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Cole's First Disney Trip
Officially Day 1
We arrive

I've dreamed for so long of taking our own little one to our favorite place on Earth, Walt Disney World. Finally last week, that dream came true! I had a lot of people say to me "He's too young, he wont remember it, what can you DO with a baby?" We've been going and doing for 10 years now and taking Cole was something we couldn't wait a day longer to do! So off we went....

We decided to leave Thursday evening about 7:30 after a day of work for both of us. Andy gets up about 5AM and I knew he wouldn't be able to drive as far as we both wished. Still, we knew any further down the road we could go, would make life easier on Friday. Cole had his last bottle, was in his jammies and we were off.

We made it to Valdosta around midnight and found a room at a Comfort Inn & Suites. I have to say it was one of the most comfortable beds ever. It had a feather topper and was queen size, the softest sheets. Ooo La La.... They didn't have cribs or pack n plays, so Daddy was lucky enough to spend the night in the bed with Wild Man! I hear it was quite the night of wild kicking and flinging himself around. When I woke up Andy was on the opposite side of the bed from where he started. Seems a little bitty guy takes up a big ton of room.

Cole in Valdosta in his jammies

We woke up about 7, had our free breakfast and were off again by about 8:30. Cole went back to sleep and woke up a few hours into our journey, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel to give him a bottle and change his diaper. (Just like our mountains trip that I didn't blog about) You can't beat a Cracker Barrell for their comfy rocking chairs and clean restrooms. We got a cheese & cracker plate, extra pickles and sweet teas to go. Cole had to have a little entertainment for about an hour so Mommy crawled between the seats and wedged herself between the mountain of stuff to entertain the doodle bug. Crawling through was quite the sight I'm sure....



We arrived, checked in within a few minutes (people, pre-check in online for Disney...takes you one minute to grab your resort room keys while everyone else waits in line) and unpacked. Our room was fantastic. It was right beside the parking lot, a pool (there are a bunch at Port Orleans Riverside) and laundry area. (Which we used every other day!) Perfect, perfect location!! It was our second time there and it has become our favorite I think.

Cole finds a "not so" hidden Mickey in our room!

----Side note here to say Riverside is awesome! Check out the January blog for pictures around the resort. It is located along the river and very pretty. You can rent boats, ride the "river cruise" to Downtown Disney or just enjoy the boat traffic. The table service restaurant "Boatwrights" is very good and the quickie service place has a ton of selections. The bar area, which is entirely family friendly and not your typical "bar area" at all, is so much fun. More about the wonderful night with Mr. Piano man later. There is a store, of course. There's an acrade and a big ole lobby. You can take a carriage ride from right there or just visit the pretty big ole horses. The walkway to Port Orleans French Quarter is a wonderful easy walk. You can use the pool and all over there as well. The "main" pool at Riverside is cute with the slide and all, a kiddie pool and the area is really neat. There's a fishing hole where you can cane pole fish, a huge play ground and they have story telling by a camp fire at night. There are 5 or 6 pools located between the other buildings and they are pretty big as well, with laundry facilities at each of those areas. There is the "mansions" section, where we've stayed both times. "Think Gone with the Wind and Tara" Then there is "alligator bayou" which is more... cabin like. It's the only resort that "techincally" holds 5 people, there's a trundle slide out bed. It's a beautiful resort with tons to do right there"------





Anyway.... we had supper at the quickie resort location. I had yummy turkey, mashed taters and veggies. Chocolate cake for dessert, gotta love the dining plan. Andy had a chicken caesar salad and oatmeal raisin cookie. Yummy~

Then we hopped on the boat (another reason Riverside is so neat) and headed downtown. It was the first time we've been by the Tree House Villas since they have reopened, sure would be fun to stay there. Our friends, Amber & Jonathan, stayed and said they are super neat. The 10ish minute boat ride is a nice way to get from place to place for sure!!

Downtown Disney was PACKED and there were kids in costumes everywhere. It was still the night before Halloween, but they had trick or treating at tons of locations and boy the kids were out in droves. We met my wonderful friend Terry and hung out awhile. We walked around the World of Disney, lines were way too crazy to shop though. We took some pictures, visited a bit and got scared to death by a magician. (He came out of nowhere and talked into a microphone, making poor Cole cry like crazy. The only real time he cried all week and it was because of the surprise factor, the man came out of nowhere)

By then the crowds were crazy, Cole was tired and we called it a night.

Terry, Cole and Me

Andy, Cole & Me