When Matt suggested we take a long 5 day vacation with the kids to Disney, I was definitely hesitant.
What if Noah doesn't sleep well in a new place or he's a giant hot mess with on-the-go naps every day?!
We did our research on nice yet affordable hotels with more than one room, so we could put Noah to bed in a separate room. We got park hopper tickets for 3 days. We found the perfect hotel just outside of Disney property, with a water park for the boys as well. I was, then, getting really excited. I knew Connor would be thrilled to be at Disney! Noah is at the age where he's fascinated with costumed characters & knows who the 'Mouse' is. Noah loved the few rides he could go on when we went to Universal/Islands of Adventure a few months back, so I knew he'd be so happy to go on so many rides at Disney. Our countdown was on!
When we arrived, we were all shocked to see how big our room was. It was almost the size of our house. We had two big bedrooms upstairs for the boys, and a full living room/kitchen/master down stairs. Having this much space did wonders for my sanity since we were there for 5 days.
Sidenote: The photos taken on our trip were done between my phone, nice camera, and water camera, so apologies if some aren't the greatest quality.
Connor loved his room!
Noah liked sitting on the bar stools like a big boy.
We unpacked on day 1 and headed to the pool area before supper with Auntie Katie & Uncle Eric.
The boys loved racing around the lazy river and trying to nonchalantly push Mom into the waterfalls.
Both the boys loved the water slides too.
It was now about 5:30pm and Noah didn't nap as planned on the drive up there, so he was content with all the fun stuff around, but he just couldn't stay awake any longer. I dried the Noah Monster off, and my two biggest boys went along on their fun races through the lazy river.
I love how easy Noah falls asleep when we are go-go-go on vacation. He doesn't fuss. He just rests his head down and wants to be held.
Connor loves to lay close by when Noah is snoozing. It's really precious to watch.
That night, we had some fun with a visit from Auntie Katie & Uncle Eric. All was lovely, until Noah threw us a curve ball at bed time. I tucked Noah into his pack n' play, was getting Connor to bed, when I hear Noah crying and walking down the stairs. The little booger figured out how to climb out of his pack n' play and now, the trouble began.
I tucked Connor into bed and handed Noah off to Matt downstairs. They played and when I knew Noah was good and thoroughly exhausted, we moved Noah's pack n' play down stairs to the living room (so he was close to our room), and we tucked him into bed. He cried a bit, but didn't climb out this time & finally went to sleep. Phew!!
The next morning, we were up, ready early, and made it to the Magic Kingdom! I set up my Fast Passes for the rides and had a plan of attack to tackle our day!
First, we hit up the Dumbo ride. It was our first time on it since they rebuilt that side of the park. We got on without a wait & all were able to ride.
We headed across the way to be first in line for the characters. Noah was not fan of the characters unless we were holding him. Even though Connor is my big boy now, he still loves the characters!
We went on a few more rides-- It's a Small World, Peter Pan, and the Buzz ride all before we set up camp for the afternoon parade. Noah napped his way through the Small World ride and was all refreshed.
To help pass the wait time, it was the best time for a popsicle break. I had to strategically find a popsicle stand that had a strawberry one for C and a chocolate one for N.
The rain came down just before the parade. Thank goodness for the ponchos we borrowed from Nana!
The sprinkles didn't stop the parade! Connor was the funniest thing on our trip, He kept reminding me to take pictures of everything. I mean, everything. Every character in the parade. Every animal on our safari ride on day 2. He wanted to make sure I had everything, so we could show Nana when we got back :).
Connor's current fave is Peter Pan.
And Noah loves the 'Mouse.'
And well, I like Donald :).
We had a plan to stay for fireworks and electrical parade late that night, but late in the day, Connor was showing signs of exhaustion. The whineys and grumpies were signs that we should abort our late night plan and get the boys back before it was too late.
Noah screamed & cried that night, and kept crawling out of his bed. Matt & I were exhausted and just needed sleep. We did not have a plan of attack with this problem, so finally caved and put Noah in bed with us. Noah slept on Matt's face for most of the night and then had his feet in my face the remainder of the night, but we all at least got some sleep.
The next morning we headed to Animal Kingdom. It was a first for all of us. We were told the Safari ride was the best and you had to get there early before the heat sent all the animals into hiding.
No joke, the safari was the best!! We had a close up view of tons of animals, both boys were enjoying it, and I got to take a picture of every single animal per C's request for the Nana files. Haha!
As we explored the park, we ran into some of C's Jungle Book buds.
My gorillas got a good view of some gorillas too.
This little Monster was always happy when food was involved!
Although Connor was easily scared on rides (he didn't like the Bugs' Life 3D ride and Splash Mountain's big drops), he encouraged Matt to go on the big roller coaster, so he could watch him. It worked out great! Matt went in the single rider line and only had about a 5 minute wait to get on the roller coaster. I had Matt text me when he was getting on, so we could look for him. We stood and giggled at how scary it looked, and that we 'tricked' Matt to go on it :). Matt videoed the ride on this phone and Connor loved that he could see how scary the ride was without having to go on it!
I didn't get many photos from the remainder of the day, because we got torrential rain for a good 3 hours. We embraced the ponchos and carried on!
After a fun day, we thought we'd stop into the Rainforest Cafe at the park's entrance to see how long the wait would be. To our surprise, the wait was less than 5 minutes! Score! The boys loved the animals everywhere and the fish tanks. When Noah got squirmy towards the end of the meal, we went outside to run around while Matt finished eating & paid the bill.
This trip really brought the boys super close. Connor wanted to bathe with Noah and taught him his body parts, while Noah would wake and immediately call out for his "Don-nah."
Day 3 was a Magic Kingdom day again! We voted to rent a double stroller for both boys this time (which was worth every penny). It was another poncho day! Noah freaked out and ripped any ponchos away that we tried to put on him, so we did what we could to keep him dry by wrapping him in a trash bag 'blanket' while he slept. Whatever worked!
Funny side note: We opted to do on the Carousel of Progress and People Mover rides since you are under cover from the rain and there was no wait in line. While we found them rather boring, Connor LOVED them! We actually ended up doing the Carousel of Progress two times that day!
Not so fun side note: When we came out of the Carousel of Progress, our rented stroller was no longer where we parked it in the stroller parking lot. We looked over and over (in the rain, might I add) and it was no where to be found. We talked to the 'Stroller Attendant' and it appeared someone stole it. Thank goodness we didn't leave anything on it. I tried to remain upbeat and ran up to the entrance of the park to get another one, while Matt took the boys on the carousel. Not only was it a mile hike in the rain, but it was time for the parade down the main street, so I got to weave in and out of crowds there and back. It was a massive pain, but when I made it back to the boys, I remained all chipper! :)
We had a Fast Pass for the Buzz ride, so headed that way! Wouldn't you know, we got to the front of the line, and the ride shut down. Ahhhhhh!!! I had an angry 6 year old and squirmy 1 year old, and we were stuck in line with no where to go! After about 5 minutes, the ride was up and running again & my sanity was restored!
After the Buzz ride, we waited to see the one and only Buzz. I have a picture that I adore from when Connor met Buzz at the age of 3 when he was in love with everything Toy Story. It was neat to relive it now with Noah. It was the first time Noah would approach a character without Matt or myself holding him.
Flashback photo of my precious Connor when he was 3.
And then NOW. How did he get SO big, SO fast.
Noah became uneasy with Buzz and called for me, so I got to join in on the photo.
I packed an entire backpack of snacks/waters. With those and a double stroller, life was so good.
We needed a quick ride to end the night before we found our spots for the fireworks/parade. The tea cups were a hit with the boys, although I was feeling quite queasy since we had just eaten dinner.
The crowds were crazy & the boys were tired. It was almost showtime, so Matt ran & got ice cream while I held down the fort.
C loved the electrical parade and swore every character waved directly to him. Noah was at exhaustion point & was jealous that Connor was on Matt's shoulders and wanted to have some of Daddy too. At one point, Matt had Connor on his shoulders and was holding Noah. I couldn't help but just laugh.
Noah was asleep before the fireworks were over and we all managed to make it back to the monorail, then the shuttle, then our car, then to the hotel. Noah woke when we got back to the hotel, so we knew we were in trouble. Connor went to bed easy and Noah was awake with gusto! We were beyond tired afer a full day, so we all just laid in our bed & Noah finally fell asleep.
On our final day, we checked out of our hotel room & headed to the water park area for a last hur-rah before going home. Connor would have stayed forever if he could have!
Noah napped all the way home (thank goodness) and we made it home in one piece! Minus the pack n' play climber and the stolen stroller, it was one of the most relaxing, stress free family trips to date! I may still be sifting through laundry from our trip and finally uploading all the photos, but Noah has yet to climb out of his crib at home, so I'm counting my blessings!
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