An Unexpected Trip

[Jezzerinos]

The Pre-Trip Rambling

So Dibbers, here we go again. My second trippie commences under some rather surprising circumstances. This wasn’t supposed to be happening until this time next year. Before I get into how it all came about, let me introduce you to who will be joining us on this adventure…..

Me (Jeremy)


Mega Disney fan, clan leader, co-master planner, Disney nerd-wannabe

On our last day of Cheeky’s First Trip, sat on the Magical Express back to the airport, it broke our hearts when Joseph (DS1) said ‘I want to go back and see Mickey’. After arriving home, the Disney Blues hit me hard. It took a couple of months to get back to my normal self. Doing the trip report helped me get over it a lot. We also made a fantastic Photo book. I have been reading books and learning more and more about the history of Walt Disney World and Walt Disney himself. No doubt I’ll probably bore you (and my fellow travellers) with all my trivia knowledge.

Anyway, moving on……

Wife (Maria, Princess Mizzy)


Disney fan, yummy mummy, co-master planner, sensible one

Maria was just as amazed as I was on what a fab and stress free holiday we had. When we got home, she was the one that kept us going while I tried to snap myself back to reality. Like me, she was also now addicted to Phineas and Ferb.

Next up…..

Joseph (DS1)
Then


Now

Mickey Mouse & Cars nut, proper little boy, big ball of energy, crazy pirate, superhero (loves Marvel)

Joseph still remembers a lot from his first trip. He still remembers meeting all of the characters and playing in the fountains. He still remembers the first meeting with Mickey when Mickey stamped his feet. So many reasons to go back. He has also got a bit of a crush on Sofia from Sofia the First!

The latter part of 2012 was pretty quiet. We didn’t do much (except pay off what we spent on our trip). We did however, have to find as many Disney Cars diecast cars as we could find to satisfy Joseph’s addiction! I think he has almost got them all. Towards the end of the year though, we did have some fantastic news…………. Maria was pregnant!

It was the news we had been hoping for and a perfect end to an amazing year for us. On our first appointment, we found out the due date was 19 July 2013, 2 days after Joseph’s due date and his original due date before it got moved at his 12 week scan! Scary stuff! Throughout the pregnancy, we hit a few snags. Let’s just say, it was a difficult pregnancy that put us under a lot of stress.

20 weeks came and we found out that we would be having another little boy! Another Mickey fan in the making!

[Jezzerinos]

In the middle of May 2013, Maria went into premature labour! Eeek! Luckily, the brilliant doctors and nurses managed to stop it progressing any further. 3 weeks later, we were given news that the little man had an abnormality (large stomach). Again, it was not as stress free as Joseph’s pregnancy.
After finding out this news, we decided to have Joseph stay at Nanna’s house (my mum) for a night the following week as a trial for when the baby does arrive. The plan was put in place.
The week flew by and I set off for home from work as usual and decided to phone Maria to see how she was doing. She said that she had a stomach ache and wasn’t feeling too good. I got home and the pains were becoming regular and getting worse. I got Joseph some dinner and finished getting him ready to stay at Nanna’s house. Dinner consumed, I rushed Joseph up to Nanna’s and rushed back to pack a bag for Maria as I was taking her to the hospital due to the pains/contractions being regular. We picked up Maria’s mum (Nanny) and were on our way.

Time of parking (as per parking ticket)
7:50pm

Time of waters breaking
8:10pm

Time of birth
8:19pm (less than 4 hours from first contraction to birth)


Mickey Mouse fan, happy chappy, mischief maker

Joseph picked the name from (we think) Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Jake had a bad start and had to spend 5 days bring treated in hospital. For being 4 weeks premature, he was a healthy 7lbs at birth. His time in hospital was so stressful for us but the main thing was after the 5 days were up, they were home safe and sound!
Time has flown by and he has grown and changed so much. He is a more laid back baby than Joseph was. He is a little smiler too, especially between the hours of 12:30am and 3:30 am!



As soon as we knew Jake was coming, my mind went firstly to WOW this is great! Then to when will we take him on his first trip to Walt Disney World. We would have another person come along with the 4 of us too……

My mum (Nanna, Susan)


Winnie the Pooh fan, shopper, handbag fanatic, says she will be a go-with-the-flow-er

After seeing all the pictures from our previous trip, she said to us ‘I wanna go!’. She asked if she could come along with us on our next trip. Of course we agreed as we would have a baby sitter for when we went next! Ha ha ha ha, sneaky! But seriously, we knew mum needed a break from home. It’s been a stressful few years for her so a good break with her No.1 son (and his family) is exactly what she needs. Plus, going with us may bring back a few memories of when I was young and we went to Walt Disney World in 1991.

That’s the crew introduced, let me take you through how we decided to go in February (without worrying about how cold it won’t be, I’ll explain later).

[Jezzerinos]

We knew Joseph would be starting school in September 2014 and our original plan was to go in May 2015. This would mean that we would have to take him out of school for a week and a day to cover the length of the trip.
Ideally, we didn’t want to take him out of school but we checked the prices and they weren’t too bad. Heat would have been an issue (we had been at the beginning of June and Maria couldn’t cope with the humidity). Using the same prices, we thought about the same time but this year (next year when we were planning last year). We wouldn’t be taking him out of school but the hotel wasn’t available!

Scratching our heads, we looked at August but it was out of our price range. Then February popped up. It was cheaper for the hotel and the flights were also reasonable. Maria and I knew we had to wait for the BIG FLIGHT SALES!

Pondering Jake

Before we booked anything, we weren’t sure whether we were being fair on Jake. Joseph was just under 2 when we went so taking Jake at 8 months didn’t seem fair.
We needed to ask people who had taken babies to Walt Disney World and could offer advice/opinions based on their experiences. 2 people instantly came to mind (not Batman and Robin or Chip and Dale) but Joanna (Joanna23 on the boards) and Sophie (MouseMess). They were just like their trippes, fantastic (and they basically made our minds up!). Thank you both so much and if anything goes wrong, it’s your fault!

After all that thinking, we waited………. and waited……… and waited until finally 4 September came and we quickly snapped up our cheaper flight tickets. Then we booked up with Disney online!

We are booked flying with Virgin Atlantic and staying at Disney’s All Star Sports Resort. We enjoyed staying there last time. It was just what we needed, a room for the night then we were out for most of the day. It will be a tight squeeze with us all in one room but it made staying there half the price for all of us. We will be going in February as it was one of the cheaper times to go and cooler too (just). I have checked average temperatures for previous years and it does hit a decent 20-25 degrees (not too shabby).

Experiences and ADRrrrr’s (like a pirate)

Once everything was booked, we now needed to decide where we wanted to go, what we wanted to do and most importantly, where we wanted to eat!

We won’t be doing Universal Studios/IOA/Seaworld again as we don’t think we will get our money’s worth out of the parks. We have no where near done everything at Disney World. Plus, none of us are really worried about going there anyway (I’m not a fan).

One thing that as been on my bucket list was the Keys to the Kingdom tour. Maria wasn’t too worried about doing it so I asked mum if she fancied doing it. She said she would so that was swiftly booked up. I’m really excited to do this, to learn even more about the park we love so much.
Next up was something for Joseph, the Pirates League. He is a huge Jake fan and loved the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction so this for us was a no brainer. Also, I’ll be joining him!
We wanted to do something for Jake too as Joseph would become a pirate. One thing that came to mind was for him to have his first hair cut at the Barber Shop on Main Street USA. We quickly booked this up however, we hope he has a bit more hair by the time we go!

On to the food and first on the list was the Rainforest Café at Downtown Disney. We really liked it here and have not had one bad meal. Just like last time, we will be eating here on our first full day.

Next up, Tusker House for Breakfast. We went here for lunch last time and liked it a lot. This time we thought we would try it for breakfast. I have heard rave review about this and in particular, the Banana bread so we’re really looking forward to this one.

Mum picked Tutto Italia for a lunch one day. This is somewhere that none of us have tried before and looking at the menu, I’m amazed we haven’t been. Joseph and I will be very comfortable with the pasta/spaghetti dishes they have, yum!

We are returning to one of our favourite restaurants from the previous trips, Hollywood and Vine. We really liked the food and the character interaction Joseph had was great so we are sure it will be a big hit once more. Plus, he will get to meet Sofia and Doc McStuffins there too!

Last and by no means least, another repeat from last time is Crystal Palace for breakfast on our last full day. A great brekkie accompanied by some fantastic photos with Pooh and friends.

Everybody Hop

We will be visiting some of the resorts on our trip just like before. I was shocked to find out that mum had never visited any of the other resorts on property so that is a must do.

We will be venturing to the Art of Animation Resort to see the fantastic work they have done (mainly the Cars area). The Polynesian Resort is on the list as we love it here. It’s just so calm and relaxing there and the beach is brilliant. The Swan and Dolphin as well as the Yacht and Beach Club resorts along with the Boardwalk will also be visited. Of course, we will be returning to Beaches and Cream. Mmmmmmm.

The Reveal

We revealed to the boys at Christmas that we were going to see Mickey. Jake is too young to know what we were talking about but Joseph knew.

We brought a personalised Mickey Mouse holding an envelope which said ‘Joseph & Jake. See you in February 2014’ from the Disney Store. I made the them their own autograph books for each park with up to date meet and greet pages. A countdown calendar has been made with stroller and luggage tags too. Maria brought a little Mickey Christmas balloon to go in a small Disney Store box we had.

Joseph is very excited and I’m sure once we’re there, Jake will be very happy too.

What are we looking forward to

Everything.

Ha ha, where do I start.

New Fantasyland will truly be amazing to see in the flesh. Seeing some of the most iconic Disney films brought to life will be (hate to be cliché) magical!

Seeing Mickey Mouse but seeing Joseph and Jake’s faces when Mickey TALKS to them. This is a genius thing Disney have done and it will only make our experience like no other (and probably make us weep too).

I am really looking forward to the Keys to the Kingdom tour. I have heard so many people say how good it is and now I am ‘digging a little deeper’ into Disney history, it will no doubt blow my mind! Plus lunch at the Columbia Harbour House, who can argue with that?!

We have planned an evening where Nanna will have the boys and Maria and I will have some alone time. What better place to do that then at the Magic Kingdom with some Extra Magic hours too which will be nice.

Trying as many new foods and cupcakes as we possibly can. There is a mini challenge to try as many cupcakes they sell. New adult beverages around World Showcase will be good too (not all in one day of course).

Joseph will be tall enough to ride almost everything when we go. He has watched a lot of Youtube videos of the attractions there (mainly Expedition Everest) so we are hoping he can ride them.

Organisation

We are getting to grips with the new Magicbands and FastPass+ system. I have worked out how it works and I can say, it is pretty good. I know there is a huge debate about them but I can see what they are trying to do. It will become second nature to us all soon. The bands have been personalised and colours chosen. We have 3 fastpasses booked each day we are in the parks (that’s the limit per day you get) so we make sure we definitely get to do the attractions we want to do. Plus you can pretty much choose when you do them throughout the day.

I have the My Disney Experience app on my phone with all reservations on there which will probably stay on me the whole time so we don’t miss anything.

We have purchased the new Memory Maker Disney are offering instead of the PhotoPass system which is good as you can download all of your photos (including ride photos) as many times as you like. We think this will be a great feature for us as we had loads of PhotoPass photos last time.

Rounding things off

So there you have it peeps. That is our trip pretty much summed up and raring to go. Seats have been booked with Virgin so we know where we are sitting going and coming back.

Probably a bit early but we will begin the packing of the suitcases this weekend (shorts and things we won’t be needing now). Excitement is building for us all and money is being saved. More things will no doubt pop into my head over the next few weeks before we go.

All that awaits us now is the Unexpected Trip!

[emmam]

congratulations on baby Jake, Joseph looking very cute and grown up in the picture.

I read all your last trip report, so looking forward to reading the latest trip.

[MissVincent]

Great pre trippy

[Pussycat Doll]

Excellent, You'll love the Keys to the Kingdom, its such a good tour and the lunch was very nice too! Pussycat

[Guest]

Loving your pre-trippie, almost as excited as you!

[joanna23]

A fantastic pre-trip and I am so glad that some of my random ramblings helped to get your gorgeous family on the move!

Congratulations on Jake, another Cutie in the making.

We did the Pirates League in the summer for the first time. You are going to love it! There were lots of adults joining in and the atmosphere in there was brilliant. We had huge smiles on our face for the whole day. The Jake makeover is so lovely. Right I'm going to start my own countdown now until your trip report appears - I can't wait!

[Guest]

Congratulations on the newest family member!

Really enjoyed your first report, looking forward to hearing about your forthcoming trip.

[Guest]

Hi Jezza. Now who does young Joseph remind me of?
Enjoy the planning and hope you, Maria and the boys have a fabulous, fantasmic time.