Ever heard of the butterfly effect? One small change can lead to much larger changes in the future. That's kind of how this latest family adventure was started...Last year, we were planning to go to Hawaii with James when we went for a conference. The conference was cancelled, and we were left with a wide open agenda to plan another vacation. We discussed a wide variety of options (Europe, Galapagos, national parks), but finally decided that all of those would potentially get better as the kids get older. But, there was one place that might not be more fun as they get older...that most magical, happiest place on earth...Walt Disney World!
So, last OCTOBER (more than a year in advance!), we booked our week-long family vacation. We waited until last summer to tell the kids. We actually had to do a little prep work before we told them, because we had them pretty conditioned to think that Paris would be more fun than Disney!
Finally, it was time to leave! We were all impressed with the efficiency of the Magical Express at the airport. We might have been a little over-impressed, since that efficiency didn't always carry over into other parts of the Disney experience the rest of the week. It was strange how some processes were so carefully engineered (ride lines and boarding) and some were such disasters (buses to Magic Kingdom, entrance at Hoopty Doo).
Rudy was pretty excited to finally get to our hotel! We had originally planned to stay at Art of Animation because we loved the Disney theming and the budget price. When the specials were released, AofA was not included. We were pretty disappointed, but we changed to Coronado Springs. It's a moderate (supposedly fancier) resort and was actually cheaper than AofA. It was fine, but lacked any really cool theme. IF we ever go back, I think we all agreed that we'll pay the extra amount for a monorail resort; the convenience is hard to beat!
As soon as we dropped off our carry on bags, we headed to Downtown Disney. We couldn't unpack yet anyway, because the Magical Express hadn't delivered our checked bags.
Downtown Disney was probably a good way to ease into the week. It wasn't tremendously crowded and there was no planning required. We just wandered through the stores and tried our hand using our MagicBands to use a counter service credit for lunch.
Lunch at Earl of Sandwich:
I had read about this snack mecca before the trip, and it probably would end up in a top 5 favorite for the kids for the entire trip. I'll do a whole separate post on Disney snacks, but suffice to say for now that Goofy's Candy Company rocked!
Our next adventure for Sunday was the Hoopty Doo Review at Fort Wilderness. The first bus driver advised us to plan 90 minutes to get there. We did, and we had about 70 extra minutes before dinner! We took a stroll through the corral. Notice the Mickey head on the horse?
Played a little tetherball on the beach...
And let the kids play on the playground...
Time for the show! Notice Rudy in the picture on the right? He slipped off the railing while the shutter was still open.
James said the show is pretty much how he remembers it from 30 years ago. The kids love live musical performances, so they were entranced the whole time. The food was not bad, and certainly plentiful - all you care to enjoy (Disney speak) fried chicken, ribs, corn, and mashed potatoes.
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To wrap up the day, we navigated from Fort Wilderness back to Coronado Springs: boat to Magic Kingdom and bus to Coronado Springs. After unpacking, it was time for bed before our first big Disney day!
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