"I All Done!" A Nikki and Tom/Mommy and Jack SWW TR! UPDATE 6/28 pg. 3

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Hello everyone! I haven't done a TR in a very long time!! My last one was probably my August 2012 trip. So much has changed since then! We've had a few trips to WDW but I finally felt like I could do a TR again for this one, partly because we traveled with another DISer! I'll let her introduce herself in the next post. We met through the DISboards then became part of the same travel agency and she has since become such a close and wonderful friend. This is actually the third time we met up with Stephanie in WDW and we are already planning to do it again!

This trip was from Thursday May 28 - Monday June 1. Not nearly long enough! We stayed at the beautiful Port Orleans French Quarter resort. This is the third time in my past four trips that I've stayed there so needless to say, it's one of my favorites.

We chose these dates specifically to be there for Star Wars Weekends!

I'm hoping some of my old TR followers will find me again but for anyone new, let me introduce myself.

This is me - I'm Nikki. This was my 25th trip to Walt Disney World!





This is DH - Tom. I think my first TR was of our honeymoon in 2009. That was his 4th trip. This past one was his 13th. He is a HUGE Star Wars fan and never thought we'd ever be able to do a SWW trip since I'm a teacher and we usually go in the summers.




Here we are doing what many of you have come to know us to do best! Enjoying a nice tasty beverage probably way too early in the day.





Now, aside from Stephanie and her crew joining us on this trip, we had one more additional traveler who has not previously been seen in my TRs...

This is our 19 month old daughter Penelope - we call her Penny. And she's a huge D2 fan! This was actually her second trip to WDW. Her first trip was last August when she was about 10 months old.





Stephanie and I will take turns talking about our experiences since we arrived and departed separately and weren't always together. Plus, we might just have different perspectives on the same events and of course we'll both have TONS of pictures!! If you've read my TRs in the past, I basically tell about my trip through pictures.

Hope you enjoy!!!!

 

[anjalee6]

Hey! So glad you are doing a TR again. Loved seeing your pictures on FB and my DH was severely jealous of you guys going to Disney in May during the school year. But...after seeing your pictures, I think I convinced him that we should try it if possible next year for his birthday. Can't wait to read more details!

 

[Nermel9]

I just saw your post on FB, so I had to run over and sub! I am so happy you're doing another TR! I haven't done one in a while either, but I'm writing one now for my May trip and it's so much fun again! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Nhebron]

Following along!

 

[MEK]

Subbing in and looking forward to reading all about your trip.

 

[photographymom517]

I'm here!!!! I am soooooo excited you and Steph are doing a joint TR!!!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Hey! So glad you are doing a TR again. Loved seeing your pictures on FB and my DH was severely jealous of you guys going to Disney in May during the school year. But...after seeing your pictures, I think I convinced him that we should try it if possible next year for his birthday. Can't wait to read more details!

You really should try!! I'm fortunate that I get personal days and they let you take 3 at a time so add a weekend to that and you have a 5 day trip!

I just saw your post on FB, so I had to run over and sub! I am so happy you're doing another TR! I haven't done one in a while either, but I'm writing one now for my May trip and it's so much fun again! Can't wait to read more!

Hooray!!! Glad you're here!

Following along!

Great!!

Subbing in and looking forward to reading all about your trip.

So glad you're joining in!

I'm here!!!! I am soooooo excited you and Steph are doing a joint TR!!!

Hey Hope!!!

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

Yeah, another Nikki TR! I remember reading your previous reports and they were so fun!

Penny is so adorable!

 

[disneybarbie]

Joining in!

Emma x

 

[disny_luvr]

Joining in! I read a few of your trip reports a looooong time ago. It's nice to "see" you again here. Looking forward to it! Your daughter is adorable!

 

[Stefy]

Hey Nikki saw your post on FB. Penny has grown so much, little cutey

I'm back on the boards as we've booked a trip for next year and I need some TR's to keep me going. Can't wait to read more

 

[archdandy]

I'm following along! I've loved your TR's in the past so I'm pretty excited about this one.

*Okay I had to quickly edit this post as I just realized, THIS IS MY 999 POST! There's always room for one more though I guess.

 

[ashmarie06]

I'm so excited to read this trip report!!!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Yeah, another Nikki TR! I remember reading your previous reports and they were so fun!

Penny is so adorable!

Thanks! So glad you're here!

Joining in!

Emma x

Hey Emma!!

Joining in! I read a few of your trip reports a looooong time ago. It's nice to "see" you again here. Looking forward to it! Your daughter is adorable!

So long ago, right??? I'm really happy to see everyone again!

Hey Nikki saw your post on FB. Penny has grown so much, little cutey

I'm back on the boards as we've booked a trip for next year and I need some TR's to keep me going. Can't wait to read more

Great!! When are you guys going next?

I'm following along! I've loved your TR's in the past so I'm pretty excited about this one.

*Okay I had to quickly edit this post as I just realized, THIS IS MY 999 POST! There's always room for one more though I guess.

Haha love that!!! Any volunteers??

I'm so excited to read this trip report!!!

Yay!!

 

[stephielela]

Here I am! As Nikki mentioned above, Jack and I joined her lovely family on this adventure, making this our third joint/overlapping trip! I have been away from DIS for an extremely long time as well, but I am excited to do this joint TR since I tried a lot of new things and learned so much!

Aside from Jack and myself, we also had my very good friend Beth with us on this trip. Beth had met Nikki's family previously last August when our trips overlapped and we spent some time together. Here we are with our favorite pal...

Nikki already gave the "when", and as for they "where", this was my first time staying at French Quarter. I've stayed in the Royal Rooms at Riverside and was looking forward to a comparison. The "why" was really exciting for me. Jack has become a HUGE Star Wars fan as he has gotten older, and while I enjoy the movies, I don't really know anything about Star Wars. I knew he would get a kick out of Star Wars Weekends, but being able to go with Nikki and Tom meant Jack would have a fellow aficionado to enjoy the excitement with. After all, the first time he ever watched Star Wars was while visiting Nikki and Tom!

I also managed to keep this trip a surprise for him. Believe me when I say it was TOUGH. He asks me on almost a daily basis if we can go to Disney, and I managed to say (with a straight face) that we were not going to Disney this summer. And he believed me. If I can figure out how to post a video later, I will post the reveal, but it's not that exciting. Through various surprises this year I have learned he just doesn't do big reactions! Which I guess takes the pressure off... I don't think I will plan another surprise trip for a while! Ok, now that we're here, on with the show!

 

[tinkerbell60]

So happy to be reading your trip report - you have come a long way from July 09!!!

Wendy

 

[jenseib]

joining in! Looking forward to hearing from both of you!!!!

 

[Deemarch]

How wonderful to see you and your family again!!

 

[Dream426]

Joining in!!! Looking forward to reading another one of your TR. your daughter is adorable!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

A bit of back story before travel day. So Penny has freaked out at her dr. check-ups since her 6 mo visit. It's only getting worse to the point where she is actually having nightmares. So the week before the trip she had her 18 mo. check-up (totally freaked) and a few days later I took her in for a rash, purposely taking her to a totally different doctor and building thinking it would throw her off. Nope. She freaked even more.

So the day before our trip, two things happened that made me very nervous. The first was that one of my coworkers was out with the stomach bug and I had sat next to her at lunch the previous day AND touched her phone. So of course, I was convinced I would be vomiting in the airport and they wouldn't let me on the plane. The second was that my mom texted me and said she took Penny to the library for story time (where she had gone once before with no problem) and she totally freaked, doctor visit style. So of course, I was convinced that she would freak out when we walked into the airport and freak out when we walked down the hall to get on the plane and freak out getting onto the plane and they would kick us off before we even left the gate. I mean, convinced - both of those things were happening...

The alarm was set for 3:30am and I woke up to Tom already drinking coffee in the living room! He did not sleep well the night before so he figured he might as well just get up and get ready. I got myself ready and around ten to 4, we went in to wake up Penny. I was thrilled she had actually slept the whole night because for the week or so prior, like I said, she was having nightmares and would wake up crying at least once in the night. She was not happy to be woken up but we managed to get her dressed just as Grampy came to pick us up.

I had called Penny's dr the day before and she said it would be okay to give her a little bit of Benedryl to take the edge off a little. I'll spare all the details of arrival but we made it to the airport with no crying, made it on the plane with just a bit of confusion but mostly excitement at the fact that I gave her a lolipop, which I NEVER do! Whatever works...

Here we are at the gate before boarding.




Oh by the way, let me introduce another member of our group - Bunny. Bunny is Penny's security blanket. She loves him. (Yes, we call the Bunny "him" even though she's clearly a girl bunny.) She is obsessed with Bunny and always wants Bunny and paci together which means that she only gets Bunny for naps and bedtime...and of course, in situations like this. The plan was for her to use Monkey to snuggle with in the stroller and not bring Bunny into the parks at all. The first time I tried to give her Monkey to nap she literally threw him out of her stroller and said "No, Bunny!" So that was that. We just had to be VERY careful and keep an eye on Bunny at all times. We do NOT have a back-up Bunny!

Anyway...

Yummy lolipop!! She had like 6 before the plane ever took off and I only took like 8 with me. I didn't realize she would go through them so fast!! But I had to keep her interested and distracted - I was still afraid of a freak out any moment.





There is something about an airplane take-off that really needs to be simulated and sold to parents who need to get their children to sleep. I was SO relieved when she fell asleep!




She slept about an hour and, like an idiot, I tried to shift her into a different position and she woke up.
The next hour was a little nerve-wracking but we made it off the plane without a freakout. Although she did tell us, "I all done" several times. That phrase was repeated very often throughout the trip, hence the title of the TR.


We made it through the monorail ride and onto the ME bus, also with no freak outs. Let's just say, I spent a lot of this trip, especially the beginning, waiting for a freak out that never came. She was GREAT!










Penny was not a fan of the bus ride and was "all done" quite a bit but we were able to distract her and before we knew it, we were driving under the sight that really lets you know WE ARE HERE!





We checked in to Port Orleans French Quarter. While I checked in, Tom showed Penny the fountain in the lobby, which quickly became her favorite thing! She was so excited to throw in the coins and touch the water.

The plan was to head to Animal Kingdom, since that was really the only day we could fit it in other than the last day and we didn't really want to end with AK. (Spoiler alert - we did anyway.)

When we got on the bus to AK, Penny didn't like it at all. She was "all done" and very scoochy. If you think about it, it makes sense. This is an unfamiliar thing to her and she was nervous. I was pretty upset, thinking it would only get worse but fortunately it got better with each bus ride, thankfully, in part, to the awesome fellow guests who would talk to her, give her stickers or play peek-a-boo with her. It's amazing when people who've been there just know what we're going through and jump in to help.


It was pretty crowded when we got to AK and it was a bit of a pain because I had to stop at Guest Relations to pick up my discounted ticket. That took a little while. And after getting it linked to my account, I then had to stop at the Guest Relations inside the gates to get myself Fast Passes that match the rest of my crew's. With my ticket, I wasn't able to get FPs in advance, which was very nerve-wracking but they were able to get everything copied to me.



While I was doing that, Tom was keeping Penny occupied with stickers!!




Up Next: A Day in AK - will Penny nap??