{Disney Bound | Animal Kingdom | Disney Springs}

On our last day at Disney World we headed to Animal Kingdom. Now this was sort of our off day. We knew it was a relatively small park and that there weren't a lot of big rides (or even small ones). It feels more like a huge zoo when you get down to it. We had even originally planned on just skipping it, but because we had done Magic Kingdom and gotten everything in that we wanted to, we decided to go ahead and see it. Why not right? Any Disney park is a good Disney park :).

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{Disney Bound | Disney Lessons}

Oh how many things I learned on our trip to the house of mouse. As much as I really love Disney, I learned things that I will definitely remember for future trips (should I plan any in the near future). So I thought I'd share them with you (and also this helps me be able to look back and remember lol).

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{Disney Bound | Magic Kingdom}

Or as I like to call it, the day our Disney trip imploded on us.

Everything started out fine that day. D had decided that we would go to Magic Kingdom later in the day. I tried to tell him that was a bad idea, but he insisted that was what we were doing. So I just let him handle it. He got up with Gaige and went fishing on Ol' Man Island, coming back about 30 minutes later saying that if I still wanted to get to the park for rope drop, we could. The failed fishing trip was just the start of D's annoyances for the day and I think that is what started him off on the wrong foot.

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{Disney Bound | Epcot}

The very first thing we did was head through the worlds to Norway where the Frozen ride is. Only to discover that everyone had the same idea lol. So we ditched that plan and went to different rides. Not that there were too many. We ended up on Soarin' (so worth the wait oh my gosh!), Mission to Mars (for the love of God if you're going on this, go on the green! You will regret going on orange lol). We also went on a ride called the Land, which was kind of cool. It took us through all the ways we can help the earth and how at Disney they're trying to make a difference. They grow a ton of their own food. It's insane.

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{Disney Bound | Hollywood Studios}

I know that Magic Kingdom is the most popular of the four Disney parks, and most people gravitate to that park before all the others. But for me, and I think the rest of the family too, Hollywood Studios was definately our favorite!

We got up early the morning after arriving and got to the bus stop early. They arrive every 15-20 minutes so we only sat there at the depot for a few minutes before one finally made it's way to us.

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{Disney Bound | Travel Day 2 & Arrival!}

You know what I realized this entire trip? My grandparents were crazy taking us on trips all the time. For the love of chicken nuggets.

Our second day of travel was pretty uneventful. We woke up around 5am because the hotel had a continental breakfast that we didn't want to miss. It was just one more thing we didn't have to spend money on while on the road. Also another stop we didn't have to make. So up we got and were down in the dining area by 5:30am. Not only was it still dark (hello winter!) but it was cold and rainy. To be honest I was kind of glad for the weather. Once we got back in the van the kids just sort of curled up and went back to sleep. That worked for me since I didn't want them up that early anyway. I could see the melt downs coming long before we even got into a Disney park.

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{Disney Bound | Travel Time| Day 1}

I didn't know if I wanted to blog while I'm also vlogging or not. Until I got to this first hotel and can't sleep. I can never sleep in hotels. Just another reason I prefer traveling in the motorhome. *Sigh*

But anyway, I figured I'd blog about our trip and then post the link to my "vlog". Today I just mainly snapped because pulling out my camera or talking to my phone was awkward. But I think I did a pretty good job of getting it all. I'll do the same tomorrow and then use my camera when we get to Disney. Anyway, on with the blog!

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{Disney Bound | Port Orleans Riverside | Review}

I'm aware that anyone reading is wanting to see pictures and videos of our stay. But I recently got some questions about how I liked our hotel, and I thought I'd go ahead and post about it first.

To be honest I wish I would have had a more honest review of what to expect from this resort. I've seen many room tours on Youtube but they don't give details, they just show you what it looks like.

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{Disney Bound- What's in my Carry On}

I guess technically this isn't a carry on and it's more like a road trip bag. Since I'm not flying any time soon. But I thought it would be fun to do anyway :). I love watching these on youtube. But because I'm not a fan of being on camera, I'll just blog it.

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{Disney Bound- Moms Park Bag!}

I have been going back and forth as to if I want to take a bag into the parks or not. And ultimately I think it'll be a good idea. Especially since I want to vlog and snap chat as much as I can. I'll need a place to keep my extra batteries, memory cards, and chargers. I'm not feeling the whole huge book bag thing though for myself. I might be able to talk D into taking one. Just so we have our ponchos and such in there. But I also might be able to fit them in my bag. We shall see when I actually buy them lol.

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{Disney Bound- The Struggle}

These kids are making me nuts! I am so glad I didn't tell them about our trip when we booked it in August. I'd have canceled it by now just so I didn't have to hear Are we going to Disney today? every single day. Which is exactly what Owen has been asking me since the day after we did our reveal. It's insane!

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{Disney Bound- What's In My Makeup Bag?}

I am by no means a makeup expert, but I do know what I like and what works for me. So like I have with every other travel series, I thought I'd tell you what I'm taking with me in my makeup case this trip!

For starters, I'm packing everything I'm going to need in a roll up toiletries bag. I'm planning on taking this one that my grandma gave me. It had been hanging on her bedroom door for years, stocked and ready to be put in a bag or hung in the motorhome. I've taken it on most of our trips so far. But I also have this one that I kind of like because the compartments are detachable. I'll see how it all works out. Maybe I'll take both lol.

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{Disney Bound- The Big Reveal!}

I have been waiting since we booked our trip to tell the kids we're going! It has been absolute hell trying to keep this damn secret! I hate keeping secrets like that. But today is the day! I finally got our Magic Bands in the mail! And just in time too, we're only three weeks from our Disney vacation.

I have scoured the internet (mainly pinterest) for a way to tell the kids. A creative way. I finally decided on wrapping them and having each kid take a turn unwrapping the package.

It came in this brown package, so it's not obvious that it's from Disney. In fact, it doesn't say Disney anywhere on it. I think that's a pretty awesome touch to be honest.

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{Disney Bound- Packing List!}

I have waited so long to be able to write these posts! We're now just four weeks from our Disney trip and I can not wait! But now the real planning begins. I already posted about what we're taking as far as food. But when it comes to clothes, that gets a little harder. Mainly because the two older kids will want to pack their own bags. So that's stressful for me on its own. I like to know everyone has everything they're going to take. Which means packing my bag, Owens bag, and rechecking Dawn and Gaiges bags to make sure they have enough of everything they need. Which they most likely won't and I'll have to repack it. The struggles of being a mom going on vacation.

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{3 Kids & The 16 Hour Drive}

If you know me at all, you know that the minute we booked our Disney World trip, I started planning the drive. For some, a 16 hour drive with three kids would be daunting and they wouldn't even dream of taking that bullet. But for me, the drive is half of the fun. And over the years, D has come around to that way of thinking as well. Besides that, I feel like if God had wanted me to fly he would have given me wings. Since I'm not currently an Angel or a bird, I'll keep my feet firmly planted on the ground lol.

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{The Year of The Mouse?}

Of course you know I'm talking about M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E right?

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{A Vacation Dilemma!}

As the cold wind blows outside and my furnace struggles to keep us all from freezing to death, I am setting my focus on our summer vacation. Maybe thinking about the hot summer heat of Florida will keep my toes from getting frost bite *shudders*. So lets talk about that, while I pull my blanket a little closer around me.

We already booked our hotel in Florida for the middle of August. Originally I thought we were clear on where we would go while down there. But D through a wrench into my plans when he said "Disney is stupid, I'd rather go to Universal or Sea World". I've been to Sea World (thanks to my aunt and uncle) and I was not super impressed. Plus there is quite a bit of controversy over that place and the whales or something. I don't know. I just know I don't want to spend my money or time there. So I settled on Universal. But now as I'm planning this trip and trying to research it, I'm not so sure that's the right choice for our kids right now.

Universal seems to be geared more towards older kids and teens/adults. The rides (aside from some roller coasters and water rides) seem to be most 3D. That's not really the experience I'm looking for. If I'm going to pay that much to get in the park to begin with and stand in line all that time, I want a real ride. Something I can video and take pictures of. That can't happen on a 3D ride.

Disney I have experienced before. When I was 15 my grandparents took all 4 of us (and my great-grandmother) to Disney Land in California. I had an amazing time! We went on a ton of rides and met Mickey :). I loved it! And ever since I've been itching to go back, but I want to go to Disney World. We have wanted to take this trip since Gaige and Dawn were little, but we didn't have the money for a trip like that. Then I had Owen and I didn't want to waste money going on a trip like that with a baby when he wouldn't even remember it or know what was going on. Plus, like previous years, we just didn't have that kind of money. This year, we finally can afford something like that and all 3 kids are old enough to remember it and have as good of a time as I did.

D is unconvinced. So I'm going to throw some prices at him instead lol. For 5 tickets at Universal it'll be $634 (not including tax). That is for 2 parks (Universal & Island of Adventure) and the Express Pass (meaning we get to wait in a shorter line I guess lol) is $1,000 (not including tax). I don't think there will be enough to do there for the kids to justify that kind of money. Am I right? With Disney 5 tickets with Park Hopper Pass (meaning we can jump from park to park) it will be $680.56 (that's including tax). That's for 4 parks.

I don't know what's going to happen. I do know that the tickets need to be purchased a soon as it's warm out so we have them and we don't have to worry about it come August.

Ugh. I'm just gonna go on planning for Disney I think because that's the place we will have the most fun and D can deal with it lol. Right?

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{Already Planning for Summer}

Yep that's me. The over planner. But then again we have been saying we could go on a big vacation next year for 3yrs. So I want this to be amazing! I already had a sort of dry run with our trip to St. Louis last summer. I know how much I can fit in the back of my car, what we need to take and what we can leave at home, and what worked and what didn't. Honestly, I'm shocked that we got as much as we did in my little Tuscon lol. But we made it there and back. Of course St. Louis is a 2hr trip and Florida is 18hrs but I think we'll make it :).

Oh yeah, we're totally going to Florida!! I already booked the hotel and everything. I'm so excited! I got on expedia (since I had such good luck with it last time) and searched for 3-4 star hotels near Disney since that's where we had initially planned on going when we talked about heading to Florida. I was going to stay on a Disney resort but honestly we weren't planning on staying a whole week or anything, so it was just not financially smart for us to do that. Anyway- I found The Blue Heron Beach Resort. It looks amazing from the pictures and the reviews are pretty much stellar. So I'm hoping it doesn't suck and it's not under construction like the hotel in St. Louis. Not that that hotel was horrible, I just wish I would have known it was under construction when I booked it. We got the family suite which is described on the site as "The one-bedroom Family Suite measures 885 square feet (including the balcony) and has a King bed in the master bedroom as well as a bunk bed off the corridor leading from the front door to the kitchen / living area.  This suite is ideal for two adults and two children.  There is also a queen-size sofa sleeper in the living room." Not just that but it also has a washer/dryer so I can wash clothes should I choose to do that before we leave. Which I might so that we're not transporting wet suits and such for 18hrs in the car. I'm also thinking I might pack some cereal or something so we can make breakfast and save a little money in that area at least. I don't know though we shall see about that.

I am just so excited! The kids are going to have such an amazing experience. None of them have been that far from home before. 

Now to figure out what to do with the dogs...

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