Day One

I can't believe it's only been about two weeks since we got back from Orlando, it feels like a lot longer than that! We were ready to come home after 7 days, but now we miss vacation. We had a rough start to the trip. Chris and Tucker got their antibiotic shots for strep throat on Saturday, and they still weren't back to 100% by Monday. On Sunday I packed up everything, which was a little nerve wracking. I always forget things, no matter how many times I check and re-check the lists. Monday morning we got up and Chris packed everything into the car. Then the car wouldn't start! After about 10 minutes of playing with wires, Chris started the car and we were off to the New Orleans airport. We circled the airport a few times before finding the correct long term parking lot (we had a week of free parking at Park N Fly, so we had to find that one). Then we parked and loaded onto the shuttle van that would take us to the airport. Tucker loves to "ride da bus" as he calls it, so his trip was already off to a good start. We got to the airport and realized our first mistake-we left Tucker's stroller in the car. We knew that at the parks in Orlando, we could rent strollers for free (and there was NO way we were going to Disney without a stroller, so that was good). So we made the decision to leave the stroller behind and prayed that Tucker would hold our hands and not run away from us while we carted all the suitcases around. And he did! He was supergood the whole time, even through security when we had to wait for the agents to check every little item in our bags. We got to our gate about 10 minutes before boarding time, and we got to board first since the flight was full and they wanted families with young children to be able to get seats together. This was the first flight for Chris and Tucker, and they both wanted the window seat! Tucker won, of course, and then he looked out the window for 5 minutes before he insisted that all windows stay closed for the rest of the flight. He tried to close the windows in the rows ahead of us and behind us also, but we said no to that. The flight was about 1 hour and 45 minutes long, and for most of it the "Fasten Seatbelts" sign was on. So we couldn't take Tucker for a walk or anything, not that we would have. Tucker got a DVD player from my parents for Christmas, and we were supposed to use that for Tucker's in-flight entertainment....until we found out the batteries were dead! Luckily I also brought the laptop, which had Tucker's preschool movie in it, so he watched that for a long time.

When the plane came in to land, Tucker really liked it. Once it stopped, he started screaming "get out da plane, get out da plane!" We told him if he was good, we were going to the hotel next. We rode a little subway train from the gate over to the baggage claim, then we got our bags and met a representative from Give Kids the World. She helped us to get our rental car, we got to pick out any midsize car we wanted, (with a full tank of gas) and then she gave us directions to Give Kids the World.

We were so exhausted by this point, but also excited! We went to check in at the House of Hearts (welcome center and front desk at GKTW), and were greeted by volunteers with a Mickey Mouse for Tucker. They told us all about the village and what food options were available, then we got a tour of our villa. And it really was a villa, it was bigger than our house! The kitchen had soft drinks, water, and a cake in it, there was a jacuzzi tub in one of the bathrooms, and the big playground was right across the street. The villa was also decorated for Christmas, we had a Christmas tree in the living room and garland on different walls.

Chris and I were starving, so we ordered the room service from the Katie's Kitchen (like a Boston Market, which is home-cooked food, we don't have those in Louisiana). They delivered the food right to the door and it was yummy.

This is Tucker in his Mickey shirt from Wes (he got it for Christmas). He LOVED the villa, he would cry "hotel, hotel" when he got tired at the parks. He would have been so happy to just hang out in the hotel all day....well, until he realized there was a playground right outside.

By the time we ate, it was about 4pm. One parent had to attend orientation at 7pm to get all the tickets to the parks and hear all the rules and events. So after we all took showers and kind of unpacked, we headed out to explore Give Kids the World. There is a carousel on-site....for any of you who don't know, Tucker loves carousels! He rode it over and over, it was adorable. It's really great because even though there are lots of kids and families at GKTW, there are never any lines for anything. The volunteers just wait for kids to ask to ride the carousel, and they turn it on.

It was really cold that first night, so we started looking for inside activities. There is a train station, and inside is this huge model train set-up. The kids can push all the different buttons to make the trains and different toys move. One of the first things Tucker found was a button that made the carousel go. Then he pressed it over and over, he loved it:)

I went to orientation while Tucker and Chris played with the trains and other arcade games.

Orientation was great; I got all of our tickets, the Guest Assistance Passes that let us go to the front of every line, and the Wish button that gave us free parking, free stroller rental, and let everyone in the parks know that Tucker was a Wish Kid. We also learned about everything GKTW had to offer, including character visits at the hotel, free photos from Disney and Universal, and all of the activities. We got schedules with park hours, show hours, and parade hours. After orientation I went to the villa to tell Chris everything and hand over all of the important stuff so I wouldn't lose it! I had been reading guide books for a few weeks before our trip, and Chris and I were so excited that we were really there and really had our tickets. We ordered pizza for dinner; Chris swears that Harry Potter delivered it, but I did not see him. After dinner, we all went to bed early so we'd have energy for a great day in the Magic Kingdom.

I hope to post about the other 6 days soon, the posts will be much longer since each day was so packed with events.