Jack's favorite ride was the Kali River Rapids which we went on twice. Big Papa's favorite part of the trip was watching Jack giggle every time someone got wet. My favorite part of the trip was leaving the ride the second time and hearing someone in the other line, say "Wowww, look at that guy" and pointing to Jacob, who was drenched and not loving it - hahaha!
I second guessed myself taking Jack on the scary/realistic dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom. He was sitting beside me and as we jerked around in the dark with realistic dinosaurs looming at us and loud, panicky voices directing us away from an incoming asteroid, I kept squeezing his arm, saying "It's just pretend; it's just pretend." I couldn't see his face in the dark, but he seemed perfectly fine afterward. Still, this would be the one ride I think we shouldn't have taken him on. Too realistic.
Cora spent her time between the Ergo carrier, in loving arms, or in the stroller. She
was very friendly, waving and saying "hi" a lot, and, overall, was a
trooper. She fell asleep pretty easily but also woke pretty easily, so
she didn't get the greatest naps and was starting to get fussy the
second day. Luckily we had lots of help.Take away #5: Make sure you have a very favorable adult: child ratio. Ours was 3:1 adults: in the flesh children (just to be extra clear, the half child is my sister's baby boy, due in July!)
This was just plain AWESOME. And with Grammy not wanting to get her hair wet and Aunt Kristen unable to ride roller coasters, it also meant that Jacob and I got to experience most rides with Jack, while Cora was being loved on by others.
I also found nursing Cora to be extremely easy at Disney. Rather than sit in the heat and nurse or ask everyone to wait while I fed her, I would nurse her as we rode on calm rides (i.e. Peter Pan's Flight) or on rides where we were supposed to be quiet and she was not (i.e. The Carousel of Progress) :)
We explored our hotel the last night and then Grammy and Big Papa took over kid duties, while the siblings went out to dinner. Our hotel was exceptionally kid friendly so the final morning was spent at the hotel pool and playground.
Our adult:
child ratio had dropped to 3:2 at this point since my parents and
Kristen had left earlier in the day, so Jacob and I took big kid Chris
and little kid Jack to Downtown Disney to the LEGO store.Takeaway #6: Don't enter the ultimate toy store without a game plan.
Jack immediately zeroed in on the elaborate fire LEGO kits and we had to negotiate him down to the paltry $10 and $7 boxes. Big kid Uncle Chris was rationale enough to say no to the $400 Star Wars LEGOs that he wanted :)
And, as all vacations do, ours then had to end. We said good-bye to our last adult companion/baby-holder/child-entertainer and went through security alone (or as alone as one can feel with two small children, a stroller, a baby carrier, a bookbag and two carry-ons since Jacob Landry doesn't check bags.) Our over-tired children did NOT sleep on the flight home as is the habit of over-tired children. Jack was actually entirely docile, whereas Cora alternated between big flirt (smiling and waving) and tired baby (screaming).
Jack was excited to see his stuffed animal, "Regular Monkey," waiting for him in the car and Cora also seemed happy to see her comfy carseat. (She fell asleep 5 minutes from home.) We then enjoyed a dinner of oatmeal, since that was the only food we had in the house, and got ready to go back to real life!
But Disney World, I hope to be back! You were a fun excuse for carefree time with my family! Thank you to my parents for this trip - it was an awesome memory for all!
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