The One Where I’m In Over My Head/ March 2024/BCV/2 adults/2 toddlers/0 sanity *updated 2/26*

[iheartbelle87]

Hi friends!

My name is Ashlee- I’m your resident ghost host for this PTR!

It’s been a loooooonnnggg time since I’ve been to WDW and written a PTR/TR (2017 to be exact …) so much has changed both in WDW and in my personal life; I can’t wait to get started!

saving this page for linking chapters (once I relearn how to do this )

CHAPTERS

Introductions

 

[Mollydolly334]

I’M IN YAY YAY YAYYYYYY!!! So nice to see you back on the DIS

 

[iheartbelle87]

Introductions

ME! As I said in my first post, my name is Ashlee. I’m 36 years old and have been to WDW almost every year since 1998, although due to COVID and babies I’ve been in a 7 year Disney drought! Professionally, I work full time as a nurse practitioner.

DH! DH is 38 years old, he works in Biotech as a scientist. As a kid he went to WDW one time for a typical “right of passage” type trip. That all changed when we got married and together we’ve been to Disney four times since 2011 (including our honeymoon!)

DD1- First of all, I can’t even believe I’m writing that I have a daugher. Legit a dream come true. Anyway- Maddie is our oldest, she turned 3 on January 1st! Our little New Years baby! She is a big Elsa fan and also loves Bluey. This past holiday season she was really into the old school Mickey Christmas Series and can now name the Fab 5!

DD2- here I am again getting emotional- I am so incredibly grateful to have this little babe. Liv is our rainbow baby- she turned 1 in November! She will watch Encanto all day, every day if we let her. She also tolerates Bluey, Frozen and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,
but that Madrigal family has her heart.

 

[iheartbelle87]

View attachment 829536View attachment 829536

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Following along!

 

[Paulaparm]

Following!

 

[alohamom]

following

 

[iheartbelle87]

I’M IN YAY YAY YAYYYYYY!!! So nice to see you back on the DIS

so happy you are here!!

 

[iheartbelle87]

following

yay! Welcome!

 

[jrmint427]

Following! I also have two DDs who are two years apart and we took a trip when they were 1 and 3 It was such a fun trip, can't wait to read more!

 

[iheartbelle87]

Although I’m bursting at the seams to get into our actual plans while at WDW, I will restrain myself and give this trip a proper “how it comes about” post.


In short, this trip is a “birthday gift” from DH to me. But I mean, really, the gift was just “ok go ahead and plan a disney trip just keep it under $10,000”. Challenge accepted!



Longer version… My birthday is at the end of December which is when DH gave me a bday card from Maddie and Liv that said “let’s go to Disney!” But this wasn’t a “pack your bags we are leaving right now” type of gift; it was a “start planning a family trip for March!”.


A few days later we drove from our home in southern Maine to Boston. Maddie had a doctors appointment with a specialist at 9am Jan 4th so we decided to spend two nights in a hotel enjoying the city. This was our first overnight hotel stay with the 4 of us. Let’s just say… the hotel we stayed at was geared more towards business professionals and not a 1 year old and a 3 year old . At some point during the trip DH and I declared we were not “going to Disney” bc of how unprepared we felt. After a few weeks of being home we re evaluated. We knew that having at least a one bedroom villa with an actual table to eat meals (not just a small desk), washer / dryer, a kitchen, balcony would be a game changer and make Disney more manageable for us. Also, it’s literally a place that ENCOURAGES you to bring kids. AND we can go outside (For anyone wondering - going outside with two kids in January in Boston is not really a thing ).

With our trauma behind us, I began looking into renting DVC points and confirmed reservations. Ultimately we ended up reserving a 7 day confirmed reservation at the Beach Club for a one bedroom villa March 16-23 for $5400! This is our first time renting points / not booking directly through Disney, so far so good!


Now onto flights. I’m used to flying out of Boston as we lived about 15 miles away from the airport from 2009-2021 (we moved to Maine in June 2021). Our local airport, which is Portland ME, has limited options for any flights let alone non stop. I looked into Breeze and Frontier airlines but honestly the bad reviews turned me off. This trip is one where we’re going to pay for convenience. This is not a budget friendly trip I mean, just not going to Disney since 2017 saved us enough money! hahah! Anyway - Southwest has one non stop flight each day from Portland to Orlando so I booked these for us. We went back and forth about getting Liv her own seat since she could be a lap infant (and let’s be honest, she probably won’t leave my arms the entire flight) and again, for convenience, we got her a seat as too!

Well that’s it for this update…let’s hope the rest of this PTR is a little exciting…


Next Up: “The Beach Club? Hm. Never heard of it “ - my MIL

 

[iheartbelle87]

Following! I also have two DDs who are two years apart and we took a trip when they were 1 and 3 It was such a fun trip, can't wait to read more!

ahh welcome!! Tell me allll of your tips and tricks! how old are your girls now?

 

[jrmint427]

ahh welcome!! Tell me allll of your tips and tricks! how old are your girls now?

I was surprised how many rides our 1 year old was able to do! We didn’t break in the middle of the days, it turned out they were good at napping in the double stroller when they were tired. The 3 year old was really into the characters! They are 7 and 9 now.

 

[iheartbelle87]

I was surprised how many rides our 1 year old was able to do! We didn’t break in the middle of the days, it turned out they were good at napping in the double stroller when they were tired. The 3 year old was really into the characters! They are 7 and 9 now.

This is wonderful! What stroller did you bring? We are planning on brining our double baby vista V2... but maybe we should rent?

 

[jrmint427]

What stroller did you bring? We are planning on brining our double baby vista V2... but maybe we should rent?

We had an old City Mini Jogger I had bought used. We took it on all 4 trips! This upcoming trip will be our first without that stroller.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Following along!!!

We will be at Yacht Club starting on the 28th. I lump the 2 resorts together and love it there!!!

 

[iheartbelle87]

Following along!!!

We will be at Yacht Club starting on the 28th. I lump the 2 resorts together and love it there!!!

yay so happy to have you! Have you stayed at the Yacht Club before? I LOVE the resorts theming!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Have you stayed at the Yacht Club before? I LOVE the resorts theming!

We have! We love it there. The first time we stayed there we were amazed how we didn't even know it existed till them.

 

[iheartbelle87]

Update 2/17!

Saturday, March 16th- vacation officially begins!​

Now usually I’m the type of person that books the 6am flight to really maximize all the vacation feels. But…. as I alluded to earlier, the Portland (Maine) jetport has one direct flight to MCO which leaves at 3:45pm so that’s what we’re stuck with. The good news is that the jetport is only a 19 min drive from our house!

While I have great intentions of being mostly packed prior to this day, let’s be real, I’m going to be a hot mess. We’ve asked our nanny to work for a few hours this morning to get the girls out of the house so we can finish up packing. She is also leaving for a vacation that day so she isn’t quite sure if she’ll be able to come in - if not, I’ll probably send DH to the park with the kids for an hour or so. Even though we are technically allowed 8 checked bags (!!!) we will NOT be bringing that much luggage DH and I will share a suitcase and the girls will share one. I’m also bringing an empty LL Bean duffle bag incase we buy too many souvenirs at the parks and need more luggage on the way home!

We are going to gate check our double stroller (UppaBaby Vista V2). I’ve debated bringing our double BOB but it isn’t as easy to fold and doesn’t fit through single doorways as easy. DH and I will also have backpacks as carryons.


Getting to the airport…We will need to drive DH’s truck to the airport bc my car fits exactly 2 car seats, 2 adults, one double stroller and nothing else

My plan is to leave our house at 1:30pm in hopes that we are out the door by 2pm … if we do leave on time at 1:30 that puts us at the jetport at 1:50pm/2pm. This is a tiny airport and security lines are not usually long, plus we have TSA pre check. Since we are traveling with kids under 5 we can get “family boarding” on southwest - but this feels like a cruel trick to me, bc who wants to be on the plane plane with kids longer than necessary?!

I’m going to send DH to board the plane with all of our stuff, including gate checking the stroller, while I let the hooligans precious miracles run around the airport to let off some energy. I’ll board with the girls when group C is called.

DH and DD1 will sit together in one row and DD2 and I will be across or behind them.

I’m not too worried about the girls being bored on the flight - I bought them each an Amazon fire tablet so they’ll like those and I also I have some new non messy / non sound making toys I picked up at Marshalls a few weeks ago- these will definitely provide entertainment for a good hour. I’m still nursing DD2 so as long I’m around she’ll be happy

Now dinner.. the girls eat between 4p-5p at home- I plan on giving them dinner on the plane - something easy (and super healthy) like uncrustables, pizza favored goldfish…


up next …ARRIVAL!






Saturday, March 16th- vacation officially begins!

Now usually I’m the type

of person that books the 6am flight

to really maximize all the vacation feels. But…. as I alluded to earlier, the Portland (Maine) jetport has one direct flight to MCO which leaves at 3:45pm so that’s what we’re stuck with. The good news is that the jetport is only a 19 min drive from our house!



While I have great intentions of being mostly packed prior to this day, let’s be real, I’m going to be a hot mess. We’ve asked our nanny to work for a few hours this morning to get the girls out of the house so we can finish up packing. She is also leaving for a vacation that day so she isn’t quite sure if she’ll be able to come in - if not, I’ll probably send DH to the park with the kids for an hour or so. Even though we are technically allowed 8 checked bags (!!!) we will NOT be bringing that much luggage DH and I will share a suitcase and the girls will share one. I’m also brining an empty LL Bean duffle bag incase we buy too many souvenirs at the parks and need more luggage on the way home! We are going to gate check our double stroller (UppaBaby Vista V2). I’ve debated bringing our double BOB but it isn’t as easy to fold and doesn’t fit through single doorways as easy. DH and I will also have backpacks as carryons.



Getting to the airport…We will need to drive DH’s truck to the airport bc my car fits exactly 2 car seats, 2 adults, one double

stroller and nothing else My plan is to leave our house at 1:30pm in hopes that we are out the door by 2pm … if we do leave on time at 1:30 that puts us at the jetport at 1:50pm/2pm. This is a tiny airport and security lines are not usually long, plus we have TSA pre check. Since we are traveling with kids under 5 we can get “family

boarding” on southwest - but this feels like a cruel trick to me, bc who wants to be on the plane plane with kids longer than necessary?!



I’m going to send DH to board the plane with all our stuff, including gate

checking the stroller, while I let the hooligans precious miracles run around the airport to let off some energy. I’ll board with the girls with group C.



DH and DD1 will sit together in one row and DD2 and I will be across or behind them.



I’m not too worried about the girls being bored on the flight - I bought them each an Amazon fire tablet so they’ll like those and I also I have some new non messy / non sound making toys I picked up at Marshalls few weeks ago- these will definitely provide entertainment for a good hour. I’m still nursing DD2 so as long I’m around she’ll be happy



Now dinner.. the girls eat between 4p-5p at home- I plan on giving them dinner on the plane - something easy (and super healthy) like uncrustables, pizza favored goldfish…





up next …ARRIVAL!

 

[jrmint427]

We’ve asked our nanny to work for a few hours this morning to get the girls out of the house so we can finish up packing. She is also leaving for a vacation that day so she isn’t quite sure if she’ll be able to come in - if not, I’ll probably send DH to the park with the kids for an hour or so.

That is a great idea! I was originally going to work the day when we drive to the airport (to fly out early the next day). Then I asked for a half day off, and eventually decided to take the full day for the same reason. As much as I hope to pack in advance, I’ll probably be stressed and think I’ll be glad to have the time to pack while my daughters are at school!

This sounds like a great travel day plan, can’t wait to hear what you plan to do on arrival!