Stats for Monday, December 3, 2018

Origin: St Pete Beach

Destination: Fort Wilderness Cabins, Disney World

Distance: 100 miles

Speed: approx 70 mph

Time on the Move: 1 1/2 hours (BY CAR!!)

After leaving brunch with my mom and aunts, Mike and I told the kids we were running to the grocery store. And we did. We let the kids buy tons of treats and bought a few items to make some easy meals. Then, just when the kids thought we were heading back to the boat, we were actually heading to Disney World.

We decided Disney would be a great Christmas present experience for us since we can’t add a lot more toys to the boat. Plus Tobin has never been there, and it was time to introduce him to the magic that is Disney (Colin and Hayley went 2 years ago when Colin turned 6, but Tobs was too small so he stayed home). We didn’t tell the kids a thing about Disney and just drove right to our hotel.

As we got closer, Hayley started to notice the Disney world signs and started catching on slowly. Tobin wanted to know when we could go to Disney World. Colin worked on reading a book. It wasn’t until Hayley actually figured it out that we confirmed her suspicions that we WERE in fact GOING TO DISNEY WORLD.

It was so funny to see their reactions, especially because they are all so different. Hayley was just so over the top excited. Colin doubted that we were really taking them to Disney (until he put his bookmark in, as his former teacher noticed, and then he started to believe). Tobin just sat there and took it all in, mostly with a big grin on his face. What a great surprise!!

We planned to stay at Fort Wilderness Lodge in a cabin for 2 nights. The kids were thrilled with the cabin–it had bunk beds, 2 tvs, another big bed, and tons of space (at least about the same amount as our boat). On that first night we headed straight for the pool. The kids loved the waterslide and we even saw an alligator as we walked toward the pool. After swimming we hoped to see fireworks, but it started pouring rain, so we had a relaxing night lounging in our beds with big fluffy pillows, watching Disney Junior. It was amazing.

The next morning we were up and at em right away, heading to Epcot. Everything was magical and we started off the day seeing Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy. Tobin was especially excited to see the characters. We took time walking through the country areas, meeting characters when it was convenient, and then we started searching for rides. The highlight of the day was our last ride, the one where you design a car and drive it on a test track. It was great to see Colin and Hayley work together to design their car and everyone was thrilled with the ride.

We ended up returning to the hotel earlier than we’d planned, but we were exhausted and knew we wanted to stay up late for fireworks the next night, so we decided not to push it and stay out too late. Another night of falling asleep to cartoons in bed. Life at Disney is sure sweet.

On our last morning I was up and at em around 5:00 getting lunches made, packing up all of our stuff, and getting everyone ready to go. We were headed to the Magic Kingdom and so excited for all of the fun. It was great to see how excited the kids were for the rides, the characters, the parade, and the fireworks. Tobin kept asking what Colin and Hayley did on their last visit because he wanted to do the exact same stuff, and the older kids were so excited to tell him about everything they remembered.

Even though the park was extremely busy and it was a lot of waiting at times, we had a great time. All the stress melts away as a parent when you see your kids having so much fun. That sparkle in their eye is just priceless. The trip ended late at night. After the fireworks we let each child choose 1 more ride to go on before heading back to the car. Then we had a 2 hour car ride back to the boat which was still parked at The Rowes’. It was a long day and we were exhausted on the car ride back, but at least the kiddos slept the whole way.

It was nice to get back to the boat, though I wouldn’t have minded a few more days of a big fridge, cable tv, endless hot water in what seemed like a huge shower, and that fluffy pillow.

Thanks for reading along and following our adventures!!