Disney World Trip ’11 – Part One

We surprised Daniel and Annabel on St. Patrick’s Day and told them we were going to Disney World!  I told Annabel in the morning and she was so excited that she wore her Mickey ears in the car when we went to get Daniel from preschool.  Daniel was doubly surprised to see Daddy pick him up in class and then see the rest of us waiting in the car with packed suitcases.  He was almost speechless.  We were on our way!

We drove 2 1/2 hours and arrived at the Doubletree Suites near Downtown Disney  around 3:30 PM.  I cannot say enough about this hotel.  It worked perfectly for us because we planned to spend the evening having fun at Downtown Disney and then check out the next morning for an entire day at the Magic Kingdom.

At the Doubletree, the kids have their own special guest check-in desk.  They sign their names and get a fun goody bag. There is a really neat gift shop in the hotel lobby filled with everything Disney, of course.

After unpacking a few things, we drove the short 5 minutes to Downtown Disney.  Downtown Disney is an amusement center all its own.  There are great family restaurants, lots of cool stores, and tons of activities and entertainment.  TIP: You HAVE to make a reservation for a Downtown Disney restaurant.  If you are staying the week at Disney World and want to hang out at Downtown Disney for one of the days, definitely plan ahead.  Some of the restaurants will take a walk up reservation, but if you have kids you don’t want to wait 45 minutes to an hour.

We love Fulton’s Crab House.  It’s on a boat, which the kids think is super cool, and it has a great seafood menu.  The best part is the kids menu which features crab legs and fish, but also pasta, burgers and mac n’ cheese.  Daniel shared crab with Daddy and both kiddies also had pasta and fun drinks.  I loved my salmon.  Hubbie and I also had our first St. Patty’s Day beer.  Everything was really good.  The place is a bit pricey, but it’s vacation, right?

Then we strolled around enjoying some live music and taking some photos.  (Annabel was a little more into the photo taking that day.  In case you couldn’t tell.  Hee.)

The kids loved the Lego store and we bought T-Shirts at the largest Disney character gift shop on EARTH, World of Disney.  The World of Disney store also has the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique which is the super cute salon for little girls to get their princess makeovers.  (It’s a great second option if you can’t get into the main Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle.  That’s where I plan to take Annabel sometime next year.)

Then we headed back to the hotel.  Everyone was exhausted.  We love the suite concept because the kids have their own room with two double beds and there is a queen pullout in the main room for Mama and Daddy.  Well, that was the plan until 10 PM when Annabel was WAY too excited to sleep and Daddy was exhausted.  So Annabel and Mama roomed it in on the sofa bed while Daddy and Daniel had the perfect night sleep in their own room.

The next morning was the breakfast buffet in the hotel lobby with all the other excited families.  Then we drove to the Magic Kingdom at 8 AM for a day of fun!

Part Two (and lots of Magic Kingdom tips!) coming tomorrow.