If you know me, then you might know that we just got back from a vacation in Disney World. Before anyone comes at me about this let me explain a few things. I planned this trip originally for November 2020 and pushed it back to January 2021 as I weighed the decision to continue going. I planned this trip in January 2020, before the pandemic hit and lockdowns etc. I got military tickets and Disney would not refund them so that is $1700 down the tubes. Also, my family is very careful. We don’t go out unless we need something minus a few outdoor trips, the kids don’t come in anywhere with us, we always wear our masks, we sanitize frequently and wash our hands frequently and correctly. On top of that, after weighing pros and cons of going, I felt that Disney World’s precautions made me feel safer than that of anywhere in our local area. And we decided to drive down and back because that seemed like the safer option for us as a family. I really shouldn’t have to explain this to anyone because I put a lot of thought into our decision to still go, but unfortunately I felt I should explain.
Yes, you read that correctly up there. We drove the (what’s supposed to be) 15.5 hours to Disney World, with three kids. This was our first family vacation ever. Last time I went to Disney, Joseph couldn’t come and we only had Mark. We thought that it would be a great idea to just drive through the night to get to Disney because our kids would just sleep and then wake up in Disney with no issues. We thought. Rose slept a lot of the night on the trip down only waking up every time I laid my head down, to scream for a few minutes before going back to sleep for a few hours. Mark slept for a few hours and then was his usual self and woke up at an ungodly time and stayed up for the rest of the trip, but caused no issues. Joey was the most cooperative out of all of them God bless his soul. The only issue we had was that on the way down when we got to the DC area Rose had a blow out and Joey had the closest to a blowout you can get without having one.
We arrived in Disney at a ripe 0930 and luckily got to check into the hotel early as requested, which is really what I was hoping for. We stayed at Art of Animation, which, we stayed at last time and I wanted to share with Joe because I loved it. It’s really such a fun resort for the kids. If you’ve never been, there’s four different sections with different themes. They areas are so accurate it really just transports you into the movies. There are Cars, Finding Nemo, Lion King, and Little Mermaid sections. Cars has this super cool pool area and the characters from the movie scattered throughout the area with very accurate decorations to transform the area. Finding Nemo has the seagulls outside the buildings who you can hear do the “Mine, mine, mine” thing every once in a while. It also has the big pool, water squirts for the kids, a bar, and a playground that’s like playing in the reef. Super cool, we stayed in that area last time. Lion King has the elephant graveyard as a playground, and then Little Mermaid is all the way on the end with a bunch of fun stuff from the movie to look at. It’s a really cool hotel and we decided this time to stay in one of the Cars suites.
The first day went shockingly well with Rose and Mark keeping their mask on the entire time we were at Disney Springs and cooperating pretty much the whole time. Rosie ran around Disney Springs and was just so full of life and excitement and wore herself out. It was great. Honestly the first 4 days were all really good. Obviously there are tantrums every once in a while, because, kids are kids and after being out and about for 6-9 hours it’s pretty exhausting.
For anyone wondering how we got our kids to keep their masks on. They got some really cool masks and got to wear a new one everyday. They got to pick most days which one they would get to wear. We just kept reiterating that they had to keep it on or they couldn’t go on the rides, or the bus, or walk around. We had a little difficulty with Rose keeping hers on as the week progressed because she’s only two. To combat that situation we just kept telling her how important it was. We made her put it on for rides, buses, and all that good stuff, but allowed her a few mask breaks because she just couldn’t handle it anymore. She wore her mask 85-90% of the time which is a lot better than I could have ever expected for a 2 year old to do for a week straight. Mark kept his on except for eating and drinking with little to no issues, which again, is great.
Day 5 and 6 were, to put it nicely, less than great on the tantrum and listening front. A lot more stopping in the middle of the walkway and refusing to move, the days where most of our mask issues happened, our fair share of blowouts, and a peeing our pants issue.
In the last few days Joey had two blowouts, one being while Joe and Mark were in Galaxy’s Edge riding Smuggler’s Run. I was all alone in the bathroom changing this blowout and trying to figure out how to rinse the clothes out without leaving Joey unattended. Thankfully I texted my mom and she came to the rescue and helped. Also thankfully, I pack multiple extra outfits in the diaper bag for emergencies. The good news is that the second I got him settled into his new outfit he pooped again while we were waiting for Muppets 3D. By the time we got out of that show I had a poop to change and Rose had leaked pee through her pants because of her full Pull-Up. In the end, rough in the moment but still a great day at Hollywood Studios.
See the two things that I wanted to do in Disney was eat in Epcot (specifically crepes, I’ve been craving them since I got pregnant with Joey), and mini golf. We tried every night to go to Epcot to get food and every night we failed for some reason. We got distracted or some other reason. Day 6 rolls around and we had tried to go mini golfing which immediately went downhill. Rose wouldn’t let Joe play. Mark likes to play “I win” so he was cheating. By the time we go to the 4th hole I was over it, but then Mark peed his pants on the 5th hole so it ended anyway. We went back to the car to head back to hotel, my dad made a joke and we all had a good laugh and then drove back. My parents went out and I was under no circumstances taking the kids to get crepes this time after our many failed attempts and this being our last chance. My parents came back and watched Mark and Rose (much like his father, Joey goes where the boobs go) while we went to get crepes and try to unwind. We by some miracle made it there and got crepes with 20 minutes to spare before park close. Let me tell you these crepes were well worth the wait. And you know you’ve made it in life when you’re sitting on a park bench in France with the love of your life eating crepes under a street lamp. It was a perfect way to end our trip.
The drive back home was… fun. We made a little detour and went to visit some family while we were around the area. Which was really fun and pulled the whole trip together. Unfortunately, it did add some time onto the drive back making it a whopping 20 hour drive home, with the stops. Little Miss Rosie screamed the entire last 18 hours of the drive because she was so tired but refuses to sleep if she’s not in her bed. Long story short, Rose has a raspy voice currently. She sounds like an old man trying to yell at the kids to get off his lawn. With that said, the drive home was definitely not as smooth as the drive down, but we managed. We made it home in one piece, thankfully, and made it home to a nice clean house. (I highly recommend cleaning your house, catching up on laundry and such, before you go on vacation. Trust me future you will appreciate it.)
I thought at one point that maybe we were crazy to go on vacation with three very small children. And in some moments when we were having rough moments I really really thought we were crazy for doing it. In the end though, it was so incredibly magical seeing our kids faces throughout the trip and the fun they were having. Looking back on it now, it was everything I hoped it would be, and more. Sure we had some of the happiest blowouts on Earth. Sure we had some of the happiest tantrums on Earth. But it all means nothing when you get to see the happiness on your kids faces. That wonder. Getting to see Disney through their eyes truly made it more magical than anything I’ve ever experienced.
Side note: If you’re going, make sure you check out the Baby Care Centers. There is one in every park. They are on the map. They are amazing and so worth it. They have a feeding room (which I surprisingly only used twice and just whipped out a boob willy nilly the rest of the time). They have nice cushioned changing tables in your own private room. They have sinks and a little kitchen area. And if you forgot anything they have diapers, bibs, baby snacks, clothes, formula, you name it there for you to pick up. Seriously, if you’re going, make sure you check it out, it’s such a lifesaver.
We had such a great trip and I hope that if you are questioning taking your small kids you make the jump and go, because it is really such a magical time. And don’t forget to get yourself some ears and a shoulder creature.
Make sure you check out Welcome to all things pretty! – Beauty & The Stitch (beautyandthestitch.com) Rep code: RoseBows will save you!