DisneyWatch 2010: Day 1

** I dedicate this post to my sister, who had to cancel her trip on Friday because she is sick as a dog. I love you, and we miss you! **


HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLO, INTERNET!

I'm back. Well, sort of. I can only get Grayson's laptop to recognize ONE of my cameras, and lucky you, it's the little point-and-shoot. Also, his laptop has no way for me to edit photos, so these will all be little straight-out-of-the-camera diddies.

First, let me tell you that Disney DOES, in fact, have Internet access. Kind of. It's not wireless (HELLO, DISNEY, WELCOME TO 2010), and you have to have a working Ethernet port in your computer to use it. For a mere $10 a day, but I suppose that's beside the point. Anyway, apparently my Ethernet port is broken, so I can't use my laptop for anything Internet-related. Still, Disney is not to blame for that, although if they had wireless, THERE WOULD BE NO ISSUE HERE.

Sorry for all of the caps. Just be glad you haven't been here the whole time I've been going through my Internet-related woes, because then you would have had to suffer through me TALKING in all caps. Terrible fate for all those involved.

We already have one day under our belt, but I'm going to do something I've never done before and post two days in arrears, because I don't have the time or energy to catch up any other way. And now I'm going to go all Maria Von Trapp on you and Start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. WITH PACKING.

I took Friday off so I could pack us up before leaving on Friday afternoon. Grayson helped by laying out most of what he needed on the guest bed, and I was just going to pack our things in one suitcase. I had to call him at work to ask, "There are 15 pairs of socks on the bed. Did you mean for me to pack all of them?"


Don't wear yourselves out with The Counting. There are 15, and yes, he meant for me to pack all of them. I mentioned that if we took all of his socks, there'd be no room for my clothes, so he reluctantly agreed that I could leave "a few" behind. I DID.

And here's what our largest suitcase looked like when all of his items were in it:



See that sliver over there on the right side? That's where my things are supposed to fit. And THIS time I intended to bring shoes (unlike Thanksgiving, Patrice), so I needed more space. Because I am notoriously a light packer, I refused to pack in a separate bag, so I ended up putting my toiletries in Jake's suitcase. (He requires his own because we have to bring So Many Diapers.)

Nonetheless, I feel pretty good about what we brought. For five people, one week at Disney:



Pretty good, eh? Each of us also had a backpack for the plane, but they only contained items for entertainment and snacks:



[Side note: I haven't flown in a while, so I was plenty peeved when Security took my purse off to the side and took everything out of it looking for metal that had shown up on the X-ray machine. They then confiscated my nail clippers, pocket knife and Leatherman knife. "Ma'am, these are now the property of the United States Government." Oops.]

When we got to our gate, the boys were fascinated with the plane.



While we waited to board, they were glued to the window.



I do believe they had a little Moment.



They were proud to be wearing their First Visit to Disney buttons that my friend Kim P. sent them. (Thanks, Kim! They were a big hit!)



Once we got into the jetway, these three were like old pros. Nick kicked back against the wall, Jakey took a wide stance to steady himself with his backpack that's bigger than he is, and Nathaniel just shot the breeze with them.



As we boarded the plane, I asked the flight attendant if they did anything special for first-time flyers, and the pilot overheard me and invited them into the cockpit.



NOTHING could have made them happier.



Meanwhile, the flight attendant got on the intercom and said, "Jackie, I've got a mom traveling alone with three little ones. Can you save the back row?" INTERNET, THAT IS WHAT THEY CALL "FORESHADOWING."

In fact, I did not think of myself as traveling alone with three children, but take a look at MY ROW.



That's me in the red shirt with a lap child, and two other kids. Here's the back of Grayson's head, of which I had a great view:



We really couldn't have asked for a better flight, though. It was a gorgeous day, and the boys loved being "higher than the clouds."



All three of them were absolute champs. I don't think they know that planes can crash, so that probably helped. Jakey was totally non-plussed about the whole thing. He loved the pretzels, though.



While the big boys played on their PSPs, he played on his Leapster.



We had a completely full flight, so I was worried that he might bother the people around us, but he was quiet as a churchmouse.



So were the other two ... Nathaniel just put on his headphones and played a game:



And Nick did the same.



They were big fans of the free Dr Pepper and pretzels, as well as of the tray tables.



Most of the time I just enjoyed this view of Jakey's head and leaned down to sniff it every once in a while.



Our arrival was uncomplicated and we got to the hotel fairly quickly. (Although Orlando, your signage is a little inconsistent. Sometimes you mark a road really well with important things in purple, and sometimes I get like, a tiny arrow. OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVEMENT.)

In the lobby of the hotel there's a little kids' TV-viewing area, and our kids settled right into the front row while I got us checked in.



Afterward, we went out to the boardwalk to grab a counter-service supper, and the service took a while so Jakey ate Heinz ketchup out of a spoon. Five packets. OMG, please just call Family Services now.



And we finally got to our condo around 8:30, and it's quite lovely. Aside from the wi-fi.



Although at one point Friday evening we'd only seen the airport and the lobby, as we left the lobby Nicholas shouted, "Disney World is the best place EVAH!" And I thought, "These kids are really gonna love this place."

I can't wait to start the week.