The Walker Family: The Happiest Place on Earth

I had a seminar on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of last week, so my Mom, Autumn and I headed to Orlando a few days early to spend some time at "the happiest place on earth."

Our Saturday morning flight left at 7:50am, so it was a very early morning. I got up before 5am and we woke up Autumn right before we left, changed her diaper and put her in the car in her PJ's. Tia was also flying out of Hobby that morning, so we picked her up on the way to the airport. It was nice to have an extra hand in the airport, because between Autumn and all of our bags we had our hands full.

The flight there was not too bad at all. We had a stop in New Orleans, but we did not have to change plans. We were also lucky enough to manage a row to ourselves on both flights. We chose not to buy Autumn a ticket, because kids under 2 can fly for free in your lap. This meant that if the plane was not completely full we could end up with an extra seat for Autumn, but there were no guarantees. Autumn was generally pretty easy on the flights to Orlando. The iPad came in handy, although we couldn't find earphones that really worked well for her. She didn't seem to mind though. About 5 minutes before we landed in Orlando baby girl finally fell asleep.

Happy girl

Autumn and Mommy, the pacificer came in handy on the plane rides.

Asleep in the Orlando airport while Mommy and Grandma grabbed some lunch.

We arrived at our hotel around 2pm and had to wait for our room to be ready. We checked our bags with the bell hop and grabbed a snack. After our room was ready we quickly changed clothes and packed up to head to Hollywood Studios for the afternoon.

We stayed at the Hilton Bonnet Creek Resort (because my seminar was being held there and we are Hilton Honors members). I give it a 3 out of 5 stars. My main complaint was that the hotel did not have any self-service laundry facilities. I understand that it was a higher end resort, but it also caters to familes (since it is located on Disney property) and families need to clean clothes. Their laundry service was way too expensive to consider, so our last night there I actually hand washed a few items in the sink. Also, their toilets seemed to be the low flow kind that don't flush well. My other main complaint was the timing of their cleaning service seemed to always come during Autumn's nap time (roughly 12:30 to 3 or 4). We informed them of this the first time and they seemed to adjust a little bit, but it was still a pain somedays when our room wasn't cleaned until we came back late in the evening. The hotel did have a very nice pool, which included a lazy river and a beach entry. They also showed family movies on the lawn every evening, which you could actually view from inside the pool. Also, kids ate free in the family friendly restaurant for breakfast and dinner. The hotel offered a free shuttle to/from the Disney Parks every 30 minutes or hour (depending on the park). I would definitely consider staying here again next time we visit WDW.

Once we got on the shuttle and headed to Hollywood Studios; we realized that the shuttle actually stopped at the Magic Kingdom, Epcot and then Hollywood Studios. Autumn was getting kinda fussy, so we decided to just get off at the first stop - Magic Kingdom. This ended up working out well. We got to see a Mickey show, eat a snack, ride the tea cups and ride Dumbo. After having a lot of fun Autumn started to get a little fussy, so we decided to call it an early night. We ate dinner back at the hotel and got to bed relatively early. We realized on Saturday, that it gets very hot in the afternoon, so we decided our game plan would be to start early each monring and then head back to the hotel for a nap during the heat of the day before going back to the park for dinner, rides and the nighttime shows. I don't have any pictures from our first day. It was a little hectic, just getting the feel of everything.

Sunday, we started early, heading to Hollywood Studios. While there we met Mickey, saw the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, did some shopping, and ate at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. Autumn loved the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Ariel is her favorite princess. I have had NO influence on this at all (insert sarcasm). After lunch we headed back to the hotel for nap time. Getting Autumn to take a nap during this trip was super easy, since she was so worn out from all of the fun she was having. After nap time we headed to Epcot. Autumn's favorite part of Epcot was the Living Seas, which included a Nemo ride and a lot of aquariums to view. She loves fish. We ate dinner in Mexico at the Hacienda, which was mediocre at best (coming from Texas, we just expect better Mexican food). After dinner we walked around the countries before the nighttime fireworks show. I think Epcot is my favorite park. I kept thinking - I wish I wasn't pregnant so I could drink. They had margaritas in Mexico, wine in Italy and beer in Germany. Next time I go to WDW I will not be pregnant. I could really use a drink after a day of toting a toddler around. The Epcot nighttime fireworks show was neat, but we didn't have a great view of it. I recommend securing a good view early.

Okay, enough typing, I'll leave you with some pictures from Hollywood Studios and Epcot. I will post more on the rest of our trip soon.