Spring Break 2011: Disney and Cocoa Beach

Friday after school, we all headed home to finish packing for our much anticipated Disney vacation! We finally had everything together and headed out around 6:30 or so. The plan was to drive through the night while the kids slept and it worked fairly well until about 2 am or so. Grayson was becoming uncomfortable and kept waking Ella up. We decided to stop to sleep, but there were no hotels to be found in the state of Georgia! So, we ended up taking a pit stop at a rest station with Kermie holding Ella and me holding Grayson in the front seats. Not ideal, but it worked. We arrived in Orlando around 9:30 Saturday morning and drove around until our hotel was ready. Kermie and Ella visited Orange World (which looked very promising), but was not worth the stop. Finally, around 2 pm our room was ready and we headed over to check out the resort.

The rest of the day Saturday was filled with unpacking, sleeping on Kermie's part, playground visits, a little swimming, and a trip to UNO for pizza. We were very pleased with our hotel considering it only cost us $400 for the week. There was a nice living room for the kids to play, full kitchen, laundry, a screened in porch, huge bed, Jacuzzi tub, and shower. They have multiple bedroom units, but we chose a one bedroom. For anyone who works for the government and wants a great place to stay for cheap check out http://www.getravelop.com/ . This is the website we used to find our resort http://www.wyndham.com/hotels/MCOCP/main.wnt





We spent most of Sunday and Monday poolside and went to Downtown Disney for the evening. Ella enjoyed the music being played and danced with the other children for a good hour! She also visited The World of Disney store. Grayson and Ella both loved the pool. Ella usually found a friend to play with and Grayson would get in for a while, play on the deck, and nap.







Tuesday was our Magic Kingdom day. We knew ahead of time that it was going to rain and Kermie insisted that it would be the best day to go as far as crowds are concerned. We had gone to Wal-Mart the day before and bought ponchos and a tarp for the stroller. We were prepared to say the least :) As soon as we stepped off the ferry boat, the storms rolled in and lasted a few hours. We rode every ride we wanted without a wait! It was perfect! Ella's favorite was Peter Pan :)





Wednesday was spent at the pool again. We had our pool day routine down pretty well by this point. Wake up, be at the pool by 9, swim until lunch, eat lunch, put the kids down for nap, I got to go back by the pool for about 30 more minutes, shower, and go to dinner :) We also took the kids to the playground when we got home that night to play.



On Thursday, we headed over to Animal Kingdom since we had completed Magic Kingdom on Tuesday. We had a little scare Thursday morning when we thought we had lost our ONLY car key. We searched the room upside down (or so we thought), called for a shuttle to pick us up, looked into having a new key made ($160), and figured out how to tow the car to the car place ($$$). Finally, after doing some laundry and a lot of praying, I moved the door to find the key under the door! We did a little celebration and headed to Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom was a little crowded, but we had a blast. The Lion King show and Nemo Musical were awesome! Ella loved them both. We waited in line for about 70 minutes for the safari, but it was well worth the wait!








Friday was our last full day of vacation since we would be driving back Saturday and Sunday. We decided to head to the beach in order to "kill two birds with one stone." The last time we went to the beach, Ella did not enjoy it for the most part. She didn't like the sand, mainly because it was full of shells and was terrified of the waves. This time she LOVED it... every part of it! Grayson didn't show much emotion either way. He's always just along for the ride :)



After showering, we went out to dinner one last time at Downtown Disney. I could spend hours there, but Kermie isn't a huge fan of the crowd! We took the kids to the Once Upon A Toy store and then headed back to pack up.




Overall, our trip was a total success. It is difficult being in the car for 14 hours with small children, but coloring books, toys, food, and movies help to make it a little more bearable. I managed to squeeze in the backseat between the two kids and spent the majority of the time there while Kermie drove. We were smart on the way home and reserved ourselves a room about 9 hours in. Hopefully, the next time we head somewhere that far it will be more convenient to fly! I hope everyone else had a fabulous spring break and yay for 30 some days of school left!! :)