Let's Get This Party Started...Disney that is...

A little background info on how this trip came to be...friends of ours in Cleveland (we will call them the C clan) were planning a trip to Disney. My girlfriend MA's husband had a conference down there so she decided to tag along. They happen to have family who can get great deals on hotel rooms and we scored a super duper deal and decided to tag along. We were to stay at the Sheraton Safari - sounds nice enough, right?

We left on Saturday afternoon with the thought to drive until we could drive no more. Total car time would be 10 hours, but since we didn't leave until nearly 2 we weren't sure we would get all the way to Orlando. The kids did FANTASTIC and we got to our hotel shortly after midnight.

I pack each child a backpack of toys for the car and was smart enough to put flashlights in them. The kids got a kick out of reading along in their books on cd once it got dark. Sidenote - this was our first trip where the kids wore headphones and watched individual movies on the dvd screens. FANTASTIC!

I like how Izzy propped up her flashlight - can you see it?




We got to the hotel and were NOT impressed. It seemed small and dirty, but it was also nearly 1 am so what did we really know? The next morning we opened the drapes, and looked through the bars on our windows to see the dumpster. Once outside we noticed the pool that looked "way cool" online now looked "way lame". The question was could we get out of our hotel commitment and if so, could we do it without offending our friends. Oh, our friends were actually staying at Coronado Springs which is a resort at Disney with the conference for the first 3 nights.

We found a great deal through AAA which only ended up being $10/day and included breakfast! We did have to drive about 5 miles more, but since we already were driving to the park and not taking a shuttle it was no big deal. Because we booked a Marriott and Pete has a platinum status we were able to get a free upgrade. We went from slummin it to a suite with full kitchen. This hotel also had a fantastic pool and playground for the kids.









We didn't actually swim after we switched hotels. Instead we headed to Downtown Disney to explore and find some food. We did lots of sightseeing and window shopping. We also played with toys in "the HUGE store of all stuff Disney has ever created" (not really)! We bought nothing, but the kids did get to pose with their most favorite characters...





After poking around Downtown Disney we met up with my parents. We had to find a Target to buy Pete a bathing suit - unless he wanted a Disney character one in which case there were PLENTY of those - and since my parents are only 40 min. from Disney they came to meet us. We met at a bookstore and had a quick visit. They would be coming up Wednesday to watch the kids so Pete and I could go out with our friends for dinner.

We all got to bed early that night. The kids settled in pretty well and even started off sleeping in the same bed.

Next day our plans were to go to Animal Kingdom...