We got home from San Fran on Monday morning and were straight up exhausted. The next day we found out a hurricane was coming through our area (Hurricane Michael) and they ended up canceling school for both Wed and Thur due to the weather forecast.
Lindsay texted me when the school closure was announced and said “so is your Disney House open?” Hello GENIUS IDEA.
We knew we had two full days of no school. A hurricane was coming through our area but no where near Orlando. Why not just leave? Why stay at home to be out of power? Zach’s groups with work were canceled because of the storm so he had the time. The house was vacant until someone was coming to check in on Friday afternoon. It just made sense to load up and go!
We surprised the kids when they got off the bus that Tuesday with the news that we were loading up quick and heading out! It was a TAD crazy! I mean we’d LITERALLY just gotten home from Cali and were still very much jet lagged haha but sometimes you just gotta yolo right?
We hit up some Taco Bell on the way down!
Since we were going in the middle of the week we figured it made the most sense to try to visit Toy Story Land. We kinda avoid new attractions when they first open because it’s always just SO crazy. But on a weekday we figured it was our best shot!
The night we arrived at the house I started not feeling well. I assumed it was just from the crazy flight situation, time zone change adjustment, and the craziness of the day with unpacking from Cali and repacking for Disney.
But when I woke up Wednesday morning I felt a LOT worse. I pushed through and we headed to Hollywood Studios but I can honestly say that this was the first time I’ve ever been at Disney and wished I wasn’t.
Really and truly I should have stayed at the house! The rides we did that morning weren’t even ones I ride haha so I literally was just walking around with Spear the whole time!
Zach ran ahead at opening with the big three and I pushed Spear in the masses of people. I passed by this lady and told her I snapped this picture but this is a pretty genius idea right?!?
I met Zach and the kids in the line and was able to get a rider swap for Slinky Dog so they’d all be able to ride it twice! Slinky Dog is the hot ticket item in Toy Story Land and the only ride they hadn’t yet done (they did Alien Saucers at Tess’s birthday and we’ve done Toy Story Mania a million times).
Zach has been stepping up his picture taking game! I love seeing all of these! They were able to ride the ride two times thanks to rider swap so these are the pics from both experiences! And he even got two videos (one and two!)
They LOVED it! If you’re heading to Hollywood Studios and want to experience Slinky Dog it is THE ride to RUN (well walk quickly) to at park opening. Arrive at the park at least an hour prior to opening and then make the mad dash to get in line! They waited less than 20 min to ride it!
While they rode Slinky Dog Spear and I met Buzz!
And he napped 🙂
After Slinky Dog Zach and the big three walked right on to Star Tours. A positive thing about a new ride/land opening at a park is that ALL the other rides are DEAD so it’s easy to walk right onto everything, especially in the mornings when everyone is lined up for the newest attractions.
Tessie and Britt love Muppet Babies! I hadn’t ever done this experience before and it was nice to do something while I was at the park haha.
She cracks me up with her cuteness!
We let Spear crawl around for a little bit in the Star Wars area before heading out!
Valdosta was very prepared to get hit bad in the storm but it ended up missing us almost completely. Our house never even lost power. It is SO sad the devastation that Hurricane Michael caused and we are praying for all of those affected.
Originally we’d planned to go back to the parks that evening but I took a nap when we got to the house and struggled to wake up. I just felt SO BAD. Thankfully the Disney House has a great heated pool and spa so the kids were super pumped to just swim and have a movie night!
Another nice perk of our Disney House is the huge master tub! The girls played happily for a LONG time while I just SAT on the floor and let Spear play!
While Kye and Daddy worked on hanging up the letters for the master bedroom! I LOVE how it turned out! Each room in our Disney Rental House has a slight theme to it and the master bedroom downstairs (there are two masters!) is themed Peter Pan so the quote was perfect!
Movie night fun!
I love that we have a great loft area upstairs and an area with a NES Classic, large couch with a pull out bed. It’s an area perfect for the kids to have a movie night!
While they watched Zach picked us up some Panera. They messed up our whole order super bad and to make up for it they ended up giving it all to us for free and hooking us up with a TON of bread.
Even though I still felt bad the next morning I had to push through. I had told the kids I’d take them to MK solo with me and had planned to do it the night prior but when I felt so sick I switched it for the next morning.
I loaded up on IBProphen and Advil Cold and Sinus and we went for it!
First thing we headed to Buzz. We got to ride it twice in a row! Kye got his highest score EVER and Tess busted her lip and was bleeding everywhere haha It was an exciting start to the morning!
We had a fastpass for Winnie The Poo but it was broken down so our FastPass changed to be able to come back at any time!
Where the heck is the sword? Someone must have gotten it out of the stone and ran off with it!
Phillarmagic!
It’s a Small World
Winnie the Pooh back up and running!
We have done pin trading before but always kinda forget about it so we brought along our pin lanyards for our chill morning and the kids had so much fun hunting down cast members to trade with!
We were also SO PUMPED when we realized that the CANDY CORN ICE CREAM is available even during non-party times in October! The kids all loved it last year when we went to MNSSHP as a family and were so excited to have it again!
We took a little break to soak up some castle time 🙂
Love that we got to watch a bit of the castle show and hear some “Let it Go!”
We headed over for our Haunted Mansion FastPass and I was all “Let’s each make a spooky face!” and this is the result I got from Kye. Hello pre-teen years, right?!?! Apparently Mom is NOT COOL haha
At least these two play along 😉
When Mommy doesn’t feel well you take full advantage and eat all the snacks haha
More pin trading!
A big thing we ALL love to do is hunt for hidden Mickey’s throughout the park (and well just throughout anywhere we go really haha) and the kids noticed this one in the shadows!
Pirates!
I know I’ve given this tip before but y’all kids are ALWAYS going to WANT STUFF. My solution? I get a photo of the child with the item they want and then add it to their wishlist. 99% of the time they forget they even “asked” for it but I do pay attention for items they bring up over and over and make a note to possibly purchase it for them as a gift!
He may be a preteen when it comes to some things but this almost 10 year old still loves playing dress up and it was so cute to me that he specifically asked for a pirate hat and sword. Sweet boy Mommy will always buy you ALL the dress up items 🙂 Keep ’em little as long as possible!
Another really great perk about our Disney Rental House is the location! It’s not only in a SUPER nice, gated community but it’s a very short walk to a little playground area. Zach walked down with Spear and had a great time together.
I am SO thankful to Little Ella Rae for sending me this super cute Rosie head wrap! I have seen so many people wearing them around the parks and was so excited to have one for myself (especially with the cute mickey pattern). I am NOT “hair savvy” but this was so easy to wear and so comfortable (even with my big ‘ole head). Be sure to check out the Rosie wraps here! Little Ella Rae also has ADORABLE princess themed bows for your next Disney trip here!
KYE ASKED TO VISIT TIKI ROOM. Y’all my mama heart about burst! We were talking about it and he said he doesn’t even remember it at all because it’s been SO LONG since he saw those enchanted birds so, duh, we went to it right away 😉
Found a great hidden mickey!
It wasn’t a life changing experience for him but it meant a lot to me to get to sit with my baby boy and watch one of my favorite Disney performances 😉 Made me think back to his first visit!
We ended our morning with Monsters Laugh Factory and I’m SO Glad we did! Not only did our joke get chosen but KYE also got to speak during the show! It was awesome as we’re all so used to Britt always being the one picked (including her…girl struggled not being in that spotlight haha).
Britt kept putting her head on Kye’s shoulder so she could be on the screen too. I was dying haha!!!
It was a fun morning, especially for Kye! He really was SO thrilled to have been chosen during Monsters Inc and it made me happy to see him so happy. Sometimes the solo Mommy time at the parks can be a bit “lame” for him (hence his eye rolling at Haunted Mansion ha!) since I don’t ride any thrill rides but this morning really worked out well for him!
Even though I didn’t feel my best I’m still so glad I pushed through and we had such a fun morning. We got back to the house and Zach and Kye jumped in the car and headed to the golf course.
When we purchased our annual passes we didn’t get the top level ones (that include water parks and golf etc) because we didn’t think we’d use those amenities enough to justify them. Zach did want to try out the golf courses to see what he thought for in the future and this yolo trip was the perfect opportunity!
He and Kye had a BLAST that evening! They golfed and enjoyed finding all the hidden mickeys/Disney details on the course and then they had more “guy time” with dinner and Dave and Busters!
They picked up Checkers for dinner and Zach called me to tell me how hilarious this Checkers is…it’s located near the World’s Largest McDonald’s and has a little sign in front that says “World’s Largest Checkers” bahaha!
Kye enjoys golf. But he LOVES video games. So the combo of the golfing AND the Dave and Busters outing was perfect for them to do together!
Back at the house we all rested and then the girls swam and had some epic girl time!
I love the bonds all my kids share. All morning at MK Tessie kept talking about Spear and pointing out things that he would like. She adores her baby brother!
Finished out the day with special treats!
By that point my sickness was much worse and I was pretty positive I had strep. My throat hurt. I kept getting chills on and off and hot and cold flashes. And just felt all achy and miserable.
The upside to being pretty sure I had strep is when Kye woke up at 4 am puking everywhere that I didn’t even gag when I had to clean it up.
Whew. Rough rough situation.
Even though school was canceled for that day too, we still had to head home as guests were checking into the house and the cleaners needed enough time to come in and clean. So poor Kye had puked all night then had to ride in a car for four hours.
He ended up throwing up in the car on the way home too.
Poor baby! He’d had SUCH a fun day the day prior and I hated that he felt so miserable.
We got home and got him settled and then I headed up to the walk-in clinic. Sure enough. I had strep! I was able to walk next door to fill my prescription at the grocery store RIGHT before they closed for the night so I lucked out! I also went ahead and grabbed some groceries while I was there b/c #momlifeneverstops.
I guess with strep it’s common to feel WORSE when you actually start meds so that night I felt TERRIBLE. Then Zach woke up and he started puking. Whew. It was a cluster of clusters for sure. Zach dehydrates when he gets a stomach virus (which we aren’t really sure if this has anything to do with his MS or not!). When I woke up to him puking I said “go to the hospital!” haha It’s my go to phrase when he pukes because if he passes out there is NO WAY I can lift him to get him to the hospital!
He ended up going to the emergency room to get fluids to get back hydrated.
We were in ROUGH shape. Mrs Charlotte ended up coming and getting Spear that morning and Zach and I literally didn’t leave the bed all day that day. Kye ran the house. I slept seriously the entire day and it was the sickest I can remember being in YEARS.
California Sunday. Crazy flight that Monday. Hurricane Tuesday. Disney World Wednesday and Thursday. Puking and Strep Friday and Saturday. I’d say that was one INSANE week in our household!!!
Even with all our sickness it was truly so neat to be able to “evacuate” when the hurricane came through and escape to our home away from home! If you’re considering a trip to Disney be sure to visit this page for info about our rental home (only 3 miles from the parks) AND how you can get a HUGE discount for booking with us!
My work has been featured on Love What Matters, Today Parenting and Babywise.Life. I'm also honored to be a member of the Babywise Friendly Blog Network.
You can read more about our family on my About Me page. Also be sure to follow along with me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest!
- Effective Parenting Tips to Discipline a 5 Year Old Child - September 24, 2024
- Happy 9th Birthday to My Daughter – Letter to Tess from Mom - August 26, 2024
- The Best Travel High Chair for Baby and Toddler - July 11, 2024
