Surprises and travel

 One of the kids Christmas presents from us was a trip to Disney World in February. The kids all worked together to open that present on Christmas morning; inside the box was a letter from Mickey Mouse inviting them to come meet all of his friends, a Disney calendar countdown, some fidgets for line waiting, some Mouse ears and some Disney T-shirts. 

We spent the month of January watching Disney movies that we had not seen yet, such as Winnie the Pooh and refreshed ourselves on other movies like Alice in Wonderland and Star Wars, we also watched a few YouTube videos of some of the rides that Disney offers so everyone would have an idea of what lied ahead. We watched some documentaries of how Walt Disney came to be such a success and read a few books about who he was as well. 

Mom poured over all of the Disney blogs and Facebook groups to find out all of the tips of how to make our Disney trip a success. Aunt Ellen and Uncle Blair were also very helpful with any questions that we had since they both have been multiple times. 

Finally our travel day arrived. We packed the suitcases, loaded the car and drove to Chicago-Midway airport for our direct fly to Orlando. 

This was the kids first experience on an airplane (Liam has flown once before but as an infant). Our Southwest flight was fantastic. We had no turbulence, takeoff and landing were very smooth and the kids were thrilled to either watch Aladdin on our travel DVD or play on Liam's Nintendo Switch. 

We arrived in Orlando and used a car service to pick us up and take us to our resort. We stayed the week at Caribbean Beach Resort. We loved the island theming, the kids loved the pool and we used the Disney Skyliner to get to two of the parks. Our room was adequate; we had two queen beds and a 5th sleeper that pulled down and the kids took turns sleeping on that throughout the week. 

We ordered groceries through InstaCart and had them delivered to our resort. We put in our order when we landed in Orlando and by the time we got to the resort they had already been delivered to bell services. This allowed us to pack snacks, water and PBJs in our backpack for each day at the park. 

Everyone was excited to finally be at Disney World; now we just had to get a good nights sleep for the next fun filled day!