Britt LOVED Disney for her birthday last year and has been saying she wants her birthday at Disney again this year too. We had a trip booked and planned for over Thanksgiving. We loved going at that time last year and talked about making it a yearly tradition for Britt’s birthday.
With Disney you have to plan in advance and I had everything booked for her birthday trip 180 days out. When we got matched with Mama E, one of the first things we had to figure out was Britt’s Disney Trip. With Mama E due Nov 16th we knew we wouldn’t be able to make an end of Nov trip work!
We talked about it and decided we felt safest going at least a month out from Mama E’s due date. We didn’t want to risk being at Disney and her go into labor and didn’t want to risk Britt not getting to have her birthday celebration due to the baby being born. We decided it’d be best to go the first weekend in October. It worked out great because the kids had a fall break and didn’t have to miss but one day of school and the crowds weren’t predicted to be too insane. I was able to still book a good bit of the dining we’d wanted. We went into the trip knowing it wouldn’t be as “smooth sailing” as a normally planned Disney trip is for our family just based on all the last minuteness of it. We knew we probably wouldn’t get to do every single thing we all wanted to do at each park, but it all really turned out super great!
Britt was really happy to celebrate her birthday early and Kye was beyond precious the entire trip…every time someone told Britt “Happy Birthday” he’d explain that it wasn’t her real birthday but that we are adopting and had to come early 😉
Whoop whoop!
We picked up the kids from school so they could be present for the day and then hit the road!
SNACKKKKS
We decided to drive straight to the Character Warehouse. We’ve never been as a family and I was hoping to get some good deals. We took our treats to the parking lot and ate them before going to check it out.
Purple fountain!!!
Character warehouse was a BUST but oh my goodness the place where we stayed was SO perfect! I feel like it’d be a great spot to stay during ICPC if it works out too. It was HUGE and had a MASSIVE closet that would be perfect for the pack and play too. I wanted to book something via hotels.com because it’s where I always book any of our hotel stays and it allows us to earn free nights (plus gives Ebates!). So I hunted HARD to find a place that would accommodate our needs and be available through that site. We stayed at Caribe Cove Resort by Wyndham and I can’t recommend it enough. They had wonderful service. They even delivered a luggage cart to our room on check out day. I mean how great was that?!?!
Zach and I unpacked as a team this trip (usually I unpack and he runs to the store) and it worked out so nicely to get it all done quicker. The kids were pretty worn out and tired and just a little cranky. The girls were so fussy it was funny!
I love when the kids are silly and giggly at meals 🙂
Ready for our last family trip as a family of 5!
We did make one mistake. We had the oldest two share a room for the first night and Tess had her own room. And we just really shouldn’t have done that. For the longterm of the trip we really wanted them all spread out and having that one night of the older two sharing and Tess in a big bed kinda caused issues when it came time to split them up. For the rest of the trip we had Kye and Britt in their own rooms and Tess in the pack and play in the bathroom (yes, she’s three and still loves sleeping in her pack and play). We really, really prefer each kid to have their own sleep space for Disney trips. There is SO much “go go go” that their rest is so crucial and they just all sleep better solo!
I have always loved having little goodies for each kid to open each day of our trip. It’s a way to avoid buying souvenirs and is a fun way to have little goodies to keep them occupied in long waits. This is something I’m phasing out. I know at this point they expect it and look forward to it but we need to phase it out if we’re hoping to go to Disney more often than we do. I don’t need to be spending money on little toys and such nor the time and effort to find them. Plus now the kids do buy souvenirs with their own money!
Wanting to review the plans: my child 😉
Our first day at Disney was a down day. I wanted to make sure we got SOLID naps before the Halloween party that night. I snagged us Cape May reservations but they were pretty late in the morning…so we went super early! I think our reservation was at 10:50 and I told Zach let’s just get ready and go and try it out and see if we can get in early…even if we had to wait it’s a beautiful resort that we could totally walk around and check out anyway!
We got there at 9:30. So a tadddd early haha! I was SHOCKED they were able to seat us in less than 5 minutes! It worked out super great! A guy in front of us walked up without a reservation and was seated soon after us too!
We have eaten at Cape May in the past and I love the photos of little itty bitty Tessie 🙂 Cape May is a buffet for breakfast and is a chance to meet Donald, Goofy and Minnie. It’s a lot more relaxed and quiet than Chef Mickey if you’re wanting a character meal without the craziness 😉
I was ALL about the buffet because they had TOPPINGS for the waffles and pancakes. YUM. Including this awesome ricotta cheese stuff that was DELICIOUS.
Britt’s favorite! Tess wanted to bring her Donald to meet the real Donald!
So Donald was in a REAL Donald type mood. He did not like my excitement and crunkness and told me I’m crazy. Um not cool Donald.
Yay for birthday celebration!!!
Minnie was A-Dorable. I just love her little beach outfit!
Goofy was also really so fun! He was hilarious and had us all cracking up!
He counted on his fingers and MIND BLOWING moment when we all realized he only has 8 fingers rather than 10! Technically he can’t give a “high 5” it’s a “high 4” haha
A must have picture anytime we meet Goofy. He’s taller than Zach literally by a hair!
This kid. Brought his book with him to read…at a Disney restaurant haha He just is a self proclaimed book worm 😉
A family sitting near us had a teenager and they commented to us that our children made their entire morning. That they just loved seeing their joy and watching them interact with the characters. It made me think a lot about how much FUN this stage of life is and how thankful I am to enjoy it so fully with my babies while they are still young enough to think it’s all so magical (I mean I still get crunk for characters and I’m in my 30s so maybe they will follow suit!)
We had SO much time since we were there so early and weren’t in a huge rush to get back to the room so we explored the resort a bit.
One of my goals is to get in front of the camera more often and with each kid individually when possible.
Hidden Mickey hunt 😉
We decided to check out the resort gift shop because, why not? The kids had fun pointing out gift ideas for themselves to add to their wish lists and look for things they might have wanted to spend their money on.
Zach said I need this. Bahaha it is JUST how I look in the mornings!
Never too old to hold Daddy’s hand 😉
Pretty hilarious prank!!!
I did make a purchase at the resort! I’ve been rocking some hats lately and instantly fell in love with this Mickey Nike hat! Having that annual pass holder discount doesn’t hurt either 😉 And I told Zach we can share it…maybe 😉
You know we picked the right resort to stay at when they had Britt’s favorite animal out front!
I highly recommend Cape May. I just recently asked the kids about their favorite places to eat at Disney and Kye said he likes it over Chef Mickey because it is just more relaxed. While you don’t get to meet as many characters, the food is pretty much the same and it’s easier to get reservations! I like to book a late breakfast and let it be both breakfast and lunch. We skipped breakfast that morning and basically just stuffed ourselves at Cape May so we didn’t need lunch either!
We got to the room and did a little family work out session to burn off energy so the kids would be sleepy enough to nap. While they napped we got ready for MNSSHP!
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