When a First timer Falls in Love…with Disney ✨Updated 2/24

[PAsFab5]

Hello to my Disfriends, new and old!!!

I hope you will join me as I relive our October/November 2024 Disney trip!

This trip was a first trip for some in our group (did the title give it away?), running a 5K for some of us and celebrating Halloween!!

Oh and the most fun part, I forgot to mention, is that this was a girls trip!! I thought going into this it would be the first and the last, but much to my surprise (and delight!!) the Disney newbies got bit by the bug!

Let me do a quick introduction of our cast of characters!

I am D- wife, mom, grandma, aunt, sister and I am certain some other things I am leaving out! I spend my time volunteering with our church and dog rescue as well as spending as much time as I can with our family, which is constantly growing! Oh and I work full time…whomp whomp. But I have to fund this Disney addiction!!! I visited Disney a lot as a young (and only) child but I was then joined by 3 siblings and those trips stopped quickly lol. We took our first family trip 10 years ago and we got bit by the Disney bug!

Joining me on almost all my Disney trips is my DD, A!! She’s amazing doing homeschool, working full time, spending time with her family and now learning how to drive!! She became a Disney girl during the first trip 10 years ago and holds the magic in her heart

Here she is during our first Disney trip…



Joining us on this trip is my little sister, L! I could not ask for a better sister and we have become closer since she has become a mom. We *think* this was her first trip to Disney…I swear I saw a picture of all of us at AK when we were younger…but I can’t find the picture and my parents can’t remember!

The final member of our girls trip is my niece, L2! She is 2 years old and I am beyond blessed to be so close to her! Lots and lots of happy tears were shed this trip seeing the Disney Magic through her eyes! She loved every part of our trip and now giggles and sequels at the opening on every Disney movie-I went to that castle and saw those fireworks!!!!!!! Lots of Disney trips in her future!

Group photo of the Girls on the Girls Trip…oh and Piglet!


If you’re still with me-Hooray I have not rambled on too long!! We pack a lot into 4 days so hold on tight!!!

 

[disneyAndi14]

I’m excited to follow along! I love traveling with my daughter and my sister. Great picture of you all with Piglet!

 

[PAsFab5]

Travel Day!!

Let’s start this travel day the day before…also known as the most chaotic day ever, always without fail.

I spent all day wondering why I didn’t take the day off work, but I survived. I started early so I could take an extended lunch break and run our youngest dog to the kennel. Photo of my baby, cause she’s a precious angel:

DH works long hours and our older dogs are fine but her…not so sure. Even though she’s no longer a puppy…she’s a puppy…

My sister started texting me at some point telling me she could not get her and L2’s stuff packed in her carryon and she needed to check a bag. We were flying spirit and I had bought our bags like 6 months ago when I got the tickets and I could not figure out how to change what I purchased so I told her don’t even worry about it, just go to the counter when we get there and hope you can check instead of carry on….

DD finished up packing that night after work and I got both our hanging packing cubes stuffed into our carry on and I was feeling good!

I told my sister to text me when she got up so I knew she was up, set no less than 12 alarms and I was off to bed for a 5am wake up!

I slept well and was ready for that 5am alarm! No snoozing on Disney days!!!

My sister had already texted that she was up and I woke DD and we were ready to roll!

L and L2 rolled up at 6am and they loaded their luggage into my car and off we went!

L told me she had been up all night with nerves and even had worked out before coming to my house I told her we would take a nap later for sure!!

GPS routed us off of the highway and into downtown Baltimore…I hesitated to follow it but did it anyways.

MISTAKE!!!

We sat and sat in traffic…to the point where I said to my sister-I am getting worried about missing our flight. I’m not normally worried or anxious about traveling but this traffic had me sweating it.

We made it, parked in the parking garage (we had no time for the tram from long term parking) and booked it to the spirit counter. Luckily my sister was able to change her bag no problem.

I have TSA precheck and because I booked the tickets both the girls were precheck.

The scanning belt stopped after we got through the metal detector and multiple employees were called over to look at the scanner screen.

A lead, then a supervisor then a 2nd level supervisor…what in the world was in someone’s bag?!? By this point an audience had grown and everyone was wondering out loud-what is this item being examined so closely.

The answer was not the one I wanted…

It was MY DOOR ALARM. They pulled me out of the crowd and asked if I wanted to be put in a private room. I said no…and he explained what they saw on the scan. I said-oh my that’s my door alarm! He said-oh I am sure your ALWAYS pulled out of line for that! I said…no, never. He was shocked and said it had “all the components of an explosive on the screen and if I was not pulled over for that before people were NOT doing their jobs!”

Embarrassing.

Ok so through security, finally and my sister was not through regular security yet, probably because every TSA agent was looking at my bag…

Here’s L2 and I after recovering from my humiliation



my sister ran through the Starbucks line and I went through dunkin and we met at the gate and had enough time to exchange breakfast foods quickly and then it was time to board!

L2 flew once as a infant but has no recollection of it so I was not sure how this would go…



Ready for takeoff!!

I gave L2 approximately 2,612 stickers and a sticker book and that kept her busy for half the flight. She then came over to my seat and I got out kenetic sand and we built with that until landing! She did amazing!!

We landed in Orlando after a smooth and uneventful flight!!

Stay tuned for our resort and first park!!!

 

[PAsFab5]

I’m excited to follow along! I love traveling with my daughter and my sister. Great picture of you all with Piglet!

Your trip reports got me so excited for our girls trip!!!! Thanks for joining!!

 

[eliseisawkward]

Following along! Excited to see how it goes!


(I know this is unsolicited advice, but since I travel with a little I feel obligated to share that the seatbelts on an airplane don’t fit children properly until they are at least 40 lbs. For my 3yo we got a super lightweight travel car seat for flying.)

 

[cassidy57]

Looking forward to following along. Can't wait for the next installment of the trip report!!!

 

[Nicnicnic.nic]

Following along!

 

[PAsFab5]

Following along! Excited to see how it goes!


(I know this is unsolicited advice, but since I travel with a little I feel obligated to share that the seatbelts on an airplane don’t fit children properly until they are at least 40 lbs. For my 3yo we got a super lightweight travel car seat for flying.)

Thanks for joining in!! I will mention to my sister about the car seat!

 

[PAsFab5]

Looking forward to following along. Can't wait for the next installment of the trip report!

Thanks for following along!!

 

[PAsFab5]

Following along!

Happy to have you!!

 

[PAsFab5]

The moment we realize nobody can operate the stroller….


Continuing the travel day, we had a smooth landing but spent some time (not a long time by any means) but maybe 20-25 minutes waiting on the plane for our gate to be ready.

As soon as I turned my phone off of airplane mode I had texts from the car company I had booked.

This was the start of one of the most bizarre experiences I have ever had, when it comes to traveling.

The texts started normal-hello my name is-here is where I will be, ect…I told him we just landed but we’re sitting on the plane, waiting for our gate. He said no problem.

Oh but it was, most definitely, a problem.

3 minutes later he texted me asking if we were off the plane. I said no, I will text him when we are.

These texts continued, every 2-4 minutes, and then he started calling me.

He said-I’m in a HURRY I have another CUSTOMER. I said, I’m sorry I’m on an airplane? He’s like WELL IM WAITING FOR YOU!!

No kidding, I’m waiting to get off the plane!

So we get off the plane, he’s calling me again. I stopped answering. I had literally no hands to answer the phone even if I wanted to. I figured if he left I would call another company.

Once we got to baggage claim, he was still calling me, so now that I had a free hand I answered.

He was frantic. Where ARE YOU?!! Don’t you SEE ME?! I am at the escalator!!! HOW DID YOU MISS ME?

I explained calmly we took the elevator because we have a stroller and I am at baggage claim and provided him the number and said I would meet him there.

He came and as you can imagine, he was a mess. He was rushing us and complaining that we were making him late for his next pickup and he doesn’t even work for this company, he was doing a favor for the owner because he overbooked today.

I didn’t even answer him. I opened the back door of the car and L2s car seat was installed completely incorrectly and I about lost it. We are paying for a car service for the car seat and for safety…anyways I took a deep breath, unbuckled the car seat, reinstalled it and at that point I could hear my sister and the driver going back and forth, then my daughter getting involved so once I got L2 strapped in I went to the back and found all 3 of them trying to fold the stroller, without success.

I kicked it a few times with my foot and pressed on it and it folded. We all just looked at one another and got in the car.

Then L2 said “Who’s car even is this?!”

We laughed so hard and all struggles were forgotten.

The ride was fine, the driver calmed down.

We pulled up to Art of Animation, tipped him and hoped to never see him again.

He didn’t even work for the company so we certainly would not get him on the return trip to the airport…right?!?

*Side note-if you have used a transportation company, with car seats, that you liked please let me know!*

*Second side note-I won’t put the name of the company we used here in my report, but if your booking a car service for the first time and want to know who we used, send me a PM*

With all that drama out of the way…

We were absolutely in awe of Art of Animation when we arrived. I picked this resort for the over the top theming and the suites, since we needed 2 bathrooms. I thought it would be extra magical for my nieces first trip!

We got our room ready text while in the lobby and were whisked off to the Cars area by bell services immediately.

Wonderful customer service and the resort grounds were absolutely amazing!! We were very impressed with the grounds and pools. The room was showing some wear and at the end of the trip we decided 2 connecting rooms at a value will suit us better in the future, but I am still glad we tried out AoA!!

After tipping bell services (don’t forget your cash friends!!!) we realized we were all starving so I placed our first mobile order of the trip.

While waiting for our arrival window we realized that our beverage cooler was hot…we verified it was plugged in and it was running…but it was hot.

I called bell services for bed rails and to inquire about getting the beverage cooler looked at and they said someone would be up!

We wanted to be there when the bed rails and repair person came so I went down and picked it up while everyone else stayed behind.

After getting the food I stopped by bell services and got our Walmart order (I must have been feeling really confident this day )

Everything went fine with our order and I pushed it all back to the room without issues…I have no idea how I didn’t spill anything LOL!

As soon as I got into the room the repair man came and the bed rails were delivered. We ended up with a new beverage cooler which was nice and cool for the rest of our stay!!

L1 and I had the grilled chicken sandwich and the girls had chicken fingers (this will be a theme this trip). Everything was good!

We were EXHAUSTED so we all napped for a hour or so.

Feeling refreshed after our snooze I made us some coffee to go and we headed to MK.

My time stamp on this photo says 4:33pm, L1 and L2 walking to the buses.



Of course once we got to the bus we realized none of us knew how to fold the stroller I asked L1-HOW do you not know how to fold YOUR OWN STROLLER?!

She said she only used it on one trip and her DH folded it everytime! We pressed it and laid on it and eventually it folded…so we were safe until our bus ride home at least!

None of use had ever seen MK with fall decorations so we were so excited!


When we walked onto Main Street I got all the butterflies you always get when you see the castle and this is when L1 started saying to me “I have NEVER seen this before!” Which we concluded by the end of the night she had definitely not been to MK before.

I had LL lined up for the evening and first up was Tiana’s…we did rider swap for the first time and DD and I went on first while L1 and L2 did standby 2xs at the magic carpets.

We had never done Tianas before and it was cute, but we hold Splash Mountain in a special place in our hearts so the change was hard for us. Maybe it will grow on us!


Oh and we were SOAKED-like absolutely drenched!!! L1 took one look at us and said NO THANKS to her rider swap pass! I can’t blame her!

We had Mickey bars and popcorn in the area right outside or Tiana’s then headed to our next LL!

This update got very long so I am gonna pause here and will continue the rest of our night in the next update!!!

Thanks for reading!!

 

[eliseisawkward]

I wanna go for fall/Halloween soooooo bad!

Side note: I’ve only ever heard horror stories about car services and car seats. It’s a big part of why we just travel with a seat. Once my daughter is a bit older we will likely get her a RideSafer vest for when we travel.

 

[Sarahh1027]

Loving your report so far!! We bring our toddlers for their first trip this spring. Im looking forward to hearing more about L2’s first trip!

The car service experience sounds like a nightmare!! I have my first one booked for this May and hoping we have a good experience.

I loveeee AoA and Disney during Halloween. Looking forward to more!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I’m joining in! Hooray for a girls’ trip!

I felt your stress about getting to the airport - I’m great at getting to things just on time with the exception of theatre performances and flights where I’m extra early. There’s no leeway on being late for either of them. I’m sorry you had the extra TSA stress as well - going through security is the worst part of any flight.

And good grief, what an experience with your private driver! I had a wonderful experience with Cast and Crew Transportation last May, including their car seat (and rental stroller). We lucked out with the same driver both times and he was fabulous. I didn’t inspect the car seat installation but did glance at it and it looked fine to me. It was also clean and in good shape. Our driver was the father of two young girls, so perhaps that made a difference in the installation? I liked C&C so much that I booked them again (with two car seats this time!) for our trip in two weeks.

Art of Animation! This is where we’re staying on our spring break trip and I’m SO excited about it. I’ve never stayed there but thought it would be perfect for a trip with two young kids. I’m glad you got a new beverage cooler that worked!

I’ve learned never to sit in the front seat of Splash Mountain/Tiana’s - you always get wet! I always request the third or fourth row and that is much better.

 

[PAsFab5]

I’m joining in! Hooray for a girls’ trip!

I felt your stress about getting to the airport - I’m great at getting to things just on time with the exception of theatre performances and flights where I’m extra early. There’s no leeway on being late for either of them. I’m sorry you had the extra TSA stress as well - going through security is the worst part of any flight.

And good grief, what an experience with your private driver! I had a wonderful experience with Cast and Crew Transportation last May, including their car seat (and rental stroller). We lucked out with the same driver both times and he was fabulous. I didn’t inspect the car seat installation but did glance at it and it looked fine to me. It was also clean and in good shape. Our driver was the father of two young girls, so perhaps that made a difference in the installation? I liked C&C so much that I booked them again (with two car seats this time!) for our trip in two weeks.

Art of Animation! This is where we’re staying on our spring break trip and I’m SO excited about it. I’ve never stayed there but thought it would be perfect for a trip with two young kids. I’m glad you got a new beverage cooler that worked!

I’ve learned never to sit in the front seat of Splash Mountain/Tiana’s - you always get wet! I always request the third or fourth row and that is much better.

Thank you for the transportation recommendation!!! I am going to look into them tonight!!!!

You’re going to love AoA, it was so perfect for my niece!! And teen daughter who loves to take pictures!!!

 

[PAsFab5]

Loving your report so far!! We bring our toddlers for their first trip this spring. Im looking forward to hearing more about L2’s first trip!

The car service experience sounds like a nightmare!! I have my first one booked for this May and hoping we have a good experience.

I loveeee AoA and Disney during Halloween. Looking forward to more!

We absolutely loved the fall decor!!!!

 

[PAsFab5]

I wanna go for fall/Halloween soooooo bad!

Side note: I’ve only ever heard horror stories about car services and car seats. It’s a big part of why we just travel with a seat. Once my daughter is a bit older we will likely get her a RideSafer vest for when we travel.

You would love the fall decorations!!! I need to either find a car company with a good track record for car seats or take our own…we leave again in 60 days!!!

 

[Paulaparm]

Following along!