Our Trip to Disney

Ahhh Vacation.

Our vacation was supposed to begin the day after Christmas. However, due to poor weather forecasting for North Carolina we decided to head out Christmas night instead. In addition to missing the weather, we were hoping it would break up the trip a little more for Jude. The first leg of our trip began by leaving home and going to North Carolina. My parents live there, so it's pretty much a great mid-way(ish) point. We woke up the next morning to about 4 inches of snow covering the ground! The next day we were able to visit with my brother and his family and just enjoyed the day. We ended the day early to embark on the second leg of our trip the next morning.

We woke up somewhere around 4 in the morning and got on our way. The plan was to leave early so that we could get through a good bit of the drive while Jude was still asleep. He ended up waking up as we were loading him into the car and playing in the backseat for about an hour, which worked out well, because he then slept longer into the drive. Ryan made excellent time driving and we made it into Florida around 1:30 in the afternoon - even after making a few stops along the way. Upon arriving in Orlando, we took time to unpack, shower and just relax for a little while. I had found a very reasonably priced hotel on Travelocity.com called the Wyndam Orlando Resort. It ended up being a fairly nice hotel, but missing a few things we were hoping for. For example, it didn't have a fridge (which put a damper on our plans to pack some lunches). But other than that, it was reasonable and just what one needs.

After we were settled, we decided to spend the night in Downtown Disney. It was a nice way to introduce Jude to the crowds and get a little souvineer shopping done (plus, hey, it's a fun little strip). We got him a lollipop, had a nice dinner and saw the lego store and a bunch of other stuff a long the way. Jude took it all in and was ready for bed by the time we got back tot he hotel.

The next day was a big day! MAGIC KINGDOM! Perhaps the happiest place on earth. We got to the park early and immediately started trying to check rides off the list. We (knowingly) chose perhaps the busiest week of the year to go to Disney, but really Disney has crowds down to a science. We were able to Fast Pass where necessary, wait where we could and just really enjoy the day. Jude LOVED the parade, the ferry ride to the park and the whole atmosphere!

We deicded that we wanted to leave the park for dinner (reservations are insane, prices are high, selection is minimal and we just wanted to be able to relax) and headed over to Olive Garden. However, we also wanted to make it back to ride a few more rides, see a Christmas Light parade and see the fireworks show. Lucky for us, Jude had taken two naps in my carrier that day and so he seemed to be able to truck on through to the 10 o'clock firework show (the park was open until 1am!). We got back from dinner just in time for the electric light parade and quickly ticked off the things we had left to ride. Unfortunately by the time 10 o'clock was rolling around Jude was running low on energy and we wanted to skip the crowd. So, we decided to hop on the ferry and watch the fireworks over the castle from the boat. I must say, it was a genious idea. Needless to say, Jude was asleep in the car on the way back to the hotel.

The next day was Universal Studios! We knew that to get into any of the Disney parks we'd need to be there early. However, since we had such a late night the day before, we wanted Jude to sleep in, so we decided to break the trip up with Universal in between the two Disney parks we were hitting. We ended up arriving around 10 AM and the park was filling up quickly - we were smart and made reservations for one of their restaurants right away. There were mounds of people rushing into the two parks and sprinting towards rides. In particular they were running right towards the Harry Potter ride that recently opened. Just to get into the section of the park that had the ride there was a 2.5 hour wait! That's not even to get onto the ride! That's JUST to get to that area! I can only imagine what the ride itself was...

But anyway. The first section we went to was the Dr Seuss area! I was so excited to take Jude to Universal specifically because they have a mini-Lorax section with the Onceler, snergly hose and truffla trees! Jude seemed to (kinda) make the connection, but maybe it's because I know the book by heart and was reading it aloud as we were walking through. We rode the caro-seuss-al and even got to see a pretty awesome Grinch (and Who's).

Afterwards, we aimlessly roamed the rest of Island of Adventure (the second of two Universal Parks) spending quite a bit of time in the Jurassic Park section. Jude LOVED the large 'playground' they had and the triceratops trail. All in all, Universal is not the most young family-friendly park. Most rides (even ones we thought Jude was more than old enough for) were deemed too big for him and the lines were not as well managed as they are at Disney (I'm quickly becoming one of 'those' Disney people).

After going through the rest of Island of Adventure, we went over to the original Universal Park. At this point Jude was ready for a nap, so Ryan waited in a super long line to ride a new roller coaster they opened within the last two years. Afterwards, we were refreshed and again began ventureing through the park. Jude loved the Fival play area and the Curious George "ball room". We wrapped up hitting all the attractions just in time for the Macy's Holiday Parade. They had brought a number of their large balloons and a lot of costumes and floats to Universal and every day the parade went through the streets of the park. Jude again was in awe and loved it all!

It was then time to head back to the Universal strip for a GREAT dinner at Pastamore! We had picked it randomly thinking it would be a pretty basic menu and something that we'd have to be able to find SOMETHING we liked. I must say, it was really yummy! The waitress was awesome and it was just what we needed before heading back to the parks (again!). We then went back to Island of Adventure, did another Dr Seuss ride that we had skipped before (while waiting in line, Jude fell in love with a Grandmom from Peru) and decided to give the Hulk a try. We had skipped it earlier because of an insane wait time and when we got back, it was again more than we'd hoped for. However, we thought we'd give it a try.

See, Disney and Universal both (kinda) have this "parent swap" program. Essentially you both wait in line, one gets on, the other waits and then you swap. Well, we approached the attendant about how this worked on this particular ride and he told us not to even worry about it. He told us to go right up the exit and we'd be put on the next car! It was awesome! I must say a kid is kinda sweet for the extra attention you can get! (sorry to all of you who we skipped!). We left Hulk as the last ride of the night and again took a worn out Jude back to the hotel.

Our last park was Hollywood Studios. We had decided to do two Disney parks and I'm pretty sure we specifically chose HS for Toy Story Mania and Tower of Terror. Period. As we learned before we needed to RUN to get fast passes for Toy Story the second we got in the park. We arrived before 8am (park officially opened at 8) and already fast passes were being issued for about 11 o'clock. We then decided to wander through the park. We rode a few things that I think we missed previously and as it's a smaller park than Magic Kingdom, we were able to take our time getting through each attraction. Jude loved the Tom Sawyer Island and pretty much everything else. We again split for dinner and came back to hit a couple more rides (specifically tower of terror that Ryan had a super late fast pass for). Afterwards it was time to head back to hotel. I'm pretty sure this was the earliest night.

The next day (new years eve) it was time to begin our journey home. We had a nice relaxing breakfast before heading back to North Carolina. We arrived right around 7:30 and had a very un-eventful New Years Eve. I was in bad right around 12:05 after being begged by my dear husband to stay awake. I must say it was nice to just relax for once.

We had planned to leave Saturday morning to come home, but wanted to give Jude another day in between long car rides. Since my mom had gotten him a membership to her local children's museum (which also included ones around home as well) we decided to let him spend a chunk of the day running around the museum. I'm pretty sure Ryan had just as much fun as Jude and mommom and poppop loved seeing him explore.

Finally, the next day was time to go home. We packed up and tried to get on the road early, but were swindled into breakfast. We hit a little traffic, but made it home in a reasonable amount of time. Just in time, in fact, to sit around with our neighbors and relax before Ryan had to head back to work the next day.

All in all, the trip was much needed and such a great time! I'm already itching for another chance to let Jude see new things and see another little piece of the world - no matter how near or far.

***pictures are coming*** - soon.