Dylan’s 1st Birthday Trip, October 2-7, 2008 **Updated 4/16/09** COMPLETE About This Page:

[OhToodles!]

The plans for this trip happened shortly (mere months, maybe) after DS was born in October 2007. Why so soon after do you ask? Well, DH & I have been going to Disney together since 2004 (DH has been going on and off since he was 8 and I went once before with my family in 1994). We’re both hooked! Our last trip before this one was in June 2007 while I was about 4.5 months pregnant; we didn’t plan on going so soon, but the farther it got away from our last trip the more we wanted to go sooner than when DS was ‘older’. So around Christmas time we convinced DH’s parents and my parents to join us for DS’s 1st birthday in the Happiest Place on Earth – WDW!!

We booked rooms for Caribbean Beach in early March and booked airfare the week Southwest dates were released in late April. Also in April DH & I finally bit the bullet and joined DVC with Animal Kingdom Villas as our home resort!! Therefore, we had to cancel our Caribbean Beach reservations since we used developer points for a 1 bedroom stay at SSR. DH’s parents stayed with their CBR room and my parent’s decided to room with us.

After the big things were out of the way I took care of all the other details as well – ADRs, MNSSHP tickets, t-shirts, a tour, a surprise, getting groceries for the villa, etc. over the next few months. I love the planning part and I think I now have OCD Disney planning.

Here is the spreadsheet I did before we left:

Up next….Day #1

[Lemap760]

Great start.

[bsblady01]

more please

[Colexis Mom]

More please!!

[roaminggnome]

Good start....looking forward to more

[disneydreamer33]

Can't wait for more.

[KMB733]

Great start! Looking forward to reading more!

[Shawnam1868]

Great start. My ds also got his first haircut at the barbershop in MK too. Can't wait to hear more.

[belle0517]

Great start!

[OhToodles!]

First cast of characters:
Me – Kelly (28)
DH – Mike (28)
DS – Dylan (1), 1st trip!!
DM – My Mom, Gail (52), last trip was in 1994
DF – My Dad, Jerry (54), last trip was in 1994
DMIL – DH’s Mom, Vicki (52) Celebrating that birthday while on trip!
DFIL – DH’s Dad, Terry (52)

It was an early start – DH’s parents picked us up at 5am to go to the airport for our 7:25am departure. We met my parents at the airport, grabbed breakfast and Starbucks while waiting to board. Most of us happened to get Boarding Passes in the “A” section, except Mike, he was in “B”. Apparently his name’s been put on some sort of watch list and has to check-in at the airport every time until it’s off (this may turn into quite a hassle for upcoming trips if we don’t get his name off). At least since he had the stroller (I had Dylan) he got to board in between A & B with the family boarding. So we got settled in our seats and waited for take off. I was very nervous how Dylan would do with flying, but he was a champ (see pic below how he handled the flight).J


“I’m going to Disney World!!”


Dylan fast asleep on my Mom’s lap. He woke up after landing at MCO.

After a potty break once landing we headed to DME and got on our respective busses – DH’s parents to CBR and the rest of us to SSR I checked my phone while on the DME bus and Garden Grocer had left a message saying they had delivered our groceries already. Check-in went very smoothly and our room was even ready! Dylan received his first Birthday button upon check-in along with a 1st visit pin. We asked Bell Services to bring the groceries and we headed to check out our room and un-load some things. (I guess I was too busy, but we didn’t really get any pictures of our room. Oops!) We stayed in the Grandstand Section, Room 8203 (I think) and had a view of one of the fairways out our window (nice for my parents who enjoy golf!). Next we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Artist’s Pallete and then headed out to DHS.


Our building @ SSR


Dylan & Mike waiting for the DHS bus.

cont. in next post

[OhToodles!]

We arrived at DHS sometime a little after 3 as we caught the end of the parade. We met back up with DH’s parents at this point too. We did a little walking around (Dylan took a nap in his stroller) and then Mike & I went to ride RnRC and grabbed some PhotoPass pics along the way. After our ride with Aerosmith we met back up with everyone else and headed to our ADR at Sci-Fi. (Mike LOVES this place and doesn’t think it’s “Disney” if we don’t eat there.) Even though we had dinner and burgers weren’t on the menu that’s pretty much what we all had and they were good! Dylan got an enormous sundae for his birthday and it was shared by all (but mainly my Dad! J).



Fighting


Making Up J

Dylan & Grandpa Jerry (my Dad)


Mike, Dylan, & I in our car at Sci-Fi

Up next…Heading to MK for MNSSHP (hence the matching outfits so far)

[Colexis Mom]

Glad you made it there and are having a great start to the vacation!! Love the pictures!!

[OhToodles!]

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

Glad you made it there and are having a great start to the vacation!! Love the pictures!!

Thanks so much!

[OhToodles!]

We made it MK right around 7pm. I picked up our part tickets at will call and we added our Mickey ears to our ‘costume’ (we were Mousketeers) and got out the glow necklaces and bracelets we brought from home. I also added some Halloween garland (black with pumpkins) on Dylan’s stroller. We made our way down Main Street, got a few Photopass pics and then headed to Adventureland. We went in to see the characters, but only stopped with Timon as we weren’t that into the characters (I know – gasp!), but I didn’t want to rush Dylan into the whole character thing just yet. We got some candy and went to ride PotC with a fee more PhotoPass pics beforehand. After Pirates I think we hit up a few more candy stations and then grabbed a spot for the first parade. WOW! That parade is awesome! Fantastic! I had got out the video camera to tape, but apparently I hadn’t charged the battery all the way and we didn’t really get any good pictures either. After the parade I’m pretty sure we hit up more candy stations as well as rode Haunted Mansion and got the PhotoPass pics outside there, made our way through Toontown (to get more candy ) to Tomorrowland and then tried to find a spot to watch the fireworks. After the fireworks we were pretty pooped and headed back to our rooms. All in all the party was great and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Everyone else really enjoyed themselves too. I think my Dad brought some of his candy from the night with him each day from here on out – he could possible give Princess Sharon’s mom a run for her money in the sweets department!

I ordered the Mickey ears ahead of time and had my Mom hand embroider our names on the back.







Filling our treat bags!
Up next….MK, a 1st haircut, & Epcot

[Jajajuna]

I.LOVE.THIS.THREAD! Keep it coming! We are going for our DD's first birthday too this September. I'm getting lots of ideas here.