Part 1: Disney World! :Arriving & Caribbean Beach Resort

Plus on the first day of our vacation Cal got sick and by the end of it we were all sick...so we all came home battling illness and the massive laundry piles!  

I know I did post about our stay in Tifton, Georgia on the way to Disney.  I would highly recommend staying there if you are traveling an extended amount of time to Disney.  Tifton was about 4-5 hours away from Disney so it really helped us break up our drive.  Disney is about 20 hours away from our house and we knew we absolutely did not want to spend 20 hours driving and arrive to Disney with the adults exhausted and the kids raring to go.  Stopping in Tifton broke our trip up in that we drove about 15 hours the first day, crashed for the night, then woke up and left about 5 in the morning...getting us to Disney before 10 am...perfect!!!!

But now onto the pictures and about our trip!  I am going to try to post the annoying tourist shots I took too since there may be lots of you out there like how I was: someone who had never ever been to Disney.  It was  a little terrifying exciting planning a trip to Disney with no previous experience!  Here we go: 

 We arrived Tuesday, September 18th to Disney World...this is the site you are greeted with upon arriving.  There were huge signs telling us not to stop but luckily I have a husband who will boldly break rules when I beg him to stop!  First time Disney lady with a brand new camera...make way!

 Here's Emma's face upon arriving.  She doesn't look excited or anything, right? :)  Love our beautiful girl!  Alright and the stupid blogger isn't letting me comment below the next picture but I'm sure you can see that this Cal is below and this was his face upon our arrival. So excited!!!

Here is the site upon us entering the Resort part of the adventure.  Now to find our resort...it's gotta be around here somewhere...

Here was Hollywood Studios...

And The Swan Resort...excuse the bluriness as my husband is driving probably 60ish miles per hour...he wants his kiddos to get to Disney!
 *One of the things I wish someone had told me that Disney has roads and interstates all it's own. It's nothing like welcome to Disney and you're here! It's more like Welcome to Disney now follow this map and half an hour later you'll find (hopefully!) your destination.    There are a lot of signs but it's easy to get turned around!

The Caribbean Beach Resort!  We're finally here!!!  One of the things I love is how Disney makes so much effort to make you feel like you are really at whatever destination is designated for your hotel.  Since the Caribbean was our theme there was tons of calypso music, umbrella drinks, and palms.  They even bring people in from whatever country your hotel is from.  It almost felt like we were in Disney at the parks and at the Caribbean when we were at our hotel...very nice! 

Here's Emma upon arriving at the hotel.  Fresh out of the car after 4 and a half hour.  And I was dismayed to see that the poor dear inherited my Islandy hair.  It only gets worse from here kiddo!  

Here's a random shot of what the hotel rooms looked life.  Each resort is HUGE!  Ours was seperated into Caribbean Islands with each cluster of that islands' buildings being a different color.

At the Caribbean everything is really spread out which I loved!  There is a seperate building just for checking in and out.  Here we are getting all checked in!  Oh yes, and make sure you tell them you are first timers!  They had buttons waiting for us and these balloons!  I'm sure they will give them to you without telling them ahead of time but it made the kiddos feel super special that all of this stuff was ready for just them! 

*Another tip: Can you see in the picture above that the three of them are all in pink?  I do that on purpose in case I ever lost one of them.  I always try to get them to match either Nick or me. It helps me spot them in crows.  Plus, It's a good practice for when you have lost your child and your mind turns to goo and you can barely remember your own name (if this has never happened to you, praise God for that!). Anyway, if that happens I can look at my outfit or Nick's and think they are wearing either blue or pink...and that usually jogs my memory.  

Here was our hotel room's building.

*We worked a lot with the Disney planning people to ensure we had a good room and location for us.  Explaining Cal was Autistic and HATES being upstairs got us a first floor room close to the parking lot and the shuttle so we could dash quickly when needed.

*Again this is the most magical place on Earth so if you have special requests, make them known!  The worst that can happen is that they say no, but it never hurts to try.  I talked to tons of friends before we went to get a sense of what I would be up against mom wise and I knew I would be leaving things out in the car, needing to get a screaming kid down for a nap, and so for us I for went the water view in favor of a parking lot view that afforded me the luxury of dashing out to the car when necessary.  Just my viewpoint. :)

This picture is more for me just to remember that we stayed in Trinidad South, but it also shows you that they give you a cute map of the resort...see how big it is?  The Caribbean has a lake in the middle of it with beach and boat rentals...so fun!

Okay tomorrow I will be posting more...stay tuned :)

Summary of my tips for Disney in this post:
*If driving try to stop for the night somewhere before you get to Disney so when you arrive you are all on the same playing field, sleep wise.
*Disney is huge and there are a lot of roads and streets, ramps and exits.  Be a good co-pilot for your husband because it can be easy to get turned around.
*Color theming your wardrobes comes in handy for spotting a child in a crowd or, God forbid, you need to tell security what your child is wearing.
*Be specific about what you want in your room.  Want a ground level floor? Ask for it?  Want to be close or far away from the parking lot?  Ask for it.  Close to a shuttle?  Ask.  The worst that can happen is that it won't happen.
*Try to cover all of your bases in thinking through how your family operates.  We are leave your junk in the car people so we like to be close to the lot.  If you don't have your car with you maybe you'll benefit better from a water view :)

Happy Planning!