About a year ago now, my mother learned that the work conference she attends annually would be held this year at the Walt Disney World Swan. From that moment we talked about doing a weekend trip, but we officially started planning this fall. At that time this trip was definitely bittersweet. I couldn't wait to get back to Disney, but I still wasn't pregnant. I feared that this trip would end up like our last Disney trip and our cruise the following year, marred by the fact I wasn't pregnant. Thankfully that wasn't the case and once we knew our cycle was successfully, we joyfully continued planning the trip.
Because I only had one personal day left for the school year, my father, Sean and I decided to leave Friday evening. Our flight was originally scheduled for about 6:30, but the time was pushed back to 7:40 a few months prior to the date. I got home from work that day, finished packing and listened to Pumpkin's heartbeat one more time, and then we were in the car heading to Logan, only to find out our flight was delayed because of weather until 8:40. Because of this we didn't get down to Florida until around midnight and walked into the hotel closer to 2 AM. However even that late arrival wouldn't dampen our attempts at four parks in three days.
We woke up bright and early on Saturday and were in the Magic Kingdom by around 9:30. There was a time in our planning that we didn't plan on going to Magic Kingdom until Sunday, but that just seemed wrong. It felt fantastic walking into the park and knowing that that Sean and I were parents and that soon we would be bringing our own child into the parks. The site of families no longer brought tears to my eyes. Instead I was reveling in all the things we could do with our child. After hitting everything we wanted to (and purchasing more than necessary), we went back to the room for some afternoon drinks (ice cream for the pregnant lady) and a much needed nap.
After about an hour and a half, we were up and ready to head to park number two, Disney's Hollywood Studios (still MGM in my heart). We didn't do many of the rides there, but we were able to get a few in. My mother, slightly begrudgingly, passed by Rock N' Roller Coaster without riding, seeing as though she couldn't quite convince Sean to ride. We were able to have a fun dinner at the 50's Prime Time Cafe and then watched Fantasmic. The best part of the show was watching the family in front of us. It appeared to be an extended family (grandparents, aunts, cousins), but there were two small girls who were dressed up and had the best reactions when a new character stepped on stage.
Sunday was devoted to Epcot, with a morning of golf for the guys. We were able to spend a good part of the morning in Future World. Mom and I even got to ride twice! After our afternoon break, we were able to explore the World Showcase for a bit. If there was one thing that we can say we missed was that we didn't really get to walk throughout the countries like we had wanted, but we had all done that before
Monday was another early morning. We were headed to Animal Kingdom and it opened at 8. We all got up early, packed, ate breakfast and were in the car by 8:05. Animal Kingdom was the first place where I had to sit out a ride, the safari. Instead I walked around a little and just relaxed. It was funny to look at the row of benches in front of the exit because it was filled with ladies with little bellies. After the safari, we did most of the walking tours, the festival of the Lion King show (best show in Disney) and I convinced mom and Sean to go on Everest (I don't think they have forgive me yet). After a little more shopping, we were heading back to airport to fly home. I don't know if it was the car ride, the exhaustion, the lack of good food, or a combination, but by the time we reached the airport I wasn't feeling too well. I was very happy to get on the plane and take a nap. Our whirlwind trip was over.
I may have not been able to feel Pumpkin's excitement for the trip, but Pumpkin sure will have many memories of the trip. We came home with a rather large Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal, a swaddled Simba stuffed animal, a pair of Mickey PJs and about three different onesies. Most of this was from Meme and Pepe; they are getting the spoiling in early.
On other news, I'm doing very well. I had an appointment yesterday and everything looks great. Pumpkin's heartbeat was beating strong at 140 beats per minute. The best news was that we get to have our anatomy scan in about three weeks! We will finally get to know if we are having a Lucas Alphonse or an Olivia Natalie. Stay tuned!
