Disney 2008: Chapter 1 - Downtown Disney

Okay, so, Disney 2008. We pretty much followed the same plan as last year: leave Atlanta after work on Tuesday and drive to parents' house, leave parents' house Wednesday with Nana and drive to Orlando to check in and hit Downtown Disney, hit parks Thursday and Friday, game Saturday and return to parents' house to drop off Nana, leave Sunday to return to Atlanta. But somehow, this is about as far into the plan as I got. I did make reservations to eat at The Crystal Palace (dinner Thurs) and Tony's Town Square (lunch Fri), but that was about it, and to a certain extent, I feel that this trip suffered a bit for it. I just don't feel that things went as smoothly as they might have if I'd planned a little more. We also learned a couple of valuable lessons about meal and nap planning that will be put to good use next year. So, let's get started!

Despite getting in to my parents' late on Tuesday due to very heavy rain the entire trip, Luke decided to get up at 6 AM Wednesday morning. DH was a dear and let Nana and me sleep until 7, which seemed plenty early, yet we didn't actually make it out the door until 10:30 (still a little baffled on that point). Luke, having been up for 5 hours now, was ready to eat lunch, so we didn't even make it to the interstate before pulling over to eat at Steak 'n Shake. After that, it was smooth sailing to Orlando. It was also Bike Week in Daytona, which Luke greatly enjoyed (he loves "motercykickles"). Our favorite check-in guy Carlos (who you may remember from last year (scroll down past backpack photo)) was at the front desk when we arrived, and our rooms were even ready already. We unloaded the car, then headed out to Downtown Disney, where we hit the usual highlights: Rainforest Cafe (the gorilla room this year), Once Upon a Toy (with way too many way awesome Star Wars potato heads), Team Mickey (that had virtually no Braves stuff this year!), and World of Disney (which was done at breakneck 3-year-old speed, so we didn't see much). Nana also took him on the train and the carousel.



We put Luke down to bed, then I suddenly realized that I had forgotten a major reason for our trip to Downtown Disney: tickets! Both Nana and Luke needed park admission tickets, and it hadn't even crossed my mind while we were there. So Nana and I packed up and returned to Downtown while DH checked on his fantasy baseball teams. We got back, stayed up way too late rearranging the backpacks for the parks, then hit the sack. The three of us (DH, Luke, and I) all slept in the same room this year, so instead of the crummy pull-out sofa, DH and I slept in the king bed while Luke slept on an air mattress in the floor. I'm not a fan of sleeping with a nightlight, which Luke requires to sleep, but it was better than the lumpy fold-out mattress.

See, should be somewhat shorter this year! I'm guessing 5 parts, max, perhaps less. At least I think/hope so. Haven't written the rest yet, so I guess we'll see. Tomorrow, stuck on Pirates of the Caribbean, Luke's first "real meal" at Disney, and his first ride on Big Thunder Mountain!

Currently feeling: vacationed