Bella's Trip Report..OR..why spending $45 dollars renting a stroller was the best idea..ever.

We stayed in a really nice hotel in Sanford. I believe it was a Comfort Inn..they had a waffle bar so I was hooked. Actually, we tried to call Disney and reserve an extra night at POP once we hit Jacksonville and we were still feeling pretty good but they were completely booked. The only room they had was a Garden View at POR for $236. While I love POR I did not want to spend $236 to sleep. This was also the day of that wildfire close to I-4 and I think a lot of people cut their plans short because we tried 4 hotels along I-4 before we found a room at the (Comfort) Inn.

We woke up early..about 7 am..hit the Waffle Bar and made our way to Disney! We arrived at Pop and we were checked in by 9 a.m. Of course our room wasn't ready yet but that was OK because we had a park to hit people! We only had 3 days. At check in Holden got his first trip button and we bought our tickets.

This is the part of the trip report where we got on the bus. Honestly, we really did not need to go to the parks. If we had just let Holden swim in the pool and ride on the buses he would have thought he died and went to toddler heaven. We made it to Epcot before 10 and we were ready to go!

You know what? Florida in May..is hot! This was the only real day that was uncomfortably hot fortunately.

We opted not to rent a stroller when we first got there. Why? I have no idea...stupidity. Holden hasn't used a stroller since he was about 10 months old. He absolutely hates it. We thought we'd see how well he did without a stroller in Epcot and then if we were completely miserable we'd rent one. There was a lot of carrying that kid.

We started out with a family favorite..Journey to the Imagination. We both love this ride so we figured it would be a great ride for Holden's first Disney experience. He LOVED it. After Imagination we played in the Imagination Pavillion. For. ever. Honestly this is somewhere Dave and I always zoomed through on our way to the next ride. Holden loved playing with all the stuff, pressing every button and jumping on every shape. Again, we could have only gone here for 3 days and he would have been thrilled. Next we hit Innoventions. We spent awhile in here..mostly because of the big firetruck and a certain video game featuring a certain red racecar whose name rhymes with Smithening LaVeen. Unfortunately all my pictures in here did not turn out because a tiny photographer had put his fingerprints all over the lens and the images where all smudgy.

After playtime in Innoventions it was time for lunch. Yup, in two hours we rode one ride. This is completely abnormal for us but we were loving the slower pace and Holden was enjoying himself SO much.

We were HUNGRY so we decided it was time to hit the countries. Our plan was to hit Mexico and Morroco for our favorites and split them stopping for some beers in United Kingdom and some treats along the way. You know what I say about plans with a two year old?

Not so much.

We did make it to Mexico. The countries hadn't been open long so we decided to go ride El Tiempo before eating since it was still empty. This was Holden's first experience seeing Donald Duck at Disney and he loved it. He also loved the boat. It was also good for us to get a feel for his reaction to rides on two pretty unpopular rides. Meaning, if he screamed bloody murder the entire time only a SMALL amount of people would want us dead instead of the entire population like if we were on say...It's a Small World.

So..let's carry on.

Oh yes. Food. I love La Cantina de San Angel. It seems like the menu changes every time I eat there but it never maters..one thing is always as good as another. We had the idea to split a bunch of different entree throughout World Showcase so we decided to order some nachos and tea.

Let's stop a minute here and talk about how EXCITING it is that Disney actually has SWEET Tea now. I am not really a soda drinker and a girl can only take so much bottled water before she goes a little batty. Yes, it's that Golden Peak stuff but that is 100 times better than that Lipton or whatever they had before that was more like lemon flavored awfulness. I was in heaven. A tip of the hat to you Disney World. Also, another bonus we always asked for an ice water for Holden wherever we went and it was always free.

I did not take pictures of my nachos. I am a horrible person but I always forget to take pictures of the food until I'm half way through the meal and who wants a picture of used food? Not this girl. Anyway, I borrowed one from The Disney Food Blog so you could get the point.

We got our plastic cheese on the side because Dave (the punk) does not love plastic cheese like I do. Ours also had loads of black beans and sour cream on them. We ate these bad boys in 10 seconds flat.

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After nacho-pa-looza we decided to hit the Malestrom which had a 10 minute wait. Dave was confident Holden would be awesome..I was not. I was wrong. Holden was thrilled to be on this ride. He loved it and asked to ride again..and then said he was hungry. We didn't ride it again though because the crowds were picking up..but we were pretty pumped that he loved the dark rides...he even giggled during that drop.

Afterwards we had to make him try on as many hats as possible..because you know..kids in funny hats are cute. At least to me.

And of course a Viking hat..

Then after the fashion show he was still hungry and was asking for yogurt..so we stopped in for that quintessential Norwegian treat...Worms in Dirt and Apple Juice.

We were headed to China when Dave really wanted a beer from the UK. I figured I'd be seeing the real thing soon enough so we headed towards the other side of World Showcase..fully intending to come back around to China last.

We decided to hit the Baby Center along the way that Lizzy B has been raving about since I joined. Hello! I think I will go in here even when Holden is grown! It was so clam and quiet in here. Holden even played in the waiting area for a few minutes before we went outside again. I approve!

Anyway, we went to Canada for a look around and then hit the UK. Dave got a Guinness in the souvenir glass and I got my beloved Strongbow. We hung out in the bar part for a little while before we left. Yes, we had a baby in bar..but he wasn't the only one!

Afterwards we did some shopping and ran into these guys in the back!

Unfortunately, the "helper" kicked over my Strongbow which I put on the floor..but that's okay. These things happen and it was almost empty. Holden didn't have much background knowledge of Winnie the Pooh but the line was short and I wanted to see how he would do with characters.

He loved them. He ran right up and said "Hi Winne and the Pooh" "Hi Tiger!".

After our character sighting he was hooked. He kept asking to see Winnie the Pooh and Tiger again. I did try and find a character meal later back at the hotel but everything was booked...next time we will be sure to do one.

We were all getting a little tired by the point (it was almost 2) so we played in the maze and just sat and hung out in the UK for awhile.

Holden fell in love with this corner and ran up and down this embankment about 43939 times. We sat and watched.

Then we saw Alice..and Holden had to see her. Similar to Winne the Pooh he didn't have any idea who Alice was until we told him. He said she was "amazing" and "beautiful" and was a little smitten with her. We tried to get him to go alone but he didn't really get the idea that he was supposed to stand for a picture. He kept trying to talk to her instead of looking at the camera so I had to step in.