We're Going to Disney World!

I'll start off this series of blog posts of our trip to Disney World by saying we are back and we had a the Best Time!! I'm still smiling from all the fun we had and really enjoyed getting to see Mallory's face light of with excitement every time she saw a Disney princess or character she knew! She would hug each of them and just talk to them like they were best friends! My parents came with us and that made the trip that much more great! I loved sharing the whole experience with them!

I will blog about our time at the Disney World parks but I wanted to write a post about getting ready for the trip and Mallory's first airplane ride. She was excited about Disney World but also about getting to fly on an airplane like Daddy does for work trips! 

I'll start by saying we worked with my friends Holly Wheatley and Katie McCain with Crazy Imagination Travel to plan our trip. Holly was our agent starting out making the resort and dining reservations and Katie helped as the trip got closer. I don't think Holly is doing it much anymore so if you are going to Disney World anytime soon or interested at all, definitely contact Katie at katie@crazyimaginationtravel.com - it does not cost extra and she will help you take care of everything and answer any question you have! Poor thing was answering all my millions of questions as we got closer to the trip but she loves all things Disney so she is always happy to help!

It seemed like our trip was never going to get here because we booked our resort and dining plan in June! Later in 2015, we made our 90 Day Dining reservations and 60 Day Fast Pass reservations as well as booked our flight so we were good to go! We chose to go in February because: 1) we wanted to go before Mallory starts Kindergarten in August, 2) we wanted to go when it wasn't a peak time for crowds and 3) we wanted to go when it was a nice temperature and not hot in the Summer. Plus, I booked our trip onto President's Day weekend since Brian and I were off that day and since we were flying back Sunday night, we would have Monday to rest and do all the laundry. 

Three weeks before we left, we got our Magic Bands and Luggage Tags in the mail. We got them while we were working Venture weekend so we opened them that Sunday. It was so fun to finally see them and realize we were getting close!

I did order one shirt for Disney World with Mallory's name on it. I got the shirt below on Etsy at this shop. It is a shirt - it's a 5T and is long but it worked! I told Brian we were all going to have matching shirts but he told me blatantly: No - ha - so that was a no go. We also got a couple of Disney shirts from Target and Wal Mart for Mallory to wear while we were there so we were set as far as clothes go!

Mallory got some things for our trip at Christmas from my parents and Brian's Aunt Pam aka Grammy. Grammy got Mallory a Cinderella dress to where when she went to Cinderella's castle and an autograph book to take. On Tuesday, before we left, Grammy picked up Mallory from school and they got some ice cream together. She also brought some presents - she got her some colors and coloring books for the plane as well as some new Minnie Mouse house slippers! Mallory loved them! I took this picture of her wearing them the night before and the whole night before, we just kept saying: We are going to Disney World tomorrow!!

Our flight was Wednesday afternoon, so we packed Tuesday night. I've never packed princess dresses or tiaras for a trip before but it was so fun putting them in. 

Wednesday morning, we got up and I woke up Mallory by saying "We are going to Disney World today!!!" She popped right up! I had to work Wednesday morning so Brian and Mallory took me to work so they could pick me up straight from there and we could head to the airport. We had been doing a countdown and we finally got to the last day! Mallory is holding the last ring that says "I am going to Disney World Today!"

After the longest 4 hours of work, Brian, Rob and Mallory picked me up and we headed to the airport. Rob was our airport driver - we are so glad he could take us and pick us up! Mallory and I in the back of the truck, ready to go!

Mallory kept looking at the airplanes landing and taking off as we drove to the airport and was so thrilled that we were going to be in one of them soon. She knew that I had just been on an airplane for NYC so she kept saying she was going to fly like I did and Daddy does. Brian and I have flown so much but it was such a fun time to share with Mallory on her first flight!

Hugs were given and Goodbyes were said to Uncie

And then it was time to go get checked in!

Mallory did great with check-in and going through security. She answered the security guy's questions (they only asked her name and where she was going but she nailed it!) and we made it through security without any problem. We then talked to Mom and Dad since they left early Wednesday morning and were there waiting for us to get there! We grabbed a bite to eat since we had a little time before boarding and then went and watched our plane pull in. She watched it all!

We got in our seats and Mallory told us where we were going to sit. She was going to sit by the window, I was going to sit by her and then Brian had to sit by me. Here we are all ready to go!

She couldn't wait to "blast-off" and did not stop smiling and asking many questions :)

Mallory taking off on her first flight:

She did so great on the flight! She had many things to keep her entertained and snacks were on hand, if needed

When we landed, she told me she was happy her ears did not pop. There was only one minor melt down after we landed and that was because I had a red magic band and hers was pink. She wanted red like mine and couldn't understand why I picked pink for her but once we got through that, we were good!

We got off the plane to get our luggage. Disney will pick up your bags and take them to your room for you however, it could take up to 3 hours and since we landed in the evening, we didn't want to have to wait on our luggage so we went ahead and got them ourselves. Once we got our luggage, we headed to the Magical Express buses so we could find the one to take us to our resort. They have everything so organized that once we scanned our magic band, they knew which bus to put us on and had us on our way!

We got on our bus and were excited to be so close!

We finally saw the Walt Disney World sign!

Right when we got our resort - Art of Animation - we were heading in to check-in and saw the fireworks going off at Magic Kingdom! It was a nice welcome!

When you walk into our resort, there are many drawings and renderings of many Disney characters. Mallory headed right towards them

And then she turned and saw Nana and Papa!

These three were happy to see each other!

We checked-in and looked around at the art wall. It was so neat!

The check-in area is a pretty rainbow of colors

We headed to our room for the evening. We booked a room in "The Little Mermaid" part of the resort and the room had all the Little Mermaid touches.

I had bought Mallory a new Ariel nightgown for the trip and she definitely matched the decor! She couldn't wait to put it on when we got there so she could be like the room.

My parents were in the room beside us so we had a shared door in between the rooms which was nice! 

We hadn't eaten dinner since we landed so it was pizza in our room for the night.

We ate and got in the bed to get ready for our first full day at Disney World!!