Life with the Leibrocks: Disney Trip 2015!

So I'm writing this post in July, but we actually went on our wonderful Disney vacation the first week of May and I'm just finally getting around to writing this post. Oh well, at least I'm doing it, right? ; )

Ahhhh, Disney, what a magical place! We truly had an amazing first family Disney vacation and I went through some serious post-vacation depression afterwards. No joke, I was quite sad for quite awhile because we had looked forward to the trip for so long and it was the best time ever.

Matt and I consider ourselves a Disney family, we both really really love it and know that trips there will always be a part of our future. I can't even describe how awesome it was to take Brinley there for the first time though. It was mommy's dream come true, that's for sure!

We knew late last fall that we were going to take this Disney trip in the Spring so we started to introduce Brinley to our favorite classic Disney movies and even bought her a princess set for Christmas so that we could begin teaching her all of the princesses. We joked that we spent more time over the last year on her Disney education than we did on letters, numbers and colors, ha! She took to it like a duck to water though and can't get enough of all of the princess stuff and was well prepared for the trip!

It was about a month before her second birthday so we opted to take advantage of the free flying thing for kids under two and didn't buy her a seat on the plane (kids under two are also free to all Disney parks, score!). I was really nervous about this but my Mom came along on the flight with us and the three of us took up a whole row, which was great. She loves the dum dum suckers and I actually packed enough suckers to last the whole 3 hour flight (1 sucker per 20 minutes for 3 hours equals 9 suckers each way). I figured if all else failed, we could continuously feed her the lollipops. Thankfully, it didn't come to that!

We went as part of a timeshare promo tour again (same as what Matt and I did in Vegas) so we got a really sweet deal on the room, but since we arrived late Saturday and had the timeshare tour on Sunday, we ended up with a pretty low-key start to the trip, which was fine by us! Disney allows you to pre-plan almost everything now which is really fantastic for the obsessive planners, like me, but my detailed itinerary was the butt of a few jokes from my fam throughout the trip. It really doesn't phase me though because that detailed planning allows everyone to get in all of the stuff that they want and when you've got 4 adults and a two year old to try and keep happy and fed, the planning really helps!

So while the first couple of days were super chill, our first day at the parks was anything but. It turns out that when you drive and park at the Magic Kingdom you need to take a ferry or bus to the actual park entrance. Brinley was crying as we started to walk in and so my mom and I made the split second decision to hop on the tram, splitting up from Matt. Bad bad bad call. It was also early in the morning on a Monday, pretty much insanity time to get into the park, no matter what season it is. Anyway, it all worked out in the end but we had a few tears (from not just Brinley!), some fighting and plenty of stress to start out the park portion of the trip.

Things turned around pretty quickly after that and James flew in later that afternoon and really helped turn the tide. We ended up back and Disney Monday night for the parade and fireworks and it was a really magical evening. I won't do a play by play of the rest of the trip as I actually tried to keep a mini-diary going on my phone. We had quite a bit of car time in the mornings and evenings as we were coming and going from the parks and we used the time to take note of inside jokes and other funny/memorable things from the day. I think it was a pretty great way of recording all of the key moments from the trip and definitely puts less pressure on me to recall them all a few months later as I catch-up on blogging.

One thing that I will say though was that Brinley absolutely adored all of the characters. She would run right up to them, give them big hugs and kisses and it just melted your heart. I will never forget going with her to meet the Safari Mickey at Animal Kingdom. It was just me and her and she was so excited. It was the highlight of the entire trip for me, for sure!

Also, many people thought we were a little nuts for taking a not even two-year old to Disney, but we knew that we would be back again and frankly I was too excited to wait any longer. It turns out, two was an awesome age to bring her because she's still free to most of the stuff and there were tons of rides and fun stuff that she could do. And since we've been home, she's talked about the trip several times so we know she remembers. She says "mommy, daddy, Nana, airplane. Go to Disney World!" She also talks about seeing Cinderella's castle, meeting Mickey, giving him a hug and kiss, swimming with Daddy and Uncle James, etc. She really does remember and had the time of her life! She also like to pretend "pack" (i.e. empty out her drawers) and tell me that she's packing to go to Disney World. So cute!

And lastly, another reason why we took this trip when we did was because of my sweet Grandma Mum who passed away earlier this year. When I was 10 years old, she came with my Mom, brother and I when we went to Disney and it was so special to have Brinley's first trip be with my mom too, to carry on that tradition. I think Grandma GG would have been proud!

So without further ado, here's the daily diary:

Day 1:
- Brinley did not poop on the plane, as she said, "it's just gas"
- you can bring baby food packets through security, but it will require a full body pat down, hand test and your first born child
- The stuffed animal Elsa's head is the perfect size to replace your forgotten neck pillow

DAY 2:

- even though they say they are cool with it, and their policy says they are cool with it, they really do not appreciate you attending two timeshare tours (or probably any for that matter) when you are 100 percent sure you are not going to buy ($176 per night for our suite was still worth it tho!)
- Disney makes me an emotional wreck, I already teared up after the dining reservation lady wished me a "magical vacation" and we haven't even stepped foot in a park yet!
- I hate to wear socks and my daughter absolutely must. Wear. Socks. Adorable pink Minnie Mouse sandals = torturous foot death trap!
- don't wait until 10 min before your reservation to leave your hotel. You will be stressed racing through downtown Disney
- daddy's belt works awesome to restrain Brinley in her high chair if the buckle should be broken
- when Brinley picks up her plate at dinner, she may not be about to throw it on the floor. She may be trying to help the waiter clear the table. (cutest thing ever!)

Day 3:
- it's always been my dream to force my screaming toddler into her princess dress before heading to Disney. (She was fine 5 minutes later)
- when you park at magic kingdom, you need to take a tram to the bus, monorail, or ferry to actually get to the park
- the tram and walking path do indeed go to the same place
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- it is possible to spend 2 hours just trying to get into the park
- there is a Disney purgatory, it's that hot, small space between bag security check and the park entrance, where there's not even a bathroom
- all the stress and chaos can melt away in a second when you see her mesmerized by the magic of Disney
- Brinley loves Belle and is the most adorable little princess in the world!
- Brinley will do surprisingly well staying up until almost midnight : )
- even when there is no hope to watch the parade near the castle, you can always go in front of the churro cart at frontier land
- it's a small world is absolutely mesmerizing when you're almost 2 or (31, or almost 60)
- Nana may make fun of my schedule, but she obviously read it when she produced the perfect magic light up wand, purchased in advance, for the electric parade ; )
- the castle light show, even at 10:35 pm will be met with "wow" by your little one
- you're magical wish after the wishes firework show will be to have many, many, many more moments like this as a family (tears!)
- you know it's been a long day when you're in bed at the same time as your almost 2 year old
- mahjaraj avenue! (pronounced MA-HAIR-RAGE!)

Day 4:
- the cloud on the itsy bitsy spider song goes "Eco Eco"
- after 3 days, we finally figured out the shortest way from the hotel to Disney. Now to figure it out in reverse...
- if you get her dressed quickly, while still sleepy, and put on socks, you can sneak on the Minnie sandals that match the Minnie dress (score!)
- Brinley loved meeting Mickey, she got exited when it was her turn, ran into Mickeys arms, hugged him for a long time, then ran to Minnie, then kissed them both on the nose. Melted my heart. Cutest thing in the world!!!
- expedition Everest is awesome the first time, second time in a row, you may feel kinda sick...
- dinosaur is really fun and pretty scary, we rode it twice. It was actually scarier the second time, even though you knew what was coming!
- Brinley running into the other guys legs at the Figment play area to hug him and say sorry instead of uncle James. Not sure who was more surprised, Brinley or the unsuspecting guy!
- All of us eating Pringles as an appetizer at the coral reef restaurant
- James getting mom to ride fast track and her terrified photo afterwards (we should have bought this one!)
- Nana's future life jumping out of bed on a rocket bike
- Brinley's cut off head in our future life
- James's liter beer (or 2!)
- Animal kingdom and Epcot day

Day 5:
- the day James got the Madison job offer! So so so cool to celebrate with him in the parking lot. I teared up and we shouted so loud that the people walking by wanted to know what happened and stopped to congratulate him too.
- Harry Potter world is awesome, highlights were the fire breathing dragon at gringotts, butter beer, green ale (with they exploding beads), food at the leaky cauldron and oleanders wand shop
- I get motion sick on all 3d/video rides but I'm stubborn and still think I like them so always power through ; )
- Matt scaring the crap out of me in line for mummy
- the statues coming alive at the beginning of the mummy and all of us screaming
- roller coaster video of me wincing in pain (I seriously thought I might black out on that one. Matt and James then rode it again.)
- island of adventure closes really early!
- super fun water rides at the end

Day 6:
- watching Brinley meet princess Sofia and Mickey. She's a perfect character kid. So adorable!
- eating at the brown derby for lunch and Brinley saying oh thank you a bunch to the waiter
- playing with Brinley in the honey I shrunk the kid park (me getting squirted with water, claustrophobic in the ant hill and us all making it up and down the spider web as a family)

Day 7:
- Heading home on the airplance and Brinley standing up and saying buh bye friends at the end of the flight. So cute!

And if you've made it this far and are not in my immediate family, congrats! You will now be rewarded with tons of adorable pics :)

Playing at the airport before getting on the plane

All ready for her first flight!

Not quite sure about the whole thing...

Dancing with Daddy in downtown Disney

Outside Fulton's crab house

The Cinderella dress battle! I bought this dress 6+ months in advance and couldn't wait for her to wear it and of course she screamed her head off. She got over it in 5 minutes though and the dream was still alive for Momma :)

Meeting Belle! She loved this and still talks about it.

So cute, she entered the room and sat right down with all oft the other kids

She didn't have an official part in the story because she was too little but wanted to be right in on the action so just went up there with the other kids. When it came time to introduce the cast they said and "an enchanted princess!" :)