One Family's Disney Vacation: The Beginning

As I mentioned in my previous post, we just returned from a week long stay at Walt Disney World in Florida.  It really was a great trip!  We are so glad we did it and think we timed it just right for our family.  Ellie and Maggie are 8 and 7 years old, respectively, and were the perfect age for a trip of this sort.  Young enough to still want to hang out with their parents, but old enough to have good stamina and patience for a busy, go-go-go type of trip Disney can be.

Our trip started with a 4:00 am taxi pick up at our house to take us to Logan Airport.  After a quick breeze through security (I mean really; who else is flying at that hour?) we grabbed breakfast at the airport before our separate flights.  Due to the fact that we wanted to use frequent flier miles, Paul and Ellie took one flight and Maggie and I were on another. 

America runs on Dunkin!

Maggie and I arrived in Orlando first.  We headed over to the area of the airport that housed the Disney Magical Express bus service that would take us to our resort.  This was a great addition to our trip.  Since we were staying at a Disney resort, it saved us the extra expense of renting a car, and also since we used their bus service, we did not need to pick up our bags at the airport; Disney took care of that and delivered them to our hotel room.  I loved this perk!!!

After a short wait in the cue, Maggie and I boarded our bus and off we went to our hotel.  We were staying in the Wilderness Lodge.  What a great resort!  It is a favorite of families traveling to Disney World and it is easy to see why.  The grand lobby is quite a site to see and the amenities and activities are great for the kids! 

View of the lobby of the Wilderness Lodge

After another short wait in line to check-in (we had done online check-in a couple of days prior to our leaving, which really cut down on our wait time) Maggie and I went to check out our room.  There was nothing too special about the room.  Very standard hotel room, but since we would be spending minimal time there, it was perfectly fine.

Paul and Ellie arrived at the resort a couple of hours after Maggie and I did, and after a quick lunch in the hotel's casual restaurant, the Whispering Canyon Café, Paul went up to the room to relax while the girls and I did a little tour of the resort.

Maggie and Ellie on our tour of the resort grounds.

 

Later that afternoon we took the boat from the resort over to Fort Wilderness to partake in a long standing Disney tradition, the Hoop Dee Doo Review dinner show.  It is a classic show, filled with one liners, puns, and silly jokes, but entertaining non the less.  We dined on fried chicken, BBQ  ribs, corn, baked beans, corn bread and strawberry shortcake (and one vegetarian meal for me!).  Nothing to write home about, but you aren't there for the food, really. 

 Lots of vittles to eat.

 By the time the dinner and show were over, we were all starting to feel the effects of our early wake up call that day, so we headed back to the hotel to relax and hit the sheets early.  We wanted to make sure we got all the sleep we needed for the next day.  Our first full day in Disney World and our first theme park adventure.  

Stay tuned!!!