So, yesterday afternoon John, Mallory and I returned from our very wet trip to the Happiest Place on Earth, Disney World!! Our dear friends that we met while living in Valdosta Georgia, invited us to tag along on their fun adventure to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Beware: this may end up as a very long post!!!
At first, I admit, I was a little hesitant since Mallory is not even 2 yet and I knew she would not remember this trip at all. However, just getting to see our friends Pam and Jeff Sweatt and their 3 year old Anna, made all my hesitations go away! To my surprise both girls were great!! They didn't even fuss about all the rain!!
Our first stop was in Tallahassee, where we spent the night with some dear friends. I wish we could have had more time to see others, but it was great to see a few of our friends again. I was super grateful to be able to break the 11 hour drive up into 2 days instead of 1!! As you can imagine how 11 hours in a car with a 1 year old would be.
On Friday morning we got up and headed to Orlando to meet the Sweatt's at our condo. This whole time, I am trying not to worry about the weather even though the forecast shows 60% to 100% rain the entire time we are going to be there. And not to my surprise, as soon as we hit Orlando the storms start, but hey a rainy day can be fun as long as Mickey and Minnie Mouse are there right??
The first afternoon, we headed to magic Kingdom and it had stopped raining!! Mallory loved riding a horse on the carousal, the mad hatter tea cup, and Dumbo. She even cried when we had to get off the horse!! I was finally not worrying about the rain forecast at all now. Just seeing all the smiles on Anna and Mallory's face was priceless!! Since it was getting close to dinner time and it looked like it was about to rain we decided to head back to the car. Well right when we got off the boat ... the bottom decides to fall out... so let just say we were soaked by the time we got to the car. Surprisingly, that was thankfully the wettest we got the whole trip.
It ended up raining the next 2 days, but we were prepared with tons of rain ponchos!! The first morning there, we had reservations to eat breakfast with Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. I wasn't sure how Mallory would react to these large characters!! Not to my surprise, she was ok with them at a distance, but didn't want them near her!! Anna on the other hand loved them and it was precious to see her smile with excitement!! Even after the expensive tab we had, I would do it again!! It was well worth it and the food was really good!!
We spent the rest of the day at magic kingdom and got to see all the princesses. Mallory was not nearly as scared of them as she was the larger characters.
I am still impressed how well both girls did, considering how much it rained. I mean they didn't even complain!! All of us adults probably complained more than the kids did!! Mallory even napped in her stroller some each day!!
The last day we went to Animal Kingdom, which by the way I would not recommend for younger kids. It was fun, there is just not a lot of stuff for pre-schoolers. That morning, we decided go see mickey and Minnie again... and to my surprise this time Mallory actually walked right up to Mickey and gave him a hug!!! I was so excited and in such shock!! It was so cute to finally see her excited about seeing Mickey!!
I am looking forward to many more trips in the future!! It's almost like you become a kid again when you are there!!
Here are my tips if you take a child to Disney that's under the age of 4.
1. Bring your stroller, pushing them around is much easier than making them walk and much faster!!
2. Bring lots of snacks, juice, and bottled water, the drinks and snacks in the park are expensive. They will allow you to bring a soft cooler in the park and you can store it in the bottom of your stroller!
3. Purchase a autograph book before you go to the park for the characters to sign. Also, have a large pen handy. They sale these at Target in Orlando and they are inexpensive. The kids will love getting each character to sign it!!
4. We always went to see the characters first, as the lines seemed to be shorter first thing in the morning. Have your camera and autograph book ready!!
5. If your camera takes batteries, make sure you have plenty extra. I took so many pictures, that I had to change the batteries more than normal.
6. Before you even leave for Disney, buy a bunch of throw away ponchos in case it rains!! You will want them the minute it rains and they cost less than a $1.00 at Walmart and Target. The local Orlando Target also had some, since we had to replenish our stock from all the rain!! Note: the ponchos at Disney cost $8.00 for just 1!!!
7. If it rains, use extra ponchos to cover stroller. We taped a poncho over the stroller and it helped keep Mallory even dryer!!
8. If you set a budget for your trip and are terrible at spending over it, then get it all in cash. Once your cash is getting low you know how much is left. Note: it's very easy to spend money at Disney even if you are a conservative spender!!
9. Share a lunch with your child. I never bought Mallory her own meal in the park. I just ordered something she could eat and we shared. We also, drank our bottled water instead of paying extra for a drink.
10. Take a backpack or small bag to put your important stuff in it. You don't want to leave your valuables in the stroller while you are riding a ride or watching a show.
11. Before you buy all the cute souvenirs in the Disney park, check out the local walmart and target first. Their stuffed animals were just as cute and a little bit cheaper. I will tell you they do not have near the amount of stuff, but its worth a look!
12. Favorite rides at magic Kingdom our girls loved: Dumbo, Mad Hatter Tea Cup, Winnie the Pooh, It's a small world, and Buzz light year.
13. Favorite rides at Hollywood studios: Toy Story 4d ride(interactive and lots of fun!!)
14. Shows we loved: Little Mermaid(Ursala can be kinda scary), Muppet 3d show, and Disney's Junior Live on Stage.
15. Taking a child that is 2 and under has it's advantages. Everything is free from entrance to the parks to the character breakfasts!!
16. Don't be scared of the rain!! John and I actually think the rain was almost more pleasant than sweating and gobs of sunscreen!! Just through a poncho on and grab your umbrella and have fun!! Made a whole new meaning of Singing in the rain!!
17. Pack band aids just in case you need them or get a blister!!
18. Don't get worked up about the lines for rides. Look at it like you get out of the sun or rain for a while. We also noticed that most of the wait estimates were over estimated which made for a shorter wait!!
19. If it's close to someones birthday with you then ask for a birthday button and every employee in the park will tell them happy birthday all day!! Jeff got John one since his birthday was the week we got there and the first day to my surprise he actually wore it!! Ha ha... and every where we went we heard "Happy Birthday John".. It was pretty funny!!
20. Most importantly have fun!!! Disney will be what you make it regardless of the weather!!
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