Day 1: Travel
Dates: January 30 - February 8th
This is my second attempt at a trip report (my last one failed). I am definitely not a fantastic writer (shout out to all the CPAs!) so don’t come to my report seeking excellent writing. I’m always so jealous of all you folks on here who are such eloquent writers. My main goal for this report is to document our trip to help me preserve all the wonderful memories we made!
I also say y’all a lot, so it that irks you, you can move along! 
Our traveling party is myself, my three daughters (8, 4 and 2), my son (6), my parents and my husband (who doesn’t arrive until Friday night). This will be our third family trip to WDW (first was January 2018, second was October 2018). My goals for this trip are to SLOW DOWN and enjoy my people. We are planning 9 park days total (2 days at EP, HS, AK and 3 at MK).
Today was all about getting to WDW.
Woke up around 5 to spend some time with DH before he had to leave for work. Got a call from my dad around 7 to tell me that my mom had had a pretty bad fall yesterday afternoon. Hit her head and bruised up her backside. She also had some significant foot pain after her fall but says it’s better today. Hopefully that’s true but she’s wearing an ankle brace for the first couple of days just in case. She assures me she’s fine. 
After chatting with my dad, DH and I had to hustle to pack up the kids’ lunches, snacks, water bottles, backpacks and coats before scooting our the door to head to school. After dropping them off I came home and grabbed our 9 month old Labrador. We were having her boarded in a new place our vet had recommended. She was still on activity restrictions, meds and wearing a cone from a back-to-back surgery (a spay and a stomach surgery…apparently, she enjoys eating rocks. 
) DH called me as I was dropping Daisy off and asked me if I could meet him for lunch. I told him I’d let him know in an hour or so.
After I drop Daisy off I swing home and finish packing and load up all of our suitcases. I started packing three weeks before our trip and I am so thankful I did so. It made the day-off packing much less stressful and time consuming.
Once I finished packing I managed to load up the 7 (!!) suitcases in the car only to discover it was too late to go out to lunch. Tear, tear. I decided to swing into Whole Foods for a quick bite and then went to pick up DD2 from school. Her and I came home for a short while and then grabbed the dry cleaning to drop off so we’d have clean clothes upon our return, picked up a Starbucks latte for me (second of the day!) and headed to the carpool line to pick up the other kiddos.
On our way to school DD2 fell asleep. I was thankful as it would likely be the last chance she had for the day. Picked the kids up and whisked them off to the airport!!! After some minor traffic delays (5 car accident blocking the right lane ) we made it to the terminal and were wheels up at 3:45! Vacay has officially begun!!! 
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Our flight was as uneventful as one can be with four kids. After we landed, we grabbed our bags, grabbed a van (we decided to forgo MDE this time around) and were in the Polynesian lobby at guest services picking up the stroller and grocery order by 7:40. I was very pleased with our grocery order. I had received a delivery confirmation from Garden Grocer around 3 and everything was just as I had requested it and all the cold items had been properly stored while they waited on us to pick them up. We rented a smaller model double stroller from Kingdom Strollers and were somewhat disappointed with the one they gave us. It worked fine but the wheels had almost no traction left on them and sometimes groaned and squeaked incessantly as we pushed the girls through the parks.
After signing out the stroller and requesting Bell Services to deliver our bags and groceries we headed toward our room. I think I had requested Hawaii but knew we’d have tough luck with it being a DVC building. I had prioritized connecting rooms above all other requests with my room request and was thrilled to get the room ready text when we landed. We got connecting rooms!! Yes! Rooms 1408 and 1409 on the first floor in Tuvala. When we initially saw where they were I was a bit nervous. They were literally 10 steps from the front entrance to the building and right across the hall from the elevators. I was worried initially that sound would be a problem but it ended up being a non-issue. We had decided to splurge on a Magic Kingdom view for this trip and man, that view was just lovely. All of the adults loved being able to enjoy our coffee outside every morning, watching the boats or (on our really early mornings) enjoying the pre-dawn quiet of the lake.
We walked into the rooms (followed almost immediately by the bellhop with our bags) just as the fireworks started to go off in MK. What a fantastic first memory and great way to kick off the trip!! The kids were all so excited!!
After the fireworks ended, we had one more items to check off our list for the day. Dole Whips. We walked over to Pineapple Lanai and decided to enjoy them inside at Capt Cook’s (it was quite chilly) just after 8:30.
Once we finished our treats, we headed back to the room, unpacked and were in bed around 10:30.
Tomorrow we’re off to Hollywood!!
Hilarious!!
He really wanted to go in the standby line. Posted about 65 minutes. No one else did and we had EMM tickets on Monday so it just didn’t feel worth the wait.
The squash bisque was fantastic, as was The Stroll Through Nature main course. All of the desserts were delicious - I think my favorite was the miner’s treasure. I’m pretty simple minded sometimes when it comes to desserts.
DD4 was almost at meltdown point mid-way through the ride but at the end when we asked her if she liked it she shook her head no and nodded yes all at the same time. 
I haven’t practiced since my oldest was born but I keep up with my license in case I ever decide to go back to work.