The More I Try...I Forget!: Disney Vacation 2015-Day 1-Travel Day

In January I got the wild idea to switch our anniversary trip from the two of us laying on a beach in Mexico for a week to the 4 of us (and my mom) going to Disney for a week. My crazy husband immediately agreed, and I got to planning ASAP! We just got back from our trip, and I want to try to record as much as I can before it starts slipping my awful memory!

The girls got their invitations "from" the characters for a few of our meals. This is definitely one of my favorite parts in the planning process!

Our MagicBands ready to go!

We left for our airport at 3am to catch our 5:30 flight. We had a short flight to St. Louis for the first leg, followed by a slightly longer flight to Orlando. The girls did a great job on the way down there despite their VERY early wake up call! Our flights went off without a hitch, and we arrived in Orlando by 11, even a little earlier than scheduled!

We painted Disney toes at the airport to pass the time

Ready to go on our first flight

Checking for our second plane in St. Louis

No one could tell where we were headed ;)

I'm seriously not sure what we ever did without technology for traveling. life.Saver!

Once we got to Orlando we headed to get our bags and rental van. Since we stayed on property this time, we had the option of Disney's Magical Express, but after reading reviews on our resort and being the control freak I am, I decided we should go ahead and rent a car anyway. It's free to park if you're staying on property, and what is another couple hundred dollars when you're already spending thousands, right?!? :) As I predicted, this was a GREAT decision! Since we hadn't stayed on site for a few years, I had forgotten about the pain of the buses. They are convenient most of the time, but those fights for a spot in the morning and at night are not my favorite part of the trip! Anyways...we loaded up the van and headed for the resort. On the way there I got a text saying our room was ready...three hours before check in! WOOHOO! We walked right up to our room, scanned our MagicBand, and unloaded our stuff. We were ready to explore our room all before 1:00! It was an AMAZING way to start the trip!

My favorite part of our Disney trips is the gifts that the "characters" leave for the girls each day. I got the idea from a friend, and we have done it for each trip now and I plan on continuing it as long as we go to Disney as a family and hope they pass down the tradition with their families someday!

Every visit they get new pajamas from the Princesses welcoming them to Orlando

We immediately got our suits on and headed to explore our resort. We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort, so each village has its own beach and pool area. The beach has chairs and hammocks. It was lovely!

I made a last minute decision to switch a dinner reservation we had for later in the week for our first night instead. The weather was looking better on that other night, so I wanted to leave it open for park fun! We got dressed and headed to dinner at the Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club Resort. This dinner came highly recommended from a friend, and it did not disappoint! We will definitely be back!