First Flight

On our way home from DisneyWorld my husband drove our car back and I flew with the boys.  This Callen's first flight and my first time flying with both boys.  I think we did really well.  I was not too stressed even though I had very little time to buy snacks (I did manage to get some, so crisis averted).  I choose to bring both a stroller and a wrap which worked out great and next time I fly in July I'll do the same.  Using both the stroller and wrap gave me lots of options of holding stuff, boys or both.  When people ask me when flying with kids should they bring a stroller or carrier I always say both.  When you are in an airport with lots of stuff it's nice to have a place to hold your stuff or your kids.  The carrier is great for when the stroller needs to be folded (security or pre-boarding), or when the older child decided they want to ride in the stroller.  I found it easier to have Tavish in the stroller while in the long security line as he can play with a book or game while we wait and this way he's not trying to run around or pull on the ropes in the line (one of his favorite things to do, I don't know how many times he's knocked it down).

All in all we had a great trip with very little issues (aside from bad timing for Callen's digestive movements) but the real test come in July when I fly with them both to Alberta.

 Waiting to get on the plane

Ready for take off

Quick flying tips for flying with kids:

• bring lots of food/snacks - keeps kids occupied and happy (if you can't bring snacks with your make sure that you leave time to buy food while in the airport)
• bring lots of toys and "special" toys or games - we have a Tag which we only use for travel, we also let my older son play with new cars and games on my iPod Touch (while I'd never buy one for my 3 year old, it makes a great toy while traveling and keeps him occupied for long periods of time)
• bring a headset - works great for in flight movies (if there are any) and any loud games (iPod, Tag, DVD player)
• bring new books 
• let kids run around the airport
• bring extra clothes for both you and your little ones (especially if you have a baby prone to blowouts and spit-up
• give yourself lots of time so you can get to your gate, have kids go to the bathroom or changed before your flight and so you won't stress
• bring both a stroller and a carrier so you have lots of options 

Disney Hollywood Studios AKA Our Hotel Room

So as many of you have read previously this was not the wonderful trip to Disney that I was expecting, there were some high points but this day was by far the worst at least at the beginning.  The two days before had been really good.  I think this day would no have been so bad had we had an accurate weather forecast, initially there were suppose to be thunderstorms in the morning and then clear up in the afternoon.  Nope, we had major thunderstorms all day and the time for the storms to stop kept being pushed back further and further.  Had we know the day was going to be a write-off we would have planned something to do, like go shopping.  Instead we just waited and waited.  Thankfully we had a two bedroom hotel room but still when there are three bored adults (Kyle had work to do) and only one kid who wants to be entertained it makes for some odd moments.  I just hid in one bedroom with Callen most of the day and while I love spending time with Callen this was not really what I had in mind.  Finally in the afternoon once we put the boys down for a much need nap, we send my mother and father-in-law to go shopping (they had an extra day in Florida so they would not be wasting a Disney day).  Around three when the boys got up Kyle and I figured we'd brave the rain and head into DHS anyway.

We really did not do much, we cheated getting a fastpass for the Rock'n'Roller Coaster (I felt a bit bad cheating the system to get the pass but not that bad).  Karma did get me though as I jumped to the single rider line which I thought was faster but was not and then the ride broke so I went back in the rain to find my boys.  We finally found that the Prince Caspian attraction and it did not have a long line.  We'd never seen it so joined the cue.  This was the biggest waste of time ever, starting with the Cast Member who tried to get us to stand in a waterfall of rain while waiting in line (yum no I won't stand there moron) and then the attraction is just a 15 minute re-cap of the movie.  If I wanted to see the movie I would have gone to a theater to watch it.  So if you find yourself in DHS and you see Prince Caspian DON'T do it, biggest Disney Disaster ever, don't waste your time.  After Prince Caspian is was time for dinner, we had reservations at Mama Melrose, dinner was okay the worst of our dinners at the Parks but it was not terrible.  After dinner I finally got to ride the roller coaster before we decided we had enough rain and headed back to our hotel but at least now I was in a better mood.

 Rock'n'Roller Coaster in the Rain

 At least someone was having fun

 Catching rain on your tongue is fun 

 Our map got a little wet

 Want to share some Spaghetti with me?

Best Ice Cream EVER

Epcot - A really magical place

I love Epcot and I'm always surprised when people say they don't like it or that it's not a good place for kids.  Alright I will admit that the World Showcase is not that kid friendly but do a lap ride the Mexico ride and Norway ride and go back to Future World and then hit the innovation buildings they are great for kids (and somewhere where I really need to do more exploring.

We started our morning with a few Character photos at the Photo Spot (near the fountain, go early and there is no line and if you are the first group there you get a photo will all the characters) while Kyle and Papa got some fast passes for Soaring and Test Track (not everyone was rideing and we could use kid swap so we were able to double up on fastpasses).  After the photos we rode Nemo a few time (a favorite of Tavish's) before Turtle Talk with Crush (super cute).  The weather was remarkably good and Test Track was open so we decided to ride that (Kyle stayed with the boys while the rest of us rode).  Kyle and the boys hung out in the test track building while the rest of us went for a second ride (Kid swap rules, always use it even if someone in your group is not planning on going on the ride).  Inside the building there are lots of interesting concept cars that can keep young kids happy while the older people ride.  Test track is one of my favorite rides but it can be really unreliable so get a fastpass for it early and make sure you ride it early (after it shuts down even the fastpass line can be long. Another tip for this ride is when things are running smoothly this is a good ride to go into the singles line as the ride sits 3 across which lends itself well to single riders).

We moved from test track to Mission Space while Kyle took the boys back to Nemo.  I don't know why but I suck at mission space I alway fail to press my button at the right time, I guess that is why I'm not an astronaut.  Kyle also had quite the adventure with the boys as Callen was having digestive issues and Kyle learned the hard way why it's important to always bring a spare shirt for the adults.  Good thing that Disney has lots of gift shops as we were able to find him a new shirt.

Next we decided that it would be a good time to ride Spaceship Earth but the line was really really long.  I remember from last year that this ride gets really busy in the morning because it's the first ride people see when entering the park so they want to ride it first. But later in the afternoon the line is almost empty because people have either already rode it or forgot about it.  So we decided to try again later.  Our fast pass for Soaring was coming up so we headed to the land and rode Living with the Land boat ride (quite interesting really) before heading to Soaring.  This was my first time on the top level of Soaring and it really does make a difference not have someone feet dangling above you.

It was getting near lunch time so we decided to find some food.  Tavish loves sushi so we headed into Japan for some. Tavish loved the sushi but I had the Udon noodles which were not very good (I had a sausage from Germany instead).  At this point we decided to split up from Nana and Papa and spend some alone time with the boys.  We headed towards Norway so we could ride the Maelstrom but the line was really long we we picked up a fastpass and headed into Mexico.  The Mexico ride was quite short and I must say that it was nice to just be inside away from the humidity for a bit.  We ran into Nana and Papa while we were there so Tavish rode the Mexico ride again with them while Kyle and I took a break.  After Mexico we headed back to Norway, Maelstrom is a great ride and it was too bad that the line was so long or we would have rode it again.

Tavish's highlight of the Day was Ellen's Energy Adventure this is a long ride (45 minutes) but if you have kids that like Dinosaurs than this is a great ride.  While I don't think he got much of the energy talk he sure loved the Dinosaurs.  Next, we figured that it would be a good time to check out Spaceship Earth and see if the line and had died down and we were right there was pretty much no line at all.  This is another interesting ride and Tavish did much better than the last time we had gone when he cried the whole time (not for kids who don't like the dark).  Our final ride before heading to dinner was Figment in ImageWorks.  While the ride is a bit hokey the activities they have after are really quite interesting, as long as there are not lots of people (hit either early in the morning or late in the afternoon).  But we sure did have bad timing with the weather as a huge thunderstorm soaked our stroller (even though it was covered - DisneyWorld could do with some more covered stroller parking).  We all got a little wet on our way to dinner.

Dinner was at the Coral Reef Restaurant.  I must say that I was quite annoyed that we had to wait more than 30 after our reservation time to eat but we did have a good dinner (not the best in Disney but okay).  Tavish really enjoyed watching the fish and we even got to see some scuba divers.

I love Epcot, and while writing this I realized how much of it we missed.  I am really looking forward to going back as long as I can convince my husband.

 Callen sure like Mickey and Tavish was so excited he had to pinch himself to make sure he was not dreaming

 Giving Pluto some love

 But Minnie is his favorite 

 Group shot with Donald

More hugs for Goofy

 I don't like this car

Tavish did NOT want this hat - he loves Cars and we would have bought it for him but he hated it so we saved ourselves $20 

 This is where they grew Cinderella's pumpkin

 We just love Nemo

Animal Kingdom

I love Animal Kingdom, I must say of the four DisneyWorld Parks it is one of my favorites.  I know lots of people who hate this park (I think it's because they assume that it is like Magic Kingdom, which it's not).  Animal Kingdom is much more relaxing and calm than Magic Kingdom and while many tour books say you can do it in a day, I disagree.  We only had one day here and we missed so much, we did get the highlights but we could have easily spent another day wondering around.  I'm sure you could see and do everything if you rushed about but then you would miss out on all the wonderful things this park has to offer.

We started the day a bit late as we did not finish our breakfast until 9:30, which worked well as it was when our fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safari were ready to use (park tip: if you are at the park of opening, I highly suggest getting a fastpass for Kilimanjaro Safari and then ride Kilimanjaro this way you can go on the safari twice and by the time your done you'll only have a few minutes to kill until you can use another fastpass).  Riding Kilimanjaro in the morning is ideal as the weather is usually a bit cooler and the animals are more active, it's fun to ride both in the morning and afternoon to see the difference in animal behaviors (this could just fascinate me as I was a biologist and I'm interested in these things).

We were not using the Unofficial Guide book today but rather just doing the things that interested us but I highly suggest this book to those who want to make the most of their day.   As we had been to Disney World a few years ago I really wanted to see the shows that we had missed. Our first trip we were more into the rides and this time we were more into the shows and in my opinion the shows are better than the rides.  We did pick up a few fastpasses while we waited for the shows.  The first show we saw was the Lion King which was great.  Tavish loved the gymnast monkeys and still talks about the man playing with fire.  The next show of the day was the Nemo Musical but we had time to ride Dinosaur before (this ride people either love or hate and I quite enjoy it but it's bumpy).  The Nemo Musical was amazing and I suggest going early to get a good seat, the theater is huge but some seats are better than others.  Nemo was not a simple musical by any means, it goes above and beyond most of the other Disney shows that I have seen (there are still a few of the major ones that I have yet to see so I can't say it's the best Disney show).

After Nemo we had some lunch in Dino Land USA and then we had time to go to It's Tough to be a Bug before staking out our spots for the parade.  A Bugs Life is NOT suitable for young kids, and I should have known this as we saw it a few years ago (I think Tavish slept though it) but now that he's three he understood more of what they were saying and the extra effects really scared him.  Callen also hated the spraying of water, so at one point we had two screaming boys.  As an adult I quite enjoyed this 3D movie but I won't be taking my preschooler to see it next time.

It was getting time to stake out our parade spots (I really wanted to see a parade as we were rained out of the Magic Kingdom one), once we found our spots I held down the fort while my in-laws took Tavish to play with some of the hands on activities that Animal Kingdom has all over the park (you don't notice these if you are rushing from ride to ride).  We found a great spot at the beginning of the parade route so when the parade was done we could ride Kilimanjaro Safari again.  The parade was great and so was the safari (not many people in line as most were watching the parade).  

The last thing we did that day was ride Everest which is the third best roller coaster in DisneyWorld in my opinion (Rock'n'Roller Coaster and Space Mountain are better).  We finished the day with dinner at the Yak and Yeti, which was really good.   

This was my favorite day at Disney, we figured out what went wrong at Magic Kingdom and the weather did not suck (always a bonus).  I can't wait to go back as we missed all the jungle treks and we never went on the river rapids.  This is a great park especially when you take the time to enjoy it.

 Black Rhino

 Elephant

 White Rhino

 No Butts about it the safari is fun

 "Mom make the Rhino say roar"

 Tavish with some Character (don't know who this is)

 The monkey's from the Lion King

 Chip or Dale at the parade

 "Mom it's Minnie, it's Minnie"

What at me?

Crystal Palace with Pooh

One of the highlights I had planned for Magic Kingdom was a birthday dinner with Winnie the Pooh at the Crystal Palace for Tavish.  Earlier in the day we had tried to change our reservation time (book very early if you want a 5pm dinner reservation time) to 5 or earlier but I'm guessing everyone who had a later reservation tried to do the same thing as we could not get a earlier time (I think people were sick of the rain).  Kyle was a bit shocked to see the price of the meal and he had suggested that it just was not worth going (part of the reason for my earlier break down).  Anyway I finally convinced him we should go - I had reserved a cake with Tavish's name on it and we'd been been telling Tavish he'd have dinner with Pooh for weeks.  I'm really glad we did went as we all had a great time and really helped make up for such a crummy day.  Aside from a 10 minute wait (past our reservation time - Disney really needs to work on this) everything went perfect.  We all had a great time, it was amazing seeing Tavish's face light up as Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore all came to our table to say hi.  The food was really good too.   I would highly recommended going to a Character dinner if you have young kids they are not cheap but they sure are fun.  An early reservation time would be better as you don't want tired kids, Tavish was getting a bit sleepy by the end of dinner and as we all know that sleepy kids can lead to cranky kids (thankfully a birthday cake was all it took to make our tired boy happy again.  At the end of the day we were all glad that we stayed for Dinner and it was well worth the price.  It was a good end to a very trying day.

 Hugs from Eeyore

 Callen enjoying Piglet's company

"Look at me" 

 "Look it's my birthday"

 Callen LOVED Tigger and so did the little girl from the next table

 Tavish was really excited to see Tigger 

 Callen had a great time but...

it was time for Birthday Cake.  1..2..3.. Happy Birthday

Universal Studios - Day 1 (photo heavy)

So our first theme park in our Orlando trip was not a Disney World park but Universal Studio's Florida.  I am a huge thrill junkie who loves big roller coasters we just had to check out the Universal Parks.

I have to admit this was one of the best days we had while in Orlando.  The weather was perfect, nice and sunny, and we had a great system that worked for touring the parks.  The best part was the fact the park was empty aside from groups of hoochie dressed cheerleaders running around the park (mini rant - why do 7 year old cheerleaders have to dress so relieving and why do parents let them?  I'm a mom of two boys so I clearly don't get it but all I know is that I'd NEVER let my kid walk around a public park dressed like that - at least put a t-shirt on until you are on stage end rant).

Our plan for touring the park was simple hit the big rides early and see the shows later.  Also we split up so that Tavish did not have to sit and wait for us adults to ride but that he could ride or see something with the set of adults who were not riding (Universal does have a switching off program but it's different than the Disney one - the non riding parent goes into a waiting room until the riding parent is finished the ride and then they switch off). What worked so well about our arrangement was that Nana and Papa got to do something fun with Tavish and Callen while Kyle and I were on a ride but then Kyle and I got to have some alone time with the boys while they were on a ride.

I'll post our touring plans later but we had a great time but by 5pm we were ready to get some food (Pastamore in the CityWalk) and head back to our hotel to get ready for our early Disney day.

 Callen waiting in line to get into the park

Tavish had so much fun walking around the plants 

 Okay maybe Kyle was more excited to see Homer than Tavish

 Please don't let the clown eat me

 Waiting for Nana and Papa - MIB ride in the back ground (I was the all time champ at this game)

 Rip Ride Rocket - So much fun

 Tavish had so much fun in Fievel's Playland

 Don't get wet

The animal actors show was a huge hit 

 Tavish was very focused

 Callen was more interested in something else

 "Who stole my bra?"

 Cute dog from MIB

 Tavish looking a bit tired now

Time to go home