Disney World - Day 1 Getting There

     Day 1 technically started on Friday night.  Even though our flight didn't leave until 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, we decided to stay the night at a hotel in Denver near the airport.  Traveling with 12 people is kind of chaotic and we had a lot of bags so we wanted to ensure that we weren't rushed or stressed too much.  We also got to leave our cars parked at the hotel and didn't have to pay airport parking.
   We ended up picking Ashlyn up from school and heading right to Denver for the night.  We ate dinner at the hotel and the kids got a quick swim in that night.  It was early to bed because we had a long day of traveling ahead the next day. 

Ashlyn ready to start her trip

Dawson so excited to have his carry on bag

Dawson in the sea of bags.  We had a lot of bags!

When we got to the airport we had some time to kill.  We also grabbed food since our flight was almost 4 hours during lunch. 

Dawson playing with the Transformers he got for the trip.  Ella is also showing off her new shades. 

Our plane

Ashlyn ready to go!

   Despite it being a long flight, it went pretty smoothly.  We discovered that Orlando flights are FULL of small children and many, many babies.  It's great because you know your baby won't be the only one crying, but we also had to endure A LOT of crying from other babies.  Gracie did awesome and slept for a good portion.  I was able to keep her entertained and she hardly cried at all.  She was definitely the best out of all the babies sitting next to us.  People even commented as to how good she was. 

Ready to go

Dawson and Daddy

We arrived in Orlando!

Even the airport is all about Disney

The sign for our bus

Joey being silly with Ella and Dawson.  They got quite the kick out of this. 

Dawson scanning his magic band for the first time to load the bus to our hotel. 

So happy to finally be there!

   We took a short bus ride to our resort.  The check in process was a dream and we got to our rooms so quickly.  The hotel was gorgeous.  We ended up getting three rooms right in a row.  The all faced the quiet pool.  It was a great location.  Since we were all on the first floor, we essentially all had adjoining rooms because we could just walk from patio to patio which worked out really nicely. 
    We arrived in Orlando around 5:00 pm.  By the time we got to our rooms, it was getting late.  We ended up grabbing dinner at the resort and all went to bed pretty early since we had a very big day planned the next day. 

The hotel

The rooms

Even the bathroom was fancy

Our quarters for the week

Our view right outside our room.  The pool had a hot tub which we enjoyed having a few footsteps away. 

A Mickey welcoming us

The lobby