The de Leon Family: The Happiest Place on Earth!

Whomever said it was impossible to do Disney with a toddler was wrong. Very wrong! Was it hard? Absolutely. Was it doable? Of course. Will James remember his first trip there? Probably not. Was it worth seeing his face and capturing those moments on camera? Without a doubt!

We are officially back from Disney and we had such an awesome time! I learned a lot on this trip, even after doing as much research as I did. After seeing James's reactions, it became clear to me that Jim really should've been on this trip. Unfortunately, he started a new position the same week we booked our trip and couldn't make it, but I kept him in the loop with all the pictures and video I sent. He too, was just as surprised as I was at how great James's reactions were. Jim couldn't believe all the things we were able to do. Now that our trip is over, I must say that it was a complete success. Tiring, yes...but a success none the less.

Here's a run down of our week:

We started with an hour flight delay which made our "night-night" flight a bit of a challenge. I had a very restless (almost) 2 year old once we finally made it on the plane. Thank goodness I had my nephew to help me! We spent the weekend at my mom's house - relaxing, playing, and swimming. Unfortunately, the weather in Florida has been rainy for a few weeks and that didn't change once we got there. The rain would come in the early afternoon and would last pretty much the rest of the day. It was a little bit of a damper, but it was nice to just lay around and relax. Jim's Aunt Yvonne and Uncle Tim met up with us Saturday night for dinner. We had a very fun 3 hour dinner! We always love seeing them and I'm thankful they live so close to my mom.

We got to Disney late in the morning and were able to check in early, which is always a perk. Once we got settled in our room, we headed to lunch at our hotel and then off we went to Mag.ic Kin.gdom. Our plan was to spend two days at Mag.ic Kin.gdom and one day at Holl.ywood Stu.dios.
As soon as we hit the MK entrance, James started saying "Mickey." Mickey, of course, was everywhere. I won't go into every little detail of our time at the park, but I will say that James loved all of the rides he rode. We tried twice to ride Dumbo and both times that we were next, they shut down the ride due to the rain. Boo! We were finally able to ride Dumbo the next day, phew. The T.oy Sto.ry ride and the Dis.ney Jun.ior Li.ve show at Holly.wood Stu.dios were awesome! The show was definitely James's favorite. Each day, James fell asleep in his stroller during nap time (right on queue) and my mom offered to watch him, so I took that opportunity to spend one on one time with my nephew riding the big kid rides. We had fast passes for the popular rides and because of the rain, the lines weren't long at all. The rides were all wonderful, however the highlight of our trip was definitely breakfast with Mickey and pals. There is a 6 month wait for this character breakfast and I happened to get a reservation a month ago because someone cancelled. I agreed to the reservation not even knowing if we were for sure going to Disney, and boy am I glad I did. All of the characters stop at each table to say hi, sign autographs, and take pictures. They come separately and at just the right timing, so you're not waiting too long or too short. The look on James's face was absolutely priceless when Mickey came to our table. He wasn't scared of the characters at all, which was such a surprise because they are so big (not to mention he had an emotional break down when he met Santa). When Donald came to our table, James picked up a fruit loop and gave him one. SO funny! After all, Donald is a duck. Ha! This truly was the best moment of our trip...I could've wrapped it up here. Ha! On another note, the staff at the parks were so incredibly nice. All of them. I don't remember ever being impressed by their customer service in the hundred times I've been to Dis.ney, but I noticed it this time around. They are fantastic!

Here are a few tips if you're thinking of doing Dis.ney with young ones:

-Bring the rain cover for your stroller (if you have one). I seriously regretted not having ours. I ended up using a poncho to cover the stroller while James was in it.

-Always bring a change of clothes/shoes/socks, an umbrella, a light blanket (we used one of our Aden & Anais ones), and a hand towel (borrowed from the hotel). The indoor restaurants at the park were all freezing, so it was great to put the blanket on James as he napped in his stroller. We used the hand towel to wipe up water spots on rides, chairs, etc.

-Buy one of the MM balloons upon arrival at the park. Make sure it has weights and wrap it around the handle of your stroller. This was so helpful because when you park your stroller, the staff will move it around. We saw so many people looking around for their stroller, but we would always spot ours in one second. The balloon trick works!

-Do your research! Research on everything - which rides to go on first, which fast passes to get first, etc. The T.oy St.ory Ma.nia ride had a 105 minute wait and by noon, their fast pass time was already at 8pm. That was the first fast pass we got, so we were able to ride it at 11am. Pinterest had great links to Dis.ney with a young one.

-Communicate with the Dis.ney staff. We were literally next in line for Pooh and James had pooped! I had to change him right away, but didn't want to lose our place in line. The staff were so accommodating! They guided me out of the line and into the nearest restroom, then escorted me back to the front of the line. Easy, peasy!

-Eat lunch before noon! We did and it was great to have a relaxing lunch versus trying to fight for a table.

-And my biggest recommendation? Stay at one of the 3 hotels that are on the monorail stop. It is more expensive, but the convenience is by far worth the money. Unlike the packed shuttle buses where you have to break down your stroller, you can just hop on the monorail, stroller and child as is, and in no time at all, arrive at your hotel.

The rest of our time at Dis.ney was great and on the last day, I was so tired that I decided to take James back to our hotel to nap with him, while my mom and nephew finished up at Hol.lywood Stu.dios. We spent the last two days of our eight day stay in Florida back at my mom's spending time with her side of the family. It was quite a long week, so I was very happy to get back home. Plus, we missed Dada! Jim had a great weeks as well - he put in a lot of hours at work, and of course, a lot of hours on the golf course. Here are some pics from James's first trip to Dis.ney World. Enjoy!