Saturday, March 26, 2011

The end of potty training

Five years of diapers, pull-ups and wipes is slowly coming to an end. In January Caleb became fully potty trained during the day... in February, Xander became fully potty trained at night, and this week I thought I'd accomplished the hat trick and Caleb was ready to be fully potty trained at night too. We're real close, but no cigar. After a couple of days of some dry nights, some wet nights Caleb and I decided to take an underwear break and revert to pull-ups at night.

In a way it is a good thing, because we just bought a big stash of pull-ups when Caleb declared he was ready to wear underwear to bed. When we exhaust this stash we'll try again.

Before we brought Xander home I had some anxiety about the whole diaper process. I think it is normal. But after five years I'm a pro. I can change a diaper in two seconds flat on fleeing toddler. I know the true meaning of wardrobe malfunction and blow-up.  I know which brand of pull-ups work best at night on three-year old who loves his liquids before bed. And I know how to handle a nasty diaper rash caused by toddler's diarrhea -- don't ask -- and the pediatric gastroenterologist is right, they really do grow out of it around the age of three.

So, sometime between next week, and when we travel this summer we will not need to pack pull-ups or wipes. I can reduce the number of outfit changes, and the boys might even be able to repeat on pajamas to save packing space. We are coming to the end of an era, and I can't wait!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Marvelous Magic Kingdom - Disney World

Visiting Magic Kingdom at Disney World invokes many comparisons to Disneyland, if you were lucky enough to visit them both. But at Disney World, Magic Kingdom gives you more elbow room, and the lines are shorter -- possibly because Disney World has several other parks to compete for a families attention...

After our earlier Disneyland experience we showed up to Magic Kingdom with a game plan. We knew which rides we were going on, and a general sense of when. If there were fastpasses available Jonathan went ahead of us, and picked them up. You could only be in possession of one fastpass for a specific time period. So if you had a fastpass that is good for a ride at 1 pm, and you wanted to get a second fastpass for another ride, you needed to pick it up at 1 pm (not before). We layered our fastpass rides with rides where we knew there would be a short wait, like the Haunted Mansion, or Pirates of the Caribbean.

We started our day before the park opened up with breakfast on site at the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh. It was a splurge, a breakfast buffet ($30 for adults, $15 for kids), but it gave us plenty of photo opportunities with the characters. The breakfast was really good, and the chocolate Mickey Mouse waffles were wonderful.

Jonathan secured the first fastpasses of the day to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride where you got to bounce around with Tigger. Disney World offered a special second fastpass to Mickey's PhilharMagic (which was a lot of fun) show ... ending with Donald Duck crashing through the projector in the back of the theater.

Then we proceeded to the Haunted Mansion while Jonathan got fastpasses for the next ride. During the day we road on the Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan's Flight, Prince Charming Regal Carousel, and attended the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor (Xander's joke was picked and included in one of the monster's acts) and watched the Dream-Along with Mickey show in front of Cinderella's castle.

The boys favorite though was Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, where you got to shoot at Emperor Zorg. By the way it is not a spinning ride.

We ended the day at the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade on Main Street. Overall it was a lot of fun. We left at around 4 pm, just before the boys hit the wall, and they slept happily in the car on the ride back to Fort Lauderdale.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Epic Epcot Disney World

I'm not sure how old I was when I decided I wanted to visit what we used to call Epcot Center at Disney World, which is now just Epcot. I think it was when we lived in upstate New York and I think I was in third grade.

When we arrived at out hotel on the Disney World resort we had plenty of options. Our visit was only two days, so we needed to narrow our visit to two parks. We knew that we wanted to take the boys to Magic Kingdom on the second day, but which park should we pick for the first day.

We definitely considered Animal Kingdom. But we ruled it out because it was already past 1 pm, and we wanted something a little more low key since we had spent the morning driving in from Fort Lauderdale. We weren't sure what to expect with Epcot, but since we were staying a short ferry-ride away it quickly became the natural choice.

So it turns out Epcot definitely has more of an adult feel, but it is still a theme park. There were no lines on that Monday afternoon. We found some of the attractions a little preachy, still some of the highlights of the trip were at Epcot.

Highlights included
  • Ellen's Energy Adventure - where you went into a movie theater and "inside Ellen Degeneris's brain." The theater seats become a ride, and take you past life size dinosaurs. Pretty amazing.
  • The Seas with Nemo and Friends - similar to the Disneyland Magic Kingdom ride except you aren't locked into a submarine (strangely enough that part was pretty scary for my four-year old). The highlight is that when you exit there is a hands-on exhibit and the boys can play inside one of the Nemo sharks. 
  • The Illuminations show (at 9 pm) - which included fireworks, a waterworks and light show. On par with the waterworks and light shows in St. Petersburg, Russia. 
We thought the Land was a bit boring for the boys (that is the ride where you get to see the experimental farming at Epcot) and Spaceship Earth was a bit preachy (for little kids the Lion King theme was poorly done, and older kids would find its Mary Sunshine view of recycling overly optimistic).  Also, at Epcot Character Spot we were able to get all of the obligatory pictures with the Disney characters ... and again we didn't encounter any long lines.
If you visit you should make dinner reservations. We couldn't get reservations, so we queued at Via Napoli in the Italian Pavillion. It only took us 30 minutes to get in, the service was great and boys liked the pizza and pasta.

Epcot perfectly fit our mood on our first day at Disney World. Everyone had a great time and we ended the day relaxed and ready for the Magic Kingdom.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Battle of the Disney Parks - Disneyland vs. Disney World

It wasn't our intention when we visited Disneyland in September to also visit Disney World within a six month window, but that is exactly what we did. Strategically placed Florida grandparents, a Western zip code and boys just ready to experience the parks brought about this feast of amusement park riches. So now we can comfortably answer the question - which is better Disneyland or Disney World?


Disneyland was opened in 1955 and Disney World opened in 1971 - and 16 years was what Disney needed to get it right.  Disneyland is smaller, wait times are longer, food is more expensive and I can't imagine spending more than one to two days there. Most travelers stays at a hotel across the street, or commute in and park in the giant mega lot. While Disney World is bigger, you have more room to move around, there are more parks and a ton to see and do onsite. In fact with the many onsite housing options including camping, cabins, discount hotels and luxury resorts, combined with transportation to easily get you to the parks without driving -- you could easily spend your whole vacation at the park. It also has more evening activities geared toward adults, but not adult-only.

After visiting both, we can safely say that the hands down winner is .... Disney World! Although we have a ton of caveats to contest with which include location, time, money and desired experience.
  • Location - Growing up in California, Disneyland was my park, although I only visited twice when I was 16 years old. Growing up in Maryland, Disney World was my husband's park, although he only visited once when he was six years old ... And thus like generations of children you go to the park that is closest to you.  From California, Orlando is incredibly hard to get to - there are very few direct flights, the airfare is expensive and a couple of airlines would like to do inconvenient things like route you through Chicago.  Coming from a mid-size city on the East Coast, the same could be said for Anaheim -- there may be more flights but it is still a four to five hour flight.
  • Time - Disneyland is significantly smaller than Disney World on the scale of acres versus miles. You can comfortably experience Disneyland in one to two days.  If you are a West Coaster strapped for time it has it advantages. Although I know people who recommend taking a week -- that seems crazy to me. On the other hand, I could spend a week at Disney World. Really, between Epcot Center, the Magic Kingdom, the other parks and the neighboring Universal with its Harry Potter rides (my boys are too short for that experience right now) there is plenty to see and do without going into sugar overload. 
  • Money - Disney tickets for both parks are expensive, hotels aren't that much better, although, as I mentioned, Disney World has more hotel options onsite, from camping to luxury resorts. Food is also less expensive in Disney World and their are many more choices-- but it can still be pricey.  For a family on a budget, Disney World has plenty of packages that include meal discounts, hotel discounts and multi-park discounts. The longer you stay the cheaper your trip will be day-by-day. Still any Disney vacation is not for the frugal traveler.
  • Experience - Are you looking at an all inclusive destination vacation or are you looking to explore a nearby city? Disney World is like Las Vegas. It is a world unto itself and it offers an all inclusive experience, you can spend a week and never leave the Disney properties. And, honestly, families en masse would not be traveling to Orlando if Disney World wasn't there. While Disneyland is set near Los Angeles, which on its own has lots to see and do ... So depending on your desired outcome, one of the parks will meet your needs.
In the apples to apples department, I should give props to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, with its Nightmare Before Christmas theme in the Fall and Winter, we liked it slightly better than Disney World's Haunted Mansion ... And you can walk through the castle at Magic Kingdom Disneyland which I liked better than Disney World where you are stopped at the steps (by the way Jonathan liked the Disney World castle better even though you were stopped at the steps). Also Disney World's ToonTown will be closed for the next two years for renovations and upgrades. Jonathan thought the shows were better at Disney World, but we agreed the parade was better at Disneyland.

My next two blogs will talk about our Disney World experience.