Day 2: Magic Kingdom

Because my son loves "MeeMee" I figured our first stop should be Magic Kingdom because that where Mickey lives!

But let me back up a bit first. I had the genius idea to get our plane tickets out of the major airport by my parents house.
Well that required a 200 mile drive to get there. And let me tell you I don't care how much cheaper the tickets are we will NEVER do that again. It was just... unnecessary. On Tuesday 3/12 after hubby got home from work, we finished packing and headed back to Jersey which required me to pack a separate overnight bag just for that trip. I'm so glad this didn't cause us any real extra stress because my husband would not have let me live that down. In the wee hours of Wednesday morning 4 adults got up and took showers one by one- the only thing that kept me from going back to bed was the fact that we were officially starting vacation! I think my son knew too because when I woke him up he immediately asked for his "Pa-Pa!" and was smiling away. We picked up my brother about 5:30 am and headed to the airport. Even in the car the little guy was cracking up! We have no idea what was so funny but my guess is that he could sense the excitement coming from all of us. I purposely chose an early as you-know-what flight because I like to wake up and get my vacation started- I've waited long enough now let's just get there!

We somehow made it through airport security with 5 checked bags, 5 carry-on's and 5 personal bags. I really wish I had pictures of that. It was bananas trying to keep track of 15 bags, 5 adults, and one toddler. I'm so glad we had the extra hands of my parents and brother and it's pretty safe to say we won't be doing any long distance traveling without them!

We had crappy airport breakfast and waited for the flight to board. Once we were all settled on the flight my little guy took a nap. This was his third flight and he has done really well on all of them. I think he and I woke about 30 minutes to an hour before we landed. And then we had to collect all 15 bags, 5 adults and the toddler. I've never had to keep track of so much stuff at an airport ever before. We actually had to get one of those bag carts things! And boy were airport employees happy to see us. I'm sure they saw all that stuff and saw tip money.

The hotel contracted with a company to provided shuttle service. Because there were 6 of us total we were looking for the most cost effective option possible. We got a tip from the employee who pushed our bags around and he hailed a cab for us. It turned out to be the most cost effective out of all the research that I did.

There was about a 20 minute ride from the airport to the hotel and then we were finally there.

 And you thought you were going to read about our day at Magic Kingdom... Ha!

photo courtesy

Hubby checked into the hotel first. There wasn't a line when we arrived which was great 'cause I was so impatiently waiting to get going! After hubby checked us in he disappeared into the hotel gift shop. He has this insane need to constantly drink diet coke. So, when my parents went to check in their rooms I stuck my nose in their business (not unusual) and asked the lady to put them as close as possible to us... pretty please!! Then she figured out we were family and that's all she needed to hear. You see they needed as many rooms as possible for the conference that was in town (and hubby happened to be there for) and in order to free up two rooms she offered us a villa. Yes, that's right- a villa! Bonus: there was no extra charge... holla!! So we ended up with a two bedroom, two bathroom, full kitchen with a dishwasher, and separate laundry room villa. Life is Good.

photo courtesy

Sadly, I didn't get too many pictures of said villa. You see, we took a golf cart ride to our room (yea, it was like that) and once our luggage arrived we went scavenging for food.

Traveling makes you hungry.  After we stuffed our bellies most of us passed out. Everyone except my dad and husband was out for the count. I guess leaving at the crack of dawn in the morning can reek havoc on your ability to stay awake mid afternoon. The guys set out to pick up our park tickets and hung out while waiting for us to wake up. Once we woke up we ended up going to the nearest store (which happened to be across a 4 lane road) and picking up essentials now that we had a fridge, microwave, and full size kitchen.

Then we attempted dinner and some more unwinding. My hubby, brother, and I were dying to get to the pool but we traveled and slept too much of the day away and after the sun goes down it got kind of coldish. So, we did some hotel exploring and prepared ourselves for the next day... Magic Kingdom! And I promise to actually tell you about our day at MK... tomorrow.