Building the House Down

The Foremans are back from Disney World and we had a BLAST!! And I mean, A BLAST!! I honestly have not had that much fun on a vacation since my honeymoon - yes, we had that much fun! There's no way to get it all in one post so I've decided to go day by day. That is fair warning that we are going to be heavy on Disney around here for a few days!! I'm also going to try to give you tips of things that made our trip so much more enjoyable that it would have been without doing these things along the way.

First of all, if you possibly can, stay in a Disney resort!!! It made the trip so much easier (especially if you have young children). We didn't have to get in our car the entire time we were there. Of course, we DID get in our car b/c my husband has to go to the store every day for something, but we didn't HAVE to get in our car. The bus stop was right outside our room and we just strolled over there and caught the bus to whatever park we were headed to that day. Wonderful! Plus, Jack liked the bus almost as much as riding the rides:) Here are Jack and Piper waiting on the bus:


Secondly, take the time to make cute Disney t-shirts. You can check out some really neat, easy and inexpensive ways to make some really cute tees at Vermillion Rules. I used all of Bethany's great ideas. I'll tell you that I just don't think you should be a child at Disney World without a Disney t-shirt on but that's just my opinion. I made some extras so if one got wet or dirty, we just changed them up. I also got some cute $5 Disney tees at Target before we went and they were so soft and comfortable - great deal! One thing you shouldn't do is make a cute t-shirt like this one below and then leave it at home. I also did that:)


The best thing I did was that I took Tara (Piper's mom) with me to Disney. She's been several times and knew all the ins and outs, but if you don't have a "Tara" available, talk to someone that's been a lot. The more you go, the more you know. We took advantage of magic hours, fast passes, character meals, and lots of other "extras" you can get when you stay at a Disney resort and they made the trip so much better!!

Also, if you're driving, take a stroller!!! We could not have done the trip without a stroller. Jack was able to stroll around everywhere and not get so tired and we didn't have to hold him all day. It cut down on lots of whining and irritation. And you can leave your stroller anywhere. I thought the Disney strollers were a little gross so I think I would take an umbrella stroller even if I were flying, but however you have to do it, GET A STROLLER!!!

Also, take lots of snacks. The food looks good, smells good, and tastes only okay at best. Disney food isn't great and it is REALLY EXPENSIVE!! I would highly recommend a dining plan (which is what we did) but if you don't get a dining plan, you are probably only going to want one meal in the park per day due to costs and taste. But they let you bring food and drink in so it's no big thing - just buy the snacks BEFORE you go!!

Okay, so I'll share more tips as I think of them but those are the biggies. We left town the night before to get lots of the driving out of the way (seven hour trip for us). Jack and Piper both travel really well so the driving down wasn't a concern for us. And as far as the kids, they did do really well on the drive down. I, on the other hand, didn't fare so well. We experienced our first miracle that day. I was sick and by that I mean, every time we stopped on the way down, I was S.I.C.K.!! I literally CRAWLED to the bathroom at our hotel when we finally got there, but I was rebuking that sickness (whatever it was). I was crying about how much $ we had paid for me to be sick on vacation too, but I was rebuking it and I meant business! And I literally woke up the next morning and never got sick again - a Disney miracle!!! :) So, the trip started a little rocky, but it just got better and better!

We did go with our great friends Timmy, Tara and Piper to celebrate Jack (who will be 4 in April) and Piper's (who will be 3 in a few weeks) birthdays. Our first day we headed to Epcot. I recommend this as a starter. It's kind of low key with fun stuff and characters, but it's definiately not the big gun! I think Epcot would have been a let down from the other parks so I'm glad we went there first. I'll just show you some pictures from our first day:

Piper and Stitch

Jack on the Nemo ride at Epcot. He loves aqariums so this was a big hit. We also ate at "The Coral Reef" resturant that night. (It is really hard to get into so definately make reservations ahead of time. But honestly, it wasn't all that - most aquariums resturants are better in my opinion.)

Epcot was having a flower festival while we were there so there were topiaries of all the characters which was neat. Jack and Piper loved finding all the new flower characters throughout the park. Jack would say, "There's Beauty and the Beast made out of grass!"

Jack and Stitch: We got him a Stitch plush toy the next day and b/c of that, Dave didn't get to experience Disney at all! He stayed in the room the entire time and Stitch went everywhere with us instead. It kind of made me sad:(

So, first day done! We were having fun but it was NOTHING compared to what was coming the next two days in Magic Kingdom. I'm telling y'all - my kid just belongs at the happiest place on earth! He LOVED IT!! As we left Disney a few days later to go home, Jack said, "I'm going to build Jack's house DOWN!!! I just wanna stay at Disney World!!" Me too, kid, me too!

More to come....