, Sweet Pea & Monkey had no idea really what to expect.  I had some sort of idea since I grew up going to Disneyland, but it was all still new to me!

We booked our tickets in November and were excited to get the Free Dining Plan. Yay for free meals!  Little did we know those meals would be as interesting as they were.  More on that throughout my updates, later!

The kids didn't ask EVERY day when we were going to go, but they knew it was sometime soon.  So, I found some Disney paper on clearance and made a paper chain countdown.  Monkey had the blue Cinderella paper and Sweet Pea had the orange Tigger paper. The Hubster & I had the black Mickey paper.  Such an easy way for them to count down their trip!  They loved it!

Don't mind the ugly curtain on our back door. We think it's been there for 34 years (since the house was built)

We decided that since it was a long drive, we would break it up into two days of travel.  We were set to leave on Thursday after school got out. Pick up the kids and GO!  But, lo and behold the weather kept the kids out of school, so I ran around town with them trying to do final prep.  It all worked out though!!  Even though they were out of school, we still didn't find our way out of the garage until 2:12pm that day since The Hubster had to work in the morning and I just wasn't ready!

So excited!

Doing her arm pumping dance in the car.

Dreaming of warmer weather

And a trip in the car wouldn't be complete (no matter how far), without Monkey taking off her socks.

The love these two have for each other just keeps growing. So glad they are best friends!!

We made our way out and to Macon, GA for a quick night's rest.  Whenever we go to a hotel, the kids LOVE playing on the luggage carts!

Bedtime!!!

Christmas Pictures!!

Have I told you recently how much I love receiving Christmas Cards?  Not just the cards, but a personal message in them?  And really, I love getting Christmas Cards with a picture in it, with the kids and the parents and the dogs and even the dust mites!

I have found a fantastic resource to print such Christmas Card Photos in Shutterfly!  Not only can I print the Cards, but Shutterfly will address, stamp and mail the cards for you!  There are so many beautiful, fun backgrounds that boast the holiday spirit, it is hard to choose just one!

Another thing I love about Shutterfly is the storage capabilities.  I have a problem... I love taking pictures!  I'm always afraid that I will lose my favorite pictures due to a computer crash, but Shutterfly handles the storage for you!

You are not just bound to storage or Christmas Cards.  With Shutterfly, you can share your albums with family and friends, you can make photo calendars for yourself or family members, can make photo gifts like mouse pads, mugs and shirts.

And the best part to all of this?  The low cost! I know that I am getting quality photos made, but at a fraction of the cost somewhere else!  The sign-on promotions are also amazing!  You can receive 50 free 4x6 photos, just for signing up right now.  But why stop there? Why not actually use the site and share those photos with family and friends who don't live near you?

I can't wait to choose my pictures for this year's Christmas Card.  Yes, I may be running a little behind, but knowing that I will have some great pictures coming my way, it's worth it!  I may just choose some Christmas Cards to hold my photos this year!

Oh! And if you want to make sure you are on the list for receiving a fabulous Christmas Photo Card this year, make sure you let me know in the comments and that I have your current address!  Can't wait to show off which one we choose! :)