Yeah and it Smells Like Hotdogs...A January 2017 TR *Completed 10/27*

[ashw100]

Before we dive into the actual TR, I am going to do a little bit of a PTR. I didn’t actually do a PTR, so it will kind of give some background to this trip. Of course, you can just skip to the actual TR is you prefer, that’s fine too.


So after we got home from our family trip in May 2015 and the difficulties from that trip started to dissipate, I started to plan our next trip. DH and I had pretty much decided we wanted to do an adults only trip, but I could only be convinced to do this if we could also take the boys back within a year. One, to ease my parental guilt and two to save money by getting APs. We decided on May 2016 for our family trip to see SWW and September 2016 for our anniversary trip. Of course then SWW got cancelled and DH’s vacation schedule got blacked out from mid August to Jan 1, 2017. We didn’t want to loose our adult only trip so we took that in May 2016, but when would we be able to get back with the boys?


We finally landed on January because, one we’ve been during this time and enjoyed it and two, it’s my birthday. After reconfiguring the days a bit, we finally decide on Jan 21-28. Our first full park day would be my birthday! No better way to enter the last year of your twenties than at MK, where I can always be a kid. We had originally invited my parents to come, but then decided that we would rather it just be us five. We almost always travel with my parents for the extra help, but I feel like we need to have experiences when it’s just us. So we took a special trip with my mom in September.


About two weeks before we were to leave I got a text from dad asking when we were going to WDW. Apparently, he had a conference on Jan 24th and 25th thought he would fly in early to spend some time with us. Of course when my mom found out, she too wanted to come. I still didn’t want my family trip to get lost, plus trying to reconfigure all our ADRs and FPs at that point was going to be very difficult. My mom being a teacher couldn't really miss a lot of work either, so we decided that they would fly in with us and spend Jan 21 & 22 with us. My mom would leave the next day and my dad would be going to his conference. It actually worked out perfectly because we got to spend time with them, but still got some of our family time too.


We went with 7 day base tickets, but then decided we would upgrade to park hoppers once there, because of the added Arts Festival at Epcot. When they announced it I couldn’t really change our ADRs, but still wanted to experience it, but tickets were purchased so we’ll have to do that once there. They also announced the Pro Bowl events, which we wanted to avoid meaning we had to switch more days. All of this was announced right before our FP day.


We chose AKL, because it has been the boys dream resort for awhile. They had this very convincing Disney Junior commercial on last year that told them about all the benefits of staying there. We rented DVC points, because it was way cheaper.


Our plan for each day was going to be a mix of commando touring mixed with lots of downtime for the boys to enjoy parades, shows, characters and rest time. I wanted to avoid pitfalls we had experienced out last two trips with the boys, and make it so that we could all have fun. Having my parents along for the beginning would be great to help us give us some balance as well.

Plans were made and all we had to do now was go and try to have the best trip possible.

 

[the2ndstar2theright]

Following along! Can't wait to read all about your family's magical trip!

 

[amazingact21]

I completely understand where you are coming from with the parents and family time. My mom always wants to go to Disney with us, and at some point my husband had to insist we get a couple days with just us and the kids. While having extra people at Disney is nice, there's nothing like being there with just your hubby and babies.

Ahh, AKL is amazing. My favorite resort. I can only imagine how excited your boys were to stay there. The resort itself is entertaining that I'm sure they loved it. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[ariane37]

Yay for adults-only trips!! DH and I will be taking our 4th and 5th kid-free trips in March and May Whenever we come home from one of them I'm ready to go back with the boys, but when we're there, I'm VERY happy

No better way to enter the last year of your twenties than at MK, where I can always be a kid.

I can barely remember my last year of being in my 20' lol, but I can still manage to act like a kid all over Disney

We chose AKL, because it has been the boys dream resort for awhile. They had this very convincing Disney Junior commercial on last year that told them about all the benefits of staying there. We rented DVC points, because it was way cheaper.

What a smart idea, selling to kids on Disney Junior Love it! I hope they had a blast. It's my 2nd favorite resort so far (right behind WL) and I honestly don't see any of the ones we have left pulling in front of either of them. And I'm with you on renting points, it makes staying deluxe much easier to swallow!

 

[afwdwfan]

Our first full park day would be my birthday! No better way to enter the last year of your twenties than at MK, where I can always be a kid.

Sounds perfect!

About two weeks before we were to leave I got a text from dad asking when we were going to WDW. Apparently, he had a conference on Jan 24th and 25th thought he would fly in early to spend some time with us. Of course when my mom found out, she too wanted to come. I still didn’t want my family trip to get lost, plus trying to reconfigure all our ADRs and FPs at that point was going to be very difficult. My mom being a teacher couldn't really miss a lot of work either, so we decided that they would fly in with us and spend Jan 21 & 22 with us. My mom would leave the next day and my dad would be going to his conference. It actually worked out perfectly because we got to spend time with them, but still got some of our family time too.

I'm glad that it worked out. I know it is nice to have some help and see your parents, and this seems like a perfect blend of getting some time in with them and still having time for just your family.

All of this was announced right before our FP day.

I love how far ahead Disney announces things.

Plans were made and all we had to do now was go and try to have the best trip possible.

Looks good!

 

[ashw100]

Following along! Can't wait to read all about your family's magical trip!

I completely understand where you are coming from with the parents and family time. My mom always wants to go to Disney with us, and at some point my husband had to insist we get a couple days with just us and the kids. While having extra people at Disney is nice, there's nothing like being there with just your hubby and babies.

Ahh, AKL is amazing. My favorite resort. I can only imagine how excited your boys were to stay there. The resort itself is entertaining that I'm sure they loved it. Can't wait to hear more!

It really is so hard, we love having them there, but then the boys only care about spending time with my parents, and I really want to bond with my kids while we're away too. This worked out perfectly. We loved AKL, so much, the boys reactions were great.

Yay for adults-only trips!! DH and I will be taking our 4th and 5th kid-free trips in March and May Whenever we come home from one of them I'm ready to go back with the boys, but when we're there, I'm VERY happy

I loved our adult only trip, we're already trying to figure out when we can go back alone

I can barely remember my last year of being in my 20' lol, but I can still manage to act like a kid all over Disney

Age doesn't exist at Disney

What a smart idea, selling to kids on Disney Junior Love it! I hope they had a blast. It's my 2nd favorite resort so far (right behind WL) and I honestly don't see any of the ones we have left pulling in front of either of them. And I'm with you on renting points, it makes staying deluxe much easier to swallow!

It's so annoying, now my kids want to go on a Disney Cruise . We loved AKL, my second favorite so far behind Poly. My husband would never agree to stay deluxe unless it was on points.

Sounds perfect!

It was great.

I'm glad that it worked out. I know it is nice to have some help and see your parents, and this seems like a perfect blend of getting some time in with them and still having time for just your family.

It ended up being the perfect balance.

I love how far ahead Disney announces things.

Tell me about it

 

[ashw100]

Day 0: Why are you so obsessed with me?

As with most of my trip reports, this one too starts the day before we get to Florida. I woke up at 4, I think the excitement had caused me to get very little sleep over the course of that week. Finally at five, I quit in my attempt to go back to sleep and got up for the day. Shortly after DS2 joined me.

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This little guy didn’t leave my side all day, a trend you will see all trip, which prompted me to send this picture to my husband at some point.

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I finished up our packing and getting everything stealthy stored in the van, we were surprising the boys after all. At 11, I picked up DS4 and set to my last minute cleaning of the house. By the time 3:00 rolled around I was exhausted, but will with nervous excitement for the trip. Once DS6 was home I told him to change out of his uniform, because we would be going to Grand Rapids that evening. We live about an hour north of Grand Rapids and go there about once a month, so this wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for us. We were impatiently waiting for Joe to get home and as I was perusing Facebook I see that our local paper has put our a warning that there is a armed and dangerous man. He had stabbed someone at Walmart and the police are currently looking for him. DH’s store is very close to Walmart and I had not heard from him and he was running late. I texted him to see where he was and it turns out that crazy stabby guy had been into his store and the store next to his and the police were there questioning Joe. Thankfully the man had been caught and Joe got home only a half hour later than planned. We live in a very quiet, safe city in the middle of nowhere so this sort of thing is pretty unusual and frightening, luckily it all turned out alright.


By 3:45 we were on out way. In the car we told the boys that we were going to get some dinner, and then stay the night in a hotel before we did something fun the next day. We told them that they would get to vote among different activates in Grand Rapids. They were excited.

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Shortly after though this was what we saw.

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Oh well, so much for trying to keep them awake so we could get to bed early. On the way down I realized that I forgot to pack my lightweight stroller that we use in the airport. Knowing that we couldn’t handle all three boys, 4 suitcases, 4 carry-ons, and a car seat without having DS2 in a stroller we made the decision to buy a cheap stroller down in Grand Rapids. Our first stop was at Chipotle which took forever. Next we went to Target where I purchased a $25 Mickey umbrella stroller. And finally a stop at Starbucks for some much needed caffeine and McDonald's for the boys who were now awake.

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When all was said and done we didn’t get to the hotel until 6, 2 ½ after we left our house. We were staying at the Holiday Inn Grand Rapids with a stay and park package, meaning we could leave our car there for the week and take a shuttle to the airport in the morning. Considering we would have to pay around $60 for parking another 60 for easy access to the airport and breakfast didn’t seem too bad. It was your standard hotel, but nice and comfy for the night.

After the boys finished their dinner, I took DS6 and 4 to the pool for a little while. Unfortunately, the pool was soon inundated with 15 unsupervised and rowdy teenage girls, so we didn’t get to spend as much time as I would have liked. We got the boys tucked in and they watched 102 Dalmatians on HBO before going to bed. Joe had homework to finish, but I tried to get DS2 down. DH posted this on Facebook

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By 10:30 we were all trying to go to sleep. At around 11:15 I was woken up by a sound and went to investigate in the bathroom and in it I find DS2 has not fallen asleep like the rest of us. Instead he was trying to see how much toilet paper he can stuff down the toilet. Now this is pretty typical behavior from him, as he is the most mischievous child I have ever encountered and par for the course for him. Of course I reprimanded him, got him cleaned up, and finally to sleep but by midnight I still couldn’t get back to sleep and now had to use the bathroom. Of course the toilet was stopped up, so I did what any good wife does and woke DH up to get a plunger and fix it so I could go to the bathroom. It was one of those situations where as annoyed and angry as you want to be about it, we could do nothing but laugh and find the absurd humor in it. Finally we were all back to sleep by 1 with visions of Disney dancing in our heads.

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[ariane37]

I love it! I want to say at least it wasn't your toilet except, it kinda was......reminds me of the time I came around the corner and saw DS2 at the time dipping a paper cup into the toilet and putting it to his lips Didn't need a toilet lock with older DS but we got'em for our youngest!
Oh and thanks for drinking Starbucks, DH is a district manager with them so I see it as you helping put our boys through college
Also love the FB picture of the shoes lined up

 

[amazingact21]

That was an eventful start to your Disney trip! I love that photo of all three kids asleep in the car. You could definitely tell they are brothers, with their heads all tilted to the same side. Adorable...

 

[mekay1012]

Following along. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Jenny Sanders]

Oh and thanks for drinking Starbucks, DH is a district manager with them so I see it as you helping put our boys through college
Also love the FB picture of the shoes lined up

No way Ariane!!!!!! Starbucks is my families ABSOLUTE FAVORITE place for a hot/cold beverage EVER!!!!! I alone am paying for college for your kids and your mortgage!!!

 

[the2ndstar2theright]

I love the picture of all your shoes! Such an...interesting start to your trip!

 

[ariane37]

No way Ariane!!!!!! Starbucks is my families ABSOLUTE FAVORITE place for a hot/cold beverage EVER!!!!! I alone am paying for college for your kids and your mortgage!!!

LOL!! Well on behalf of all of us I say,

 

[missangelalexis]

What a crazy start to your trip!

 

[afwdwfan]

This little guy didn’t leave my side all day, a trend you will see all trip, which prompted me to send this picture to my husband at some point.

I'm sorry. I know that can be frustrating for you. We're going through the same thing with our newest addition. Of course with all his issues and having to have mommy with him pretty much 24/7 (still can't do a bottle) he's formed a little bit of a bond. I can be playing with him. He'll be laughing and happy. Then DW can be talking to one of the other kids in another room. He'll hear her, look around and realize she's not in the room with us... game over. Let the screaming begin.

We were impatiently waiting for Joe to get home and as I was perusing Facebook I see that our local paper has put our a warning that there is a armed and dangerous man. He had stabbed someone at Walmart and the police are currently looking for him. DH’s store is very close to Walmart and I had not heard from him and he was running late. I texted him to see where he was and it turns out that crazy stabby guy had been into his store and the store next to his and the police were there questioning Joe. Thankfully the man had been caught and Joe got home only a half hour later than planned. We live in a very quiet, safe city in the middle of nowhere so this sort of thing is pretty unusual and frightening, luckily it all turned out alright.

Oh wow! That's definitely not the excitement you want to have, especially when you're getting ready to leave for vacation. I'm glad everything at least turned out ok.

Unfortunately, the pool was soon inundated with 15 unsupervised and rowdy teenage girls

Awesome.

DH posted this on Facebook

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You think somebody was just a little bit excited?

By 10:30 we were all trying to go to sleep. At around 11:15 I was woken up by a sound and went to investigate in the bathroom and in it I find DS2 has not fallen asleep like the rest of us. Instead he was trying to see how much toilet paper he can stuff down the toilet.

Ok... I'm sorry for the frustration caused by this, but it literally made me laugh out loud. I can just imagine the 2 year old thought process. Everybody is asleep... what can I do? Climb on mom? Unpack all the luggage? Oh, I know! I'll flush all the TP down the toilet. It may be cliché, but it is a classic.

 

[ngm]

Following!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I'm sorry, I had to laugh too. Kids! I hope the flight is uneventful.

 

[ashw100]

I love it! I want to say at least it wasn't your toilet except, it kinda was......reminds me of the time I came around the corner and saw DS2 at the time dipping a paper cup into the toilet and putting it to his lips Didn't need a toilet lock with older DS but we got'em for our youngest!

Oh yes, DS2 has been caught playing the toilet one too many times, maybe I should get a lock

That was an eventful start to your Disney trip! I love that photo of all three kids asleep in the car. You could definitely tell they are brothers, with their heads all tilted to the same side. Adorable...

So funny, I didn't even realize

Following along. Can't wait to read more.

I love the picture of all your shoes! Such an...interesting start to your trip!

The shoes thing is a tradition DH started our last family trip, he's so cute . We like to keep things interesting

 

[ashw100]

What a crazy start to your trip!

My family knows no other way to start a trip

I'm sorry. I know that can be frustrating for you. We're going through the same thing with our newest addition. Of course with all his issues and having to have mommy with him pretty much 24/7 (still can't do a bottle) he's formed a little bit of a bond. I can be playing with him. He'll be laughing and happy. Then DW can be talking to one of the other kids in another room. He'll hear her, look around and realize she's not in the room with us... game over. Let the screaming begin.

Aww, poor guy needs mama. DS2 basically spends most of his day following me around, so I'm pretty used to it by now. I got very hard during the trip though.

Oh wow! That's definitely not the excitement you want to have, especially when you're getting ready to leave for vacation. I'm glad everything at least turned out ok.

No I would have preferred my trip to start sans psycho stabbers

Awesome.

Yeah once they started bringing out the gopros we practically ran out of there.

You think somebody was just a little bit excited?

DH is too cool to be excited

Ok... I'm sorry for the frustration caused by this, but it literally made me laugh out loud. I can just imagine the 2 year old thought process. Everybody is asleep... what can I do? Climb on mom? Unpack all the luggage? Oh, I know! I'll flush all the TP down the toilet. It may be cliché, but it is a classic.

To get inside a two year old's head is a scary thing.

Following!

I'm sorry, I had to laugh too. Kids! I hope the flight is uneventful.

It's okay even DH and I laughed, sometimes it's the only thing you can do keep sane with a two year old.

 

[ashw100]

Day 1: Let's go to Chuck-E-Cheese

Normally the sound of the alarm would cause annoyance on such little sleep, but not today. Today is DISNEY DAY! I quietly got up and ready for the day and then woke up Joe so we could get the boys fed. The hotel offered free continental breakfast, so we set off in search of some sustenance before the big surprise.

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I could barely eat, which is usually the case before any trip, it’s so stressful traveling with kids. But the boys all ate and were ready to find out what we were going to be doing that day. We sat them down on the bed and I secretly set up my phone to record. We gave them a choice of going to Catch Air (a indoor play area), Chuck E Cheese, or drum roll...Disney World. DS4 shouts Chuck E Cheese, while the other two say Disney, only to have the other two also switch to Chuck E Cheese.


Seriously??? Well too bad we’re going to Disney anyway. Once they had the idea sink in a little bit and .I showed them their new shirts, the two youngest were on board. Unfortunately, DS6 still had his heart set on going to Chuck E Cheese and was quite upset. So much for trying to surprise them. It didn’t take too long for him to adjust though.

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After we got all our stuff ready to go, we hunkered down in the lobby waiting for the airport shuttle to pick us up. DS2 was immediately not being very good and I was worried how he would act for the duration of the trip. Being in the midst of his terrible twos, it’s definitely something we expected to deal with on the trip, maybe not so early on though. In the hustle of trying to get everything on the shuttle in an orderly and timely fashion, Joe forgot the stupid stroller that we bought the night before in the lobby.


By the time we realized this we were at the airport and just decided to make due with what we had. Luckily it was just a short trip across the street and over to the Southwest counter before we could dump all our bags. Once through that process, we quickly realized that Nicholas was not going to hold hands and walk nicely with us (something that continued for the entire trip) and we were forced to carry him, screaming through the airport. He’s right at that age were he wants to be independent, but can’t and then gets frustrated and upset. We have TSA precheck, so despite the screaming two year old, secuirty was a breeze and we found our gate and set up camp. Joe took Nicholas for a walk to burn off some energy in a deserted part of the airport and he came back like this.

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Seriously, this kid can switch it on and off like nobody’s business.


I chatted with a nice family who also goes to WDW a lot and we talked about our upcoming trips. In no time we were boarding and thanks to purchasing the early bird, we were the first people on the plane after special assistance people and in the third row.


The flight was a smooth one thanks to all the portable electronic devices. Snacks help too.

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Soon I was seeing this.

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And this.

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And yes I was jamming out to the Moana soundtrack, which I am obsessed with. Soon we were landing in Orlando right on time, with only minor fussiness from DS2 right at the end. I texted my mom to see where she was and decided to meet up at the baggage claim. We hopped on the fauxnorail, the boys excited to find out what the second part of the surprise was.

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As soon as we were through security my mom pops up out of no where and completely stuns them. I wish I could have captured their reactions, so cute. With hugs to go all around, the seven of us made our way to baggage claim to collect our luggage. My parents got in much earlier than us and had already been to their hotel and dropped off their things. These boys are happy to see their grandparents.

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And happier still to have their magic bands.

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We got free custom covers from renting points from David’s DVC, I was the only one who went rogue and didn’t get a Star Wars one.

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Interestingly enough, we did not receive the new magic bands 2.0, which honestly I was grateful for as I am not a fan of the big Mickey head. But the day after we had received ours Twitter was exploding with people getting the new ones, so we literally just made the cut off. Joe got all our bags and I was annoyed to see how damaged one of them had gotten.

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This is a hardside case, they must have been handling the bags terribly for this to happen. Once we had our bags, my parents helped us over to our rental van, we picked a red Chrysler Town and Country, and then we parted ways. They were going to find somewhere to each for lunch, while we were heading to Publix for a grocery run and then we would meet at our hotel. Joe picked up water, soda, milk and a special birthday surprise of cake and wine.

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While I was waiting in the van with the boys I got a text about our room.

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It was almost exactly the room I requested in my fax and I was very excited.


After Publix we were finally on our way into the Disney bubble.

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We had never even been to AKL before and I was beyond excited to check it out.

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We dropped our bags with bell services and then parked our van.

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I fell instantly in love with the hotel. Pictures definitely don’t do this place justice. Thanks to online check in we were able to just go straight to our room. I managed to grab a few pictures before the boys tore the place apart.

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We saw our first giraffe walk by almost immediately after arriving and the boys totally freaked out.

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Suffice it to say, I think they were very happy with our choice of hotel this trip. I unpacked a little while we waited for my mom and dad to get there.

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