Disney 2014: Day 1 (Travel Day)

I bet at this point you thought I might never come back.

I considered it.

But then I decided it would be really terrible of me to just quit blogging without covering Disney World. I thought some of you might actually HUNT ME DOWN.

In preparation for our trip, I'd purchased a set of six b-r-i-g-h-t T-shirts for each of the kids. Not only would they look good in pictures in the parks, but being able to count off one-two-three-four yellow, green or purple shirts would make it a lot easier to find all of them at a glance. Theoretically.

We were really excited to have been selected to participate in Disney's MagicBand pilot program, in which your room key, park tickets, FastPasses, dining plan and more are loaded onto bracelets that you wear every day. BEST THING EVER.

Having also spent a day during this trip at Universal with loose paper tickets for park passes, their equivalent of FastPasses, our meals and snacks, I can tell you that we SORELY missed our MagicBands that day.

The morning we left for Orlando, we got up just after 5 a.m. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 8, and knowing that we had to get all six of us through Security, we wanted to arrive at the airport by 6:30. The only item of note is that Grayson got pulled out of line and had his hands wiped for an explosives scan. INTERESTING.

After we established that my husband who was on his way to Disney World with his family is not a terrorist, we made our way toward our gate. Of course we had to make a stop at the cute new toddler play equipment that the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth Airport added recently.

Our one toddler really liked it.

But our non-toddlers enjoyed it, too.

Even though they'd gotten up really early, these four were PUMPED about getting on the plane and heading to Disney!

(And I should mention, if you're new here, our kids don't dress alike all the time. Or ever. This was just for travel purposes.)

We couldn't get on the plane fast enough for the kids ... they were just bursting with excitement.

Amelia had a "moment" right as we reached the door of the aircraft in which she wanted to be picked up and carried ... Couldn't blame her. That saggy royal blue netting didn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence.

Once we got on the plane, it was "old hat" for the kids. The boys settled right in with their drinks and their electronics, and they acted like they fly every day.

We hit a little bump in the road when we'd been onboard for about 15 minutes and then were told we needed to deplane and head back to the boarding area while they performed some maintenance on the plane. Delta was really great about it ... they offered us unlimited drinks and snacks, let the kids run around, gave them coloring books and crayons ... and ultimately we were back on the plane and on our way within an hour.

Not knowing how Amelia would do on her First Plane Ride, I'd purchased some Disney Princess and Hello Kitty stickers to entertain her.

And now I'm going to do something ridiculous, which is to share a whole BUNCH of silly pictures with you. I took a series on the plane of me and Amelia making faces with the phone camera flipped around toward us, because I was trying to distract her during some "rough air." Don't focus on me; look at her.

That worked for a few minutes, but then she did start to get worried for real. She whimpered and grabbed my hand and said, "I wanna hode you, Mommy."

Um, OKAY, IF YOU'RE GONNA BE SO ADORABLE ABOUT IT.

We arrived in Orlando before noon, thanks to our early flight. It was raining when we got there, but we wanted to pick up lunch on our way to the resort. We decided to head to our favorite lunch spot from our last visit, the Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney.

Of course lunch was magnificent. Because Earl of Sandwich. And afterwards as we were walking back to our van, we were distracted by Buzz and one of the Disney shops. As you are.

Amelia spied a wall of Doc McStuffins toys from the doorway, and she made a beeline straight for it. She started pulling plush toys out faster than we could put them back in.

She lined them up on the floor, counting them to make sure she had one of each.

She tried to pick them all up and hold them all in her arms to ensure they all made it to the cash register intact.

She showed them to me individually to me so I could appreciate them in all of their splendor.

But it was Day One, Internet. We couldn't just lay out the cash for six Doc McStuffins toys on Day One. We had to put them back, leave them behind. AND OH, THE DRAMA. You would have thought we severed her FINGERS.

Luckily, just a few steps away she was able to get her very first glimpse of Mickey and Minnie.

Granted, they were plastic, but who's counting.

I MEAN. Just look at that face.

Minnie even earned a hug. It was pretty special.

Right after that, we headed to our resort, Disney's Beach Club Villas, to check in and look around. I intended to take really good pictures of our two-bedroom condo for you. That did not happen. Here are two mediocre pictures.

Also, a bonus: a picture of Jake having a meltdown within two minutes of entering the room. Did I mention we got up at 5 a.m.?

My parents and sister arrived early that afternoon, and we joined them for supper in the Cape May Cafe, right there in the Beach Club. It's a buffet restaurant and had options for everyone, but we might have eaten our shoe leather by 8:05, which was our reservation time.

Please enjoy my plate of yellow and white food, my standard.

After our late-ish meal, it was off to bed for our weary crew. For all the fun was about to begin!

Now, the real question is, how long do you have to wait to hear about it? That's a good question. I'm going to do my best, I promise.