Disney Day 1 - Epcot (Alt title: Avoiding unpacking)

We booked our flights (way back in May) out of Dayton because that's near where my parents live, and we figured we would be celebrating Christmas with them and they could take us to the airport and save us some major money by not parking there. So on December 31st, we got ourselves up at 3:30am (!) and took a 6am flight to Cleveland (wrong way!) and a connecting flight to Orlando. You'd think the girls were travel pros by the way they flew. They did amazing.

As a side note, the night before we were leaving, my dad asked me if I was excited. I asked him if he had ever planned a family vacation and then regretted it. He laughed and said, "Yep." Because that's exactly how I was feeling. I was so anxious and worried about getting to the airport on time, and flying (not to mention just the crazy that is WDW), with a three year old and two year old. Needless to say, I had VERY low expectations of multiple meltdowns, tired and crazy kids, bad flights and overall, a jam-packed and overwhelming vacation where I didn't think we would really get anything accomplished at WDW.

Praise the Lord, I was completely and utterly wrong. None of our flights were delayed, the girls LOVED flying and didn't make a peep on any of the four flights and of course, every single day brought pure awesomeness as we visited each park. I was so proud of our girls' behavior throughout the week. Of course we had our moments. I had my moments. But I truly cannot believe how great they behaved and how much fun they had.

Day 1 started at 2pm when we landed in Orlando. We took the Disney Magical Express to our hotel, All-Star Movies, picked up our stroller and headed to Epcot. Because of getting there so late, we really couldn't do many things, all the fast passes were distributed and the lines were all averaging around four hours. Next time, we need to ride Soarin' and Test Track.

 

 

We had a preferred room, right near the buses and just down the hall from a giant dalmation.

We got to Epcot and saw the line to The Seas with Nemo and Friends wasn't long so we jumped right in.

Classic.

Overpriced souvenirs and completely worth it.

Dinner at Coral Reef in front of a HUGE fish/shark tank.

Hannah did a great job all day on such little sleep!

Fireworks at 8, getting a little crazy.

More crazy.

Even more crazy.

The laser light/fireworks show was really good, and it was just their regular nightly ones.

Unfortunately, due to getting up at 3:30am, we were unable to stay up to ring in the New Year with the midnight spectacular light/fireworks show at Epcot. We were in bed by around 9am, which was a good thing because we drug the girls out of bed the next morning at 5:30am to get to Animal Kingdom for the extra magic hours. Which was a great decision on our part.

Some thoughts:
1. Starting day 1, we were already saying "Next time we come....." We had such a magical time that we are so excited to go again.
2. The meal plan was soooooo worth it. As was staying on property.
3. I did a ton of planning, Matt did an amazing job with strategy, and we can't imagine doing Disney without an iphone.
4. We didn't get to do much at Epcot, which is probably just as well for kids our girls' ages. But next time we go, we are excited to see more.
5. I am seriously praising the Lord in His timing for this pregnancy. I was almost 14 weeks during our trip, which means I felt like my normal non pregnant human self. There would have been *no way* I could have survived this kind of whirlwind trip had it been during my first trimester. (PS. I am still getting used to the fact that I am still pregnant. WHA????)
6. If you see me around, and I look bigger, it's because I ate more during this four day trip then I typically eat in probably three weeks. I'm not bigger because I'm pregnant, it really is a food baby. Now begins detox. I refuse to buy maternity pants because I ate too many desserts.