It is a fully accessible playground complete with those cool swings that have the high back and can hold bigger kids that can't handle a big kid swing. (stock photo)
Phoebe LOVES to swing and I thought it would be really cool if we were close enough to the playground that we could hop on over to it before we went places in the morning and upon our return in the evenings. So I called GKTW before we left and asked if there was any way we could be put in one of the newer villas within walking distance to the playground. The person I spoke to said no problem and it was done.
So after walking around the park that night I could see that we certainly weren't going to let Tessa run over and play without one of us going with her and it would take a short walk to get there before and after every day. It wasn't FAR, but it was about a block away in the opposite direction from everything else in the village so it was easy to forget about or put off for later. (a view from our villa, fountain out front, playground at the very far right)
The villas at the far end of the block, directly across from the playground weren't really any farther from everything else because there was a shortcut path through the buildings. We weren't near the shortcut and I felt like we were just a little too far to walk to anything with the time constraints. I felt a little sheepish and thought maybe I should have just left it to chance. Oh well. There really isn't a BAD villa in the place, so I had nothing to complain about it. Just a reminder to stop trying to control everything.
So here is our villa right at the corner of the new fairytale section.
(The outdoor pics were taken on our last day).
Our very full trunk. I showed Tim a trick where we didn't have to take apart the wheelchair if we laid it on it's back. I also forgot to mention at the airport that we checked a box of Phoebe's pull ups. It really would have been a joke in a full size rental.
View of the family room when you open the front door. The door by the lamp is locked as it enters into another villa (for larger families). We could hear a family had arrived a couple of days into our week but it was never a problem. The next door you can see in the hallway is the "master bath". It is a typical, small hotel type bath. At the end of the hallway is the master bedroom, and to the right (not in this pic) is a closet that holds the washer and dryer. Behind the TV armoire is the door to the kids' room and bath.
The kitchen, looking into the family room. We had a few sodas, some crackers and brownie bites already supplied for us.
In the picture above you can see the closet doors in the hallway where the washer/dryer are, and the kids' room door on the right.
The master bedroom. It had another nightstand on the the other side of the King sized bed and a long, mirrored closet. We had plenty of room for all our stuff.
The kids' bedroom had two twins. There was also a roll away bed and a bed rail in the mirrored closet. We decided to move the two twins together for Phoebe (she's used to a double and flops from side to side all night) and we put the roll away twin next to the window (where the other twin used to be) for Tessa. The roll away bed is not as high as the regular beds so it didn't work to put it next to one of them.
The kids' bathroom is connected to their bedroom, which makes it seem like a "master" bath. It's also HUGE. This was very convenient for maneuvering the wheelchair around and Tim commented on wanting to make one like it in our next home. There was a roll-in shower complete with shower chair, room under the countertop for a wheelchair to roll up to, and as for the jacuzzi tub, I suppose there are medical uses for that as well. This bathroom didn't seem particularly luxurious to me, just totally and completely convenient!
I figured after the long day of airports and airplanes the girls could use a good bath. Tessa was thrilled to see this "jacuzzi" tub and didn't argue at all!
Phoebe liked playing with the bubbles and Tessa was swimming.
I started unpacking everything into the drawers and went to put aside some clean undies for Tessa and jammies for both. I'm digging around in the suitcase, checking the others, unpacking them ALL only to discover....I had not packed Tessa's underwear or jammies. I remembered thinking to myself that I would wait until the last minute to pack her undies because she often has mini accidents, where she just waits too long and barely makes it, so I wanted to wash them all at the last minute. I forgot about them amongst all of the other last minute details. As for the jammies, I had set them aside in her room but never put them in the case. I don't know why. Regardless of reason, I now had to travel to the local Wal Mart to purchase some much needed items. Tessa went to bed in her new Panama Jack T shirt and no undies. I threw all of our clothes into the washer (in what would become an evening tradition for me), and headed down the road to Wal Mart. Thank goodness it is close (not even a mile) because I was BEAT! I trudged myself around the store picking up some flavored waters, snacks for the parks, etc before making my way to the clothing section. The Wal Mart is under renovations right now, plus I was shopping at like midnight, but I felt like I was back home at my ghetto store. I wished I had been able to move faster because I really just wanted to get out of there and go home to bed.
So I pick out some undies and a couple of big T's that Tessa can use as jammies for the trip but will fit Phoebe after we get home. Then I wandered through the souvenir section. There were certainly LOTS of T's and more than the average Wal Mart would carry of Disney items, plus stuff with the year on it, but I didn't see anything special or unusual. I decided to skip the souvenirs tonight and just get home. After picking the wrong line, as always, I switched to another line and after about 20 minutes finally reached the register to cash out. I drive home to the village only to realize I don't remember the guy telling us how to get back in after we leave. I have a key card but it doesn't do anything at the main gate. I had left out of another gate so I drive over to it to try it and no luck. I call Tim from my cell and ask him to call the desk and ask how to get in (since I don't have the number with me). He calls me back and says to buzz the desk at the main gate. So I drive back over there and buzz them. The girl who answers asks for my villa number. I have no idea!!! She asks if my husband just called them and I said yes, then she opened the gate. Nothing like a little last minute stress to end the day!
Okay, now for a little backtracking to the airplane ride. Another thing I forgot to pack, at least in the carry ons. After a couple hours of flying I figured it would be a good time to change Phoebe's pull up but when I went to the backpack there were none in there. Oh crap. We aren't going to land (and reunite with our checked bags and the box of pull ups) until many hours later. We can't leave the airport and go to a store that has lots of different sizes. I've got to figure something out. Thankfully, we always "double up" when we are out and about, so that if one layer is wet we don't have to take everything off to replace it with a new layer. So we had one more pull up to get us through this flight. I noticed a family with a toddler boarding the plane so I asked a flight attendant if they wouldn't mind asking that family for a spare diaper. They asked what size, and I said it doesn't matter. I saw the girl was a toddler, not an infant, and I could probably make anything work. They bring me back a size 4 pull up. Just for those who haven't bought diapers in a while (or ever) a 4 is about what a one year old wears. Phoebe is 8. But when we get to Chicago I put the size 4 on her and it fits. Thank goodness she's skinny! It kept trying to give her a wedgie, but it fit. This pull up has to last us until we land in Orlando 3 hours later, which it did. Phew!
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