We headed to Orlando from Panama City on Monday morning (everyone else was staying until Tuesday morning). The ride went pretty well considering it was in the middle of the day and Sophie has gotten car sick before. They slept almost the entire time which was great since we wanted to go to Magic Kingdom that night and make the most of our time there.
We got to the hotel, Sheraton Safari in Lake Buena Vista, around 6:30 and got everything in the room and rushed back out so we could make it to the park in time for the electrical parade. Did I mention that I got an amazing deal on the hotel. I bid $41 a night for a 3 star on Priceline and won the bid for the Sheraton Safari. I think our hotel total was just $194 for 4 nights...we made up for it with the tickets to Disney! I love Priceline and have always gotten really good deals. The Sheraton was alright for what we needed...basically just to shower and sleep. We never even went to the pool area although it looked nice on the website. They had a complimentary shuttle, but with limited pick up times so we opted to pay the $14 a day parking and just drive to the parks on our own time. It was just one exit down from the Disney exit and would take about 10 minutes each morning. We saved money by picking up breakfast at McDonalds on the way and packed snacks and peanut butter sandwiches (and jelly packets from breakfast) for lunch...we know how to do Disney on a budget!
We bought the five day park hopper pass so that we could go Monday night and have the option to go back on Friday before we left (in case there was something we missed). It really wasn't that much more to do the 5 days instead of 3 that we had originally planned...maybe $40 more total. One benefit of taking the trip this summer was that Sophie was still free. Once kids turn 3, they pay almost as much as an adult ticket. I think we will plan to go back in two years just before Sutton turns 3.
It had come a good rain shower when we were getting into Orlando, but we went on to the Magic Kingdom hoping it would pass. We got there just in time to get a great place on the street for the parade. The kids were able to sit in the stroller and had a great view. Sutton made friends with the girl beside him...he is such a flirt:) They both loved the parade. Sophie was so excited as each character came around the corner. She saw Tinkerbell, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Cinderella, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland and many more. This was one of my favorite parades...so good we watched it again on Wednesday night:)
After the parade we rushed to the Back Stage with Mickey and got in line. Sophie got to spend about 5-10 minutes with them and got lots of attention...it was great! She was soooo excited. I don't think we were supposed to take that long, but they let us:)
Sutton was fascinated with their noses and just wanted to bite it! He was loving Mickey and Minnie too.
Chad had planned ahead and got Sophie a cute notebook for autographs. We practiced having her say "Can I have your autograph please?' She really got into it as the trip went on. Now she has a book filled with all her "favorite" characters.
We went from Mickey to the princesses next door where Sophie and Sutton got to meet Sleeping Beauty, Belle and Cinderella. They all signed her book and talked about how beautiful she was. She was loving all the attention. It is funny how the staff at Disney call all the little girls "princess."
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| Belle ended up being her favorite by the end of the trip. |
We decided to make the most of this first night and get as many things in as we could. Poor little Sutton gave up around 11pm, but slept peacefully in the baby bjorn.
Sophie had watched the home videos we have from her trip to Disneyland when she was 11 months old so she knew that she wanted to ride the teacups. She loved it!
We also rode Dumbo, the "carrott sale," Mickey's Philharmonic 3D show, the Winnie the Pooh ride and Chad rode Space Mountain. Sophie did not like Mickey's Philharmonic or as she calls it "that Donald show." First of all it was late, and we let her wear the 3d glasses and it was really loud. She got scared when he started "throwing" instruments at the audience. She made it through, but did not want to do it again...ever!
We closed down the park and left at 1am. The kids were wiped out and so was I:) We got to sleep around 2am and thankfully Sophie did very well sleeping in the queen bed by herself and Sutton slept in the pack-n-play like an angel. Stay tuned for more...
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