I'm Baaaaaaccccccckkkkkk!

Disney was awesome! The surprise went well and we all had an amazing time. The workouts were almost non-existent, but we were up before dawn most days and out until 10:30 or 11 pm every night...talk about exhausting! I will re-cap the entire trip this week, but for now I'll share 20 things I learned during our trip to Disney.

1. Do NOT let your 2 year old and 6 year old sit next to each other on an airplane. Chaos will ensue and it's not pretty.




2. Walt Disney was a true visionary. He had amazing foresight. AMAZING.



3. Never, ever take an almost 3-year old to Disney. NEVER. Disney can be overwhelming for an adult, so can you imagine how a 2-year old might feel? Can we say meltdown? How about meltdown 2-3x daily? NEVER DO IT. NEVER. In fact, don't take the kids at all.



4. Disney is a total and complete racket. They are a marketing machine. From the freaking princesses to the collectible pins, it is a total and complete racket. I love it! From a business perspective, they are geniuses.



5. You will not find Giselle from Enchanted at Disney. She was there once, but will more than likely never be there again. Bummer, because I loved Enchanted.



6. The buses that run from the resorts to the parks run every 20 minutes. Do not expect them to arrive any faster.



7. Remember the 2 year old meltdowns? They are not fun when riding on a bus.



8. It is actually cheaper to buy strollers than rent them. We are now proud owners of 2 new, but definitely well used umbrella strollers.



9. It is HOT in Florida in April. I don't know what I was thinking, but standing in line in the sun when it's almost 90 degrees didn't sound so bad when I planned the trip.



10. The week of Easter is busy at Disney. But it doesn't get really busy until Wednesday/Thursday.



11. Do not get sucked into the collectible pin racket. It is addictive. We are now proud owners of over 20 pins between the two kids.



12. You will wait for 2 hours to see fireworks shows if you want a good seat.



13. There really is a Pizza Planet and your 2-year old will want to eat there. Too bad he fell asleep in his stroller right before we arrived.



14. You will pay $15 for a spinning light up toy to preoccupy your kids while waiting for 2 hours to see the fireworks shows. Hell, you might even be willing to spend $100 on these toys to preoccupy your kids...anything to preoccupy the kids!



15. You will spend more time waiting in lines than riding actual rides. For our kids, most of that time was spent waiting in line to meet characters. Don't even ask me how long we waited to meet Rapunzel from Tangled. I will never admit how long we waited. NEVER.



16. You cannot be on the Disney Meal Plan during vacation and NOT gain weight. Seriously, you get an entree, drink and dessert with each meal...technically, it is already paid for so you should eat that dessert, right?



17. You can bring snacks and water into the parks if you are discreet about it. Thank God, because having fruit snacks on hand helped stop the meltdowns before they got really bad!



18. At some point, your kids will decide they are just as happy at the hotel pool as they are at the theme parks...gee, we could have saved a ton of money if we had known that sooner.



19. Your kids will decide that they want the most expensive and largest toy from the hotel gift shop as a souvenir - thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for giving them the spending money. :-) The kiddo's souvenir was so large, we had to ship it home!



20. Your kids will hug you often and tell you how awesome you are for taking them to Disney. And that alone is well worth the cost, the lines and the heat!