The Ducks are Back...A Birthday, An Anniversary and a Grand Gathering - FINAL THOUGHTS, Finally **Updated on 6/4** About This Page:

[dsteiny23]

Well, it has certainly taken long enough, but Daisy, Donald and the ducklings are all back from Disney and are ready to report on our AMAZING vacation!!

First just a reminder, we took this trip as a 10th anniversary and 40th birthday celebration as opposed to taking a trip without the boys or throwing a big 40th birthday party for me (Dawn a.k.a. “Daisy”). Well, as you might know, my wonderful DH did manage to pull off a fantastic 40th surprise party for me…and I was truly surprised.

The travelers were me…(see above)…my DH of 10 years Craig (a.k.a. “Donald), our 13 year old DS Zach (a.k.a. “Huey”), 7 year old DS Tyler (a.k.a. “Dewey”) and our 3 year old DS Jason (a.k.a. “Louie”) also, Louie’s first trip.

Well we left on Thursday evening 10/30. First of all, what made me think that I could work a half day on the day we were leaving??? Duh!! I decided to take the day off and it is a good thing I did. Of course I was packing right up until my FIL got there to drive us to the airport…LaGuardia…da..da..da..da (with a doom flare). Mostly because I realized at the last minute that being as we purchased our tickets before they instituted the 2nd bag charge, Delta would let us check 2 bags a piece for free…then of course we had plenty of DME yellow stickers and I got excited and started rearranging things. (My DH and the boys didn’t know that I had things that I needed for the first surprise that night when we checked in and now I could check an entire new bag…but still needed to pick one of them up at the airport because DME can take so long to get to the room and it wouldn’t be much of a welcome surprise if I had to wake everyone up at 2am when the bags arrived to see.)

So, 2:00 came around, and we all piled into the mini-van to pick up my DS13 from school and then head to the airport. I sat in the “way-back” and got to watch Bug’s Life on the way. (Boy these kids have it good) Although I can pretty much recite just about any Disney animated movie from listening while they watch in the back…I don’t get much of a chance to enjoy the full experience. So, I was immersing myself in Disney from the moment I left the house.

Now…for anyone that has traveled to LaGuardia in NY to make a flight, there is always some inherent stress in the trip due to NY traffic, and my DH likes to be early for everything and he did start twitching a little. But, we made it there in plenty of time and as we pulled up saw a few other families pulling up with yellow tags on their luggage as well. Ah…Disney!! We had some Burger King for dinner and I got my Starbuck’s Caramel Frappuccino or “Happy-ccino” as I like to call it.

Then we went to sit by our gate and there, the first little bit of “magic” happened. We were sitting by the window of another gate because ours was so crowded and watching another Delta plane getting ready to be pushed out. I told the 2 little boys to wave to the pilots good-bye and wouldn’t you know it, both of them waved back…pretty enthusiastically by the way. Okay, okay…”magic” might be pushing it …but they boys and I got such a kick out of it.



Pretty soon we were getting on the plane, the rows were a little “off”, not exactly across from each other and a mother and daughter moved so we could be across from each other…very nice…must have been the Disney vibe on the plane. Peace, Love...Disney.





Then, in the words of Marlin “Good feeling’s gone.” We sat for almost an hour before take-off. Jason was so excited to get going, this being his first flight and all and I wasn’t sure how he was going to be, but he loved it…he played his leapster and had his snacks and looked out the window. Except for the delay…it was a great flight. And by the way Delta was great about my boys’ allergy to peanuts. They didn’t serve any of the peanut M&Ms to the 3 rows ahead of us and behind us.

So, finally we get to MCO and even the airport always feels magical to me. Then we get to the DME desk…by this time I can barely contain myself. We are just a short ride and video away from Disney!! The boys loved the trip and the video and our resort…the Poly…was the first stop. We checked in and got the longhouse we requested, Tokelau. Which just started the theme song for the rest of our trip. “Tokelau, Tokelau, Tok, Toke, Tokelau” (sung to the tune of “Lollypop, lollypop…” I still can't get the song out of my head as I am now stuck with it at least for the rest of tonight. We also got our Anniversary buttons, my birthday button and Jason's 1st Trip button. I had no idea what these buttons would do for the rest of the trip!


The room was awesome…it is so big and we had plenty of room. Jason got the pull-out couch all to himself because it was easiest to put the bed-rail on one side with the wall on the other. Tyler and Zach shared…although that little 7 year old peanut takes up most of the bed at some point during the night.

Thanks to pulling my one suitcase off of the plane, I had a couple of little surprises. I packed Halloween window clings and we decorated the sliding doors with them before bed. I also made little gift bag for each of the boys with Disney gift cards, power ranger magic wash cloths, t-shirts with their names on the back in Disney font, little plush Stitchs with Halloween costumes on and matching jammies for us all.





(This was so that when we won the night in Cinderella Castle we could get our picture in front of the castle when everyone was gone all in matching jammies. Apparently the Dream Squad didn’t get the message).

So, all dressed in our matching jammies, we hit the sack to get ready for our first full day in the parks. Halloween!!!

[mcc0313]

Great start...can't wait to hear more.

[DyanKJ130]

Great start!! Looking forward to more

[bsblady01]

more please

[scdisneyfan]

Yay I was sitting here thinking that how terrible it was to be back to work but then i saw this!!! I"m so excited that you started.
First of all, the pajamas! I that stitch too! I wish i had one for myself*LOL* I know what you mean about MCO feeling magical. I feel that way too...i always say when you ride the "tram" over to the main portal that...here's our first ride on the Monorail*LOL* i'm crazy like that!
I'm waiting for more!
BTW dont think that i dont notice that countdown...spill the beans sista*LOL*

[nursemom]

Sounds great. We love Tokelau too! Hurry back with more!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great start!!

(This was so that when we won the night in Cinderella Castle we could get our picture in front of the castle when everyone was gone all in matching jammies. Apparently the Dream Squad didn’t get the message).

Sorry there was no Dream Squad!!

[KMB733]

Great Start. the matching pjs. Sooooo cute! Too bad you couldn't wear them in the Cinderella Suite. Hurry back with more.

[MaryEL8775]

OMG it is finally here. The Ducky Family Vacation... lmao... more please.

[dsteiny23]

Originally Posted by scdisneyfan

Yay I was sitting here thinking that how terrible it was to be back to work but then i saw this!!! I"m so excited that you started.
First of all, the pajamas! I that stitch too! I wish i had one for myself*LOL* I know what you mean about MCO feeling magical. I feel that way too...i always say when you ride the "tram" over to the main portal that...here's our first ride on the Monorail*LOL* i'm crazy like that!
I'm waiting for more!
BTW dont think that i dont notice that countdown...spill the beans sista*LOL*

So glad I could perk up your Monday. I know my Mondays could use some perkin. I MCO and the tram...just a little magic right off the plane.

Oh, the countdown...well, how do you make a 40 year old feel better after leaving the one place that makes her not feel 40??? Let her plan another trip!! So 10 months 4 weeks and something and we'll be at the BC. Unless of course I can squeeze in a girls EE5K in between

Originally Posted by nursemom

Sounds great. We love Tokelau too! Hurry back with more!

We LOVED IT!! We're going to the BC next year and it made it so hard to leave the Poly. It was just so perfectly located to everything.

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

What a great start!!

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Sorry there was no Dream Squad!!

Well...a girl can dream, can't she.

Originally Posted by KMB733

Great Start. the matching pjs. Sooooo cute! Too bad you couldn't wear them in the Cinderella Suite. Hurry back with more.

Thank you! Of course I made matching t-shirts with logos and our names in Disney print on the back...but I didn't want to push it. My DH was an awesome sport, but isn't into the whole family dressing alike think...although, he will dress like a duck when it is called for...(that's coming up )

Originally Posted by mom to 3 princesses and 1 prince

Yay! I've been looking forward to this! What room were you in at Tokelau? We had 3935, 3rd floor facing the quiet pool.

We were in room 1905 facing the quiet pool. Loved that we could walk right out our lenai and see the fireworks. Absolutely LOVED it!!

Originally Posted by MaryEL8775

OMG it is finally here. The Ducky Family Vacation... lmao... more please.

Ah yes...the Duck Family will be making there "photo debut" in a post or 2...stay tuned!

[bsblady01]

more please

[Wendyismyname]

More! More! More!! Awesome room location!! Love the Poly, it is fanflippintastic!

[elisa1006]

Glad you had a wonderful start to your trip. Can't wait for more!

[scdisneyfan]

more more more

[wayneava81]

I'm so glad you started!