Disney World

Back in October (now I'm 2 months behind on the blog. . . ), Bean turned TWO! We got to celebrate in style with a big family trip to Disney World.  Okay, we didn't plan it to fall that way, it's just the timing that worked for everyone else (parents, sister, other sister & her family, & family friend = 12 in all!).

The plan was for my family to all drive down.  We debated back and forth on flying, but realized we'd have to pay for a ticket for Bean since she was turning 2.  So Bean and I ended up riding down with my parents while Steve flew down. Then all three of us flew back.  With Bean and I riding down and flying back, we had to be strategic on getting to my parents.  Steve drove us to Ft Wayne after work on Tuesday and we met my dad there.  We grabbed a quick dinner, then Bean and I went home with my dad while Steve returned to Ohio.  He had to work the rest of the week and met us as we arrived in Florida.

(Helping to pack for Disney World.  She made sure she got all the essentials - toy bag, tissues, soap, what else do you need?)

Bean and I hung out at my parents on Wednesday while everyone else was finishing up packing (and projects like making costumes and shirts).  We left Indiana on Thursday morning and started our trek south.  I had big plans of having a "schedule" in the car with Bean.  Things like, an hour of activities - coloring, stickers, playing toys, reading - and then letting her watch a movie.  Then we'd stop for lunch, she'd nap right after that, and then we'd do another routine or activities and movie to get us to dinner.  In reality, the trip was more like 15 min of stickers/coloring, followed by "no no no stories", watching the Little Mermaid back to back to back (for the record, we always skipped the end when Ursula became a giant monster), only eating ketchup at mealtimes, and refusing to take naps in the car.

We made it to our hotel in Georgia around 9:30.  Bean maybe napped 20 min in the car, so she was exhausted! We split a room with my friend April.  We quickly got the pack'n'play set up, showered, and in bed just a little after 10.  All of us zonked out! In previous hotel experiences, Bean ends up sleeping for an hour and then wakes and cries or wallows around in bed all night.  But this time, she slept straight through the night.  It was amazing! We never got a straight answer as to when to be ready the next morning, but we got up and went to breakfast, expecting to see everyone.  We ended up eating alone and only passed by others towards the end.  We got the cars loaded back up and continued the trek!

(A trip down south would not be complete without a stop at the original KFC in Corbin, KY!)

Friday was Bean's birthday, so while we were on the road, I pulled out decorations and we decorated the van.  Bean just thought we were being crazy.  Our Friday morning car experience was like the day before - 15 min of coloring, rest of the time just watching Dora or Little Mermaid.  We stopped for lunch at a Chik-fil-a.  I brought party hats and had a little party for Bean.  My parents needed to do a Walmart run so the rest of us stayed at the restaurant and let the kids run around the play place (Bean's first time).  She loved it so much and was upset to get back in the car.  Not only did she choose not to nap, but also chose to cry about it for an hour.  We pulled into our Disney resort (Pop Century) just a little after 4.  We got the car unloaded and began to settle into our rooms (parents/sister had one, sister + fam had one, and we shared a room with my friend).

(Waffles for her birthday breakfast!)

(Happy Birthday Bean! You get to spend the next 6 hours in your carseat. Love, Mom)

(This is what 15 minutes of stickers looks like.)

(The guys eating lunch in their Mickey ears.)

(The girls all had Minnie ears, but Bean wouldn't wear hers. Whatever the birthday girl wants!)

(Having a blast in the play place.)

(Climbing like a big girl!)

(You would think by this picture that the play place wore her out.  Not so, this is what crying for an hour about wanting to play on the slide does to you.  Notice her foot in the bag, too.  This beautiful sleep only lasted 20 min. Waaaaahhhh.)

Steve showed up about 45 min after we got to Disney (what timing!).  We had tickets to go into the park that evening, but with Bean not napping, she was pretty cranky by evening.  So we went down to the food court, got some dinner, and called it an early night.  We kept telling her we were at Disney World, but she couldn't grasp the concept.  To her, Disney World was the same 3 rides we showed her YouTube videos of.  It took her a few days to grasp what Disney World was really like.

Saturday was my dad's 60th birthday. The day was all about him so he chose the agenda.  First up -- head to Magic Kingdom just so we could get a group picture in front of the castle.  Once that was achieved, we boarded the monorail and headed over to Epcot for the rest of the day.  We went on a few rides and then headed to lunch.  From there, we kind of split up and made plans to meet back up at dinner.  As the day went on, the crowds got thicker and thicker.  Epcot was celebrating their Food & Wine festival -- who knew that was the place to be on a Saturday night?!  Actually, I personally thought the crowds all week were out of control for October! Apparently everyone else's fall break fell at the same time (we choose that week based on my nieces' fall break).

(Bean's entourage.  They actually did fairly well about not fighting over her.  These were the shirts we wore for my dad's birthday.  The ears make a "60" and "WALT" stood for Wonderful Abo's (what the girls call my dad) Legendary Trip.  We have a group photo, but I downloaded it wrong.  It'll take me another month to try to track down the real photo, so for now, you just get to imagine what we all look like in matching blue shirts.)

On Sunday, we had special tickets to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party.  So we started off the morning at Magic Kingdom (nieces had appointments at the Bibbidy Bobiddy Boutique).  We took Bean on some of "her" rides while the appointments were going on.  Bean immediately fell in love with the Ariel ride ("Ariel again??") and even Cinderella's carousel ("Ride horse?").  We have tried to get Bean to go on several carousels and have had many major freak outs on said carousels.  But for whatever reason, she loved the Disney one (Magic of Disney?? Or maybe the fact that I got on the horse with her?).  We took Bean back to the hotel after lunch so that she could get a good nap in.  Once she was up, we put on our costumes and headed to the party!

(We got the meal plan while we were there, meaning every meal came with a dessert.  That made for one happy 2 year old - and an even happier Momma! And yes, another set of matching shirts.  Out of the 7 days, we all matched 4 days, the girls all matched 5 days, and then the little girls matched 6 days. That's a lot of matching shirts - but boy does it make it nice getting the whole group on a ride!)

The weather was hotter than we thought it would be, so luckily our costumes were 'minimal'.  I didn't think Bean would keep her hat and scarf on, but she did.  You were supposed to be able to go around to different stations and get candy, but as the party got started, crowds came rolling in and lines got really long.  We attempted a couple rides, but then decided to go eat dinner.  By the time we got food and ate it, it was time to go find a spot for the parade.  Bean started melting down around that time and I saw our party clock quickly ticking.  We ended up leaving after the parade while other stayed for fireworks and even did more rides late into the night.  (Let me just say, Disney World with a toddler is a way different experience than without.  It was fun in its own way, but brought a lot of challenges, too.)

(Steve = Bernard from Rescuers; Lindsey = Bianca from Rescuers; Bean = Orville from Rescuers; Amber = Disgust from Inside Out; April = Sadness from Inside Out; Chris = Anger from Inside Out; Gabbie = Joy from Inside Out; Allie = Anna from Frozen; Emily = Merida from Brave; Patty = Fairy God Mother from Cinderella; Sara = Hiro from Big Hero 6; Les = Sorcerer Mickey from Fantasia)

(We did actually have 1 cast member call us by character names, so I felt validated in our costumes. Ha.  As the night went on, hats and ears were taken off.  Funny side note, we all went to go get on Pirates of the Caribbean together (all 12 of us).  I had to go park the stroller so when I got back to Steve, it was just him and April and the rest of the family was in the cue already.  So we went ahead and got in line.  Then we realized we were in 2 different cues and couldn't get to them and had no idea what they were doing and thought they ditched us. After we got off the ride, we realized they were in a candy line so we had in fact ditched them - ha!)

The rest of the week is a blur.  Bean and I went to the Magic Kingdom every day (we made good use of our hopper tickets!).  Anytime we were in Magic Kingdom, we spent most of our time back in Fantasyland riding Ariel, the horses, and Pooh.  Steve and I did get to go on some of the "grown up" rides.  Someone would always volunteer to take her either on a kiddie ride or entertain her for us.  (Perk of traveling in a big group).  Some days Bean would fall asleep in her stroller (or even in a show) in the park, and other days we'd take a break midday and go back to the room for nap.  Just depended on her attitude and what the need of the day was.

(A Disney trip would not be complete without the purchase of Mickey - or in this case Minnie - Mouse ears!)

("Sharing" a Mickey Bar with daddy while we waited to meet up with the group.)

(Never in a million years did I think Bean would like this kind of ride. I for sure thought she was scared of heights and would freak out over the cars going up and down and "flying" through the air. But ends up, she loved them all - Aladdin's carpets, Dumbo's elephants, and even Tricerotops Spin!)

(This is what we call the "Disney face" or simply pure happiness!)

(Riding with daddy on the horses!)

(The three of us had an early morning breakfast at the Beast's castle.)

(We were some of the first people in the park. If you have a breakfast reservation, your name is on a special list and they let you in the park before it is officially open.  The emptiness in the park made for some great photos!)

(Family pic!)

(This is another form of "Disney face" or simply pure exhaustion - ha!)

(I Love Love Love that I got to experience this lovely friend's first Disney trip! She is an absolute blessing in my life and like the sister I never had - ba hahahaha).  

(Group photo of us in our shirts with the group on them.  Mind blown.)

("It's My First Time!" -- Should've made April turn around and stand next to Bean since her shirt said the same.)

We flew back on Friday afternoon.  We woke up early that morning and checked our luggage for the airport at the resort (a nice perk!).  We then headed back to Magic Kingdom to hit up Ariel, horses, and a few other rides one last time.  We quickly grabbed lunch, said bye to everyone, went back to the hotel, and caught the bus for the airport.  It made for a hectic day to go into the park in the morning, but seeing Bean say bye to all the rides was worth it.  I thought there would be a meltdown, but she was fine about it.  Meltdowns did occur for the next week, though.  We had a great time, but I can't see signing up for another trip anytime in the near future (well, that is until Bean says, "Go to Disney World please??").

(Last family Disney photo.  This photo is also a shout out to the fact that I saved up all my Jamberry money I've earned from the year to help pay for the trip.)

(My mom bought Bean a Duffey bear for her birthday.  Duffey is marketed as Mickey's personal teddy bear. There's even a channel in the hotel that plays the same Duffey cartoon every 10 min for 4 hours each evening! Bean has really attached to this bear and sleeps with him almost every nap and bedtime.)

(This is our "we don't want to be home and want to go back to Disney World" faces. One of us is having to act more than the other one.)

Sorry-We-Didn't-Celebrate-Anything-For-You Day

Usually, my siblings and I are on the ball when it comes to gifts for mom and dad throughout the year - Mother's Day, Father's Day, both their Birthdays, and then Christmas.  This year, I guess new babies took over and we didn't rally together like we should have.  So far this year, we missed Mother's Day, Father's Day, and my mom's birthday.  With dad's birthday around the corner, we figured we needed to do something big to make up for our absence of appreciation for great parents.

So we rallied together in true Willis kids fashion and pulled together another one of our famous Disney Days for our parents.  It started several years ago when we put together a "cruise" for our parents in our house.  We set up different rooms to be different parts of the ship and would re-enact things that happened on our first Disney cruise as a family.  Since that first Disney Day, we've done a couple more and always try to top ourselves.

Our last Disney day was in the Spring of 2008.  That Disney Day, we chose to re-enact Fantasmic (one of the night-time shows).  We danced around our parents in the yard and acted out the entire 30 min show - complete with all the characters, coloring pages subbed for the water screens, and costumes.  Steve and I had just been dating for a few months, and he came home with me for the weekend and participated with us.  He manned the camera for part, provided fireworks and bubbles, and even dressed up as prince charming.  I, however, didn't get to play Snow White.  Instead, my brother donned a wig and cape and danced with Steve.  Right in front of my parents, Steve dipped my brother and planted a kiss right on his lips.  That's when I knew I'd marry him - he fit into our family perfectly!  Hahahahah!

For this Disney Day, we chose to recreate Epcot in our parents' backyard and re-enact my dad's favorite nighttime show (Illuminations: Reflections of Earth) and their millennium parade (Tapestry of Nations) which has been retired.

We sent my parents away for awhile in the morning so that we could pull everything together.  My parents took Bean with them which was a big help!  They went to lunch and hung out at my grandma's house until we were ready for them to return.  When they did, we first had a "Food and Wine" snack bar set up.  (One year we went during Epcot's Food & Wine festival and dad and I used up our snack credits to try all this yummy food).

(Mickey greeted my parents on their return to the house. What a good mouse!)

After that, we headed out into the yard for a "Segway Tour of Epcot" just minus the Segways.  Ha, we didn't feel like pulling them out.  We had set up little attractions (I mean like a couple dinosaur figurines to count as Universe of Energy Ride, a Figment animal as "Journey Into Imagination", a bowl of sponge fish for "Living Seas", etc.  One of the stops was a couple of chairs encased with a card board car front, also known as "Test Track".  Mom and Dad sat in the chairs while we recreated the ride - bumpy ride on Belgian Bricks (shook their chairs), stopping with ABS (hit chairs back and forth), Heat Room (flashlights in their face), Cold Room (threw ice at them), Acid Room (Squirt Bottle - Gabbie got the honors), and we even had the barrier test (a couple of poster boards quickly spread apart to reveal a fan in their face - hahaha).

(Can't take a tour of Epcot without a quick stop at Spaceship Earth - and watch the monorail do a lap!)

("Journey into Imagination" with Figment.  By the looks of it, I'd say this ride was down, hahaha)

("Ellen's Universe of Energy")

(When "Test Track" was first created, there were Crash Test Dummie characters that would come and entertain the crowd during the long waits.  I decided Crash needed to come and assist with today's ride.)

(All the siblings even rallied together and wore our Disney shirts.  I'm not really sure what we were doing at this point, or why Emily looks frustrated - ha!)

After Test Track, we did the Tapestry of Nations parade.  The real parade involved huge puppets that were operated and worn on the shoulders of those in the parade.  Our version involved babies on shoulders as the puppets, a hula hoop drum, flags, and some cute little butterfly dancers.  After the parade came the big show -- Illuminations.  All the siblings and nieces were hidden behind a banner on the deck, while Steve stuck to operating lights & fireworks (we go all out!).  My sister was originally going watch the show on the laptop and call cues, but I ended up being "cue" master.  I would call out if it was fireworks (which was us throwing socks, streamers, and cat toys up in the air), lights/water (my brother and Steve would turn Christmas lights on and off as directed, and my brother also manned the sprinkler for the amount of flow according to the fountains in the show), and the Earth ball (we used a big yoga ball and just slowly passed it around to each other over our heads).  This was probably my favorite part of the whole day.  Steve had found some fireworks in the garage and managed to have them timed perfectly to the finale!  It was so much fun just screwing around with my siblings.

(The beginning of the Illuminations show.  In the beginning, there is some naration that involves a guy blowing out a flame.  I used a candle to re-enact the intro.  Pretty sure Disney should hire me!)

We ended the day with a Mexican feast - which symbolized the Mexican Cantina - our favorite Epcot restaurant.  After the dinner, watched the real parade/show, hung out, and enjoyed ice cream and fun.  By the reaction on our parents' faces, I'm guessing we made up for all the special days we didn't celebrate this year.  We love you mom & dad!

(Bonus Photo -- Bean getting to play with cousin Oliver!)

(Oliver is 2 months and 8 days younger than Bean - can you tell?  haha, he's a pretty big boy!  This was the first time these two got to actually interact!)

Disney -- Making Memories

Last week, Steve and I were in the most magical place on Earth -- Walt Disney World!  I grew up on Disney.  My family's love for Disney World all started when my oldest sister graduated high school in 1996 and we went to Disney as a family to celebrate.  Since then, it has become a yearly homage for my family (there were some years we couldn't due to weddings, and sometimes different siblings couldn't go).  Once Steve and I got married, my parents continued their yearly Disney trip kid free until the grandkids were old enough to go.  The last time I went to Disney was with my family in 2010, but Steve opted to stay back and work -- ha!

Steve tried his hardest to avoid a Willis family Disney trip, but finally gave in!  We went for 8 days with my parents, my sister Sara, my sister Amber, her husband Chris, and their three little girls -- Emily, Allie, & Gabbie!  My brother, his wife, and their daughter weren't able to go this time :-(.  So it wasn't a complete Willis family trip, maybe next time!

We had a great week while we were there and the weather was almost perfect!  There were a couple days in the late 70s, and a few in the late 50s, but it was way better than the 20 degree weather back home in Ohio!  Some days we'd get up early with the family and other days Steve and I would just relax in our room and have a slower morning.  It was nice to be able to meet up when we wanted and take off and be by ourselves, too.  It was also very helpful to have some matching shirts while on the trip.  There was only 2 days of everyone matching (and another day of just the girls), but it made it really nice to be able to spot people from far off since they had the same shirts we did on.

You'll have to wait for shots of the whole family.  Disney has a service that takes photos for you, and we ordered all the photos on a disc.  Until that disc comes in, I can't put them on the blog :-/.  So for now, you'll have to settle with the few photos I took myself.

(Sunday Jan 27 -- our first full day at Magic Kingdom!  Just Steve and I had gone to Magic Kindgom the night before to do a couple of rides by ourselves.  We were shocked at how busy Disney was in January!  By Sunday night, we were sick of the crowds at Magic Kingdom and headed over to Epcot to see the nighttime show there.  It was a bit sunny, too.)

(On our first day at Magic Kingdom, we all did a family coaster together -- even the little girls!  We did a really small "kiddie coaster" called the Barnstormer.  Even though the ride is geared toward kids, the big kids rode it too -- see they fit!)

(I tried to get a view of everyone on the little coaster, sorry Steve -- ha ha! Oh yeah, and those buttons are "Family Reunion" buttons.  Cast members loved our matching shirts and told us to go get the buttons to "celebrate" our day.)

(Monday Jan 28 -- We headed with the family to Epcot, but no matching shirts this day!  The weather cooled off a little bit with the clouds, but the weather was still perfect!  In the evening, we went back over to Magic Kingdom to catch their night parade and fireworks.  Magic Kingdom only had their parade on certain nights, and this was our only opportunity to see it!)

(Steve was all about getting a turkey leg, but no one else wanted one, except for my brother-in-law.  So the two guys went off in search of a turkey leg while the rest of us at fast food stop.  Once they found the legs, they came back with meat in hand.  Steve said it was juicy and rich and could only take out about half.)

(Chris on the other hand saw the leg more of a challenge and got the whole thing down!  Although, after that night, we weren't allowed to speak of the turkey legs again.  Apparently one a trip is enough!)

On Tuesday, we stayed the whole day at Disney Hollywood Studies, this was our other all matching day.  But sadly, I don't have any pictures of those shirts.  We did the Star Wars ride, a couple of smaller shows/rides and then ate lunch with the family at the Sci Fi Dine In Theater.  After eating, we went on the Back Lot tour where my parents and myself volunteered to be part of the show (this is all on video, but I don't have copies yet to put on the blog).  We ended the night watching the famous Fantasmic Show!

(On Wednesday, we headed back to Magic Kingdom.  This morning, the family went out first for the little girls to be made over into princesses.  Steve and I joined up later after their transformation was complete.  After we met up, the girls went off to get autographs and Steve & I went and rode Big Thunder Mountain together.  I'm a roller coaster fan, while Steve is not!  He was a trooper though and went on most of them with me!)

Thursday was spent at Animal Kingdom in the morning, a lunch at Rainforest Cafe, and a trip to Downtown Disney at night.  This is the last day where the girls had matching shirts :-(.  Even though Animal Kingdom is the most well themed park, it is not one of our favorite places.  It does have an intense coaster -- Expedition Everest and a cool animal safari, but that's about it (oh and Steve's dinosaur ride).  Everyone went on the coaster except for Sara, Gabbie & Steve, but not all at the same time.  I think Emily & Allie both went on it 3 times with different adults.  We all did the animal safari together, which was pretty neat this time!  A lot of the animals were out and even walked up close to the truck -- pretty cool!  Downtown Disney is a shopping/entertainment area that is free to get into.  So my sisters, mom and I went shopping, Dad & Steve went to an interactive technological place called DisneyQuest, while Chris stayed back at the resort with the kids.  DisneyQuest has a lot of simulator games (Chris gets motion sick and couldn't go) and dad and Steve had a good time (even though dad got motion sick on a few games).  

Friday we started out at Disney Studios again in the morning and ended at Epcot in the evening.  Amber & family headed to Studios first in order to sign the kids up to participate in a Star Wars show.  They got there in time and signed up for an afternoon slot.  The rest of us met there in time to see the girls fight against Darth Vader with light sabers.  After the show, all the girls (except me) went to go build light sabers, while the guys and myself went and road Rockin' Roller Coaster.  Even Steve approved of the ride when it was done!

(Feb 1st -- after finishing up at Hollywood Studios, we headed to Epcot for one last time.  Steve and I broke off from the group and did our own thing.  First we went to Norway and ate dinner -- toasted sandwiches and "Norwegian desserts" -- a sweet pretzel & troll horn.  The troll horn was just a pastry filled with some sort of berried cream.  After eating, we went on an "Agent P mission" in Norway and then in Mexico.  Agent P is a character from the Disney Cartoon Phineas & Ferb.  P is Perry the platypus who always thwarts his nemesis Doofenshmirtz's evil plan.  You sign up at a kiosk, get a cell phone that plays videos, and go on a scavenger hunt throughout a specific country to stop the evil plan in process.  It sounds sort of crazy, but it's actually really neat!  You get to learn hidden things about that country's area as you solve the problem.)

(Sat Feb 2nd -- We sadly saved the best for last -- Steve's funnel cake.  While at Disney, we had a meal plan that Steve was very skeptical about prior to the trip.  Each day, we both got 2 "quick service" meals (entree/side + beverage + dessert) & 1 snack.  A quick service meal is an over the counter service, not sit-down/waited on.  For the first couple of days, we would share meals if we wanted to eat 3 times a day, but by the end of the week we were only eating 2 a day because we slept in.  So by the end of the week we were a little ahed/right on our meal count.  We also stocked up on the snacks and went crazy towards the end.  Some of our favorite snacks were: LaFou's Brew -- a frozen apple concentrate drink with passion fruit syrup & marshmallow topping; Dole Whip -- pineapple soft serve with vanilla ice cream twist; root beer floats -- they had a good "bang for the snack buck" deal; and lastly, Steve's funnel cake.  He had been scoping out the funnel cakes all week, but all the places we saw wouldn't count it as a snack option.  On the last day, we found a little restaurant that had funnel cakes that counted!  Even though we had just eaten & were stuffed, Steve still made room for that funnel cake!)

We had a great time while at Disney and look forward to our next trip -- that's right!  Steve said he'd do it again! Prior to the trip, he only promised me 1 Willis style Disney trip.  But by the end of the week, Steve said it was fun and interesting and he'd do it again, only with the stipulation of it being years down the road.  I'll take it!