bposhphoto@me.com I found out Wednesday that a hurricane was coming to Florida and up the coast. Yes, I know, I was probably the last one to know, but unless a warning is coming across Peppa Pig or Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom, I don’t see the news. We had already planned our Disney Adventure at the beginning of the year and my husband HAD to be at a meeting Monday morning. We decided to pray about it and discussed it, and we decided to just go.
DAY 1 & 2:
4:30am wakeup call Thursday morning. It was perfect because it felt like the darkness broke up the drive. One of our main routes was closed, so we had to take a detour, making it an almost 10 hour drive. The kids did amazing and we only stopped maybe 3 times and no rain.
The Grand Floridian was one of my favorite hotels when I was younger and I was SO excited that my children could experience it, too. My Aunt goes to Disney all the time and mentioned the hotels are very well rehearsed in lock-downs for weather and one of their favorite memories was during a hurricane lock down on Disney Property.
We checked in and got assigned to an outside building (not connected to the main one). We had no idea what to expect. But they went ALL out. They had characters (Tigger, Pluto and Goofy), games set up, coloring pages, movies playing on repeat, story time in the mickey store, 30% off buffet meals at 1900 Park Fare, free candy packs for the kids, crafts, and the most pleasant attitudes. It was the BEST! My girls thought that the HOTEL was Disney World. The storm didn’t really hit where we were.. maybe some rain. I don’t really know. I do know that prayers worked and we had a fabulous time despite the parks being closed. We got reimbursed for our park passes for the day we missed. My college friends and their 3 boys even stopped by for a playdate.
Our kiddos slept amazingly.. the girls shared a bed (without fighting for the first time) #winning and Lennox slept in the pack-n-play right in the middle of our beds. He is SUCH a good baby. Also, found the BEST sleep app (fan noise) with Sound Sleeper. Why have I not done this before?! I seriously have been sleeping SO good now!
DAY 3:
We had to get everything all packed up because our plan was to spend our entire day at the parks and then drive 2 hrs to stay in St. Augustine to break up the drive back. We now only had 1 full park day and we were going to make it count! We hit the busses at 8:30, and first stop was Hollywood Studios. We took the stroller with ONE seat, the Glider Board, and the Ergo for getting around quickly and getting on and off the bus. We had fast passes for Little Mermaid (where I worked one summer- and no, not as Ariel) and for the Frozen Sing-a-long show (perfect place to nurse a baby on the go). In-between we got starbucks, met Sophia, Jake and Olaf... and pretzels. Lennox learned to clap (ironically at the part of Ursula in the Little mermaid lol). They LOVED those shows! Maclaren LOVED the park until she met the Storm Troopers. It struck fear in her that I kept having to re-assure her we would not see them again.. and we were off to the bus back to the hotel for checkout and to grab the 2nd Seat on our stroller.
Gray and I couldn’t help but feel SO proud at the end of a trip like this. We had to just go with the flow with 3 littles and make the most of what we had. Here we were taking 3 little kids 5 and under and one being an infant, outnumbered, without any help, to one of the busiest places on earth. It could have gone a number of ways, but it went better than I could have ever expected! They were perfect ages to do it with. I think once Lennox gets mobile, it might have made it different. And come November, we would have had to pay for another ticket since Maclaren will be 3. I’m so thankful for my husband and so glad that we are such a team!
I also left with 2 new recipes I want to try.. butternut squash ravioli with a sage cream sauce and “strawberry soup” (strawberry puree, yogurt and sour cream). Courtesy of our Hotel Restaurant 1900 Park Fare.
