Dinsey World with Toddlers

Wow! It's hard to believe that our first trip to Disney World was nearly one year ago! We had such a wonderful time at the most magical place on Earth. Since our return I have helped many of our friends plan and organize their trip to Disney World, so I thought I would share our experience here.

We stayed on Disney property, and I would highly recommend spending a little extra money to stay on property when traveling with toddlers. The Magical Express service from the airport was very convenient, especially since we did not have to claim our own luggage upon arrival. Disney claims your luggage and delivers it to your hotel for you, which with toddlers is a necessity. In addition, we found it quite convenient to either take the monorail or the bus service to and from the parks. We never waited more than a few minutes for transportation, and it was quite nice to come back to the hotel for a quick afternoon nap or swim in the pool after a long morning in the parks.

We also purchased the Park Hopper ticket. We really enjoyed going to one park in the morning, going back to the hotel for a "rest period" and then going to a different park in the evening. This way, we were able to hit some of the most popular rides in the morning, before those rides were super busy, and then in the evening we were able to simply walk the world at Epcot, or enjoy an evening at Downtown Disney.

Even if your plans for a Disney World vacation are a year or so away, now is a great time to get started! Reservations at Disney's most popular restaurants, including the character dining experiences, book up fast. Dining reservations can be made up to 180 days in advance, or nearly six months from the time you plan to arrive at Disney World. So, plan early and book your reservations well in advance. Some of our most favorite dining experiences were The Royal Table, Safari Breakfast at The Tusker House and Chef Mickey's. If your trip to Disney happens to fall during a special birthday or anniversary, be sure to mention that when you book your reservations. My daughter received birthday cards signed by all of the characters at nearly every restaurant, and a birthday cupcake with candle at each meal. She really enjoyed that!

When booking your dining reservations, be sure to take note of where the restaurant is located. Many dining experiences are within a park. Each park updates its operating hours on the Disney website seven months in advance. This will allow you to line up your dining reservations with the day you plan to be at a particular park. While this might seem like a little too much planning, there are certain shows (like Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios, or the Spectromagic Parade at Magic Kingdom) that only run on certain nights. By knowing what night that show is running, you can book your dining reservation for those parks on the days you know you'll want to be at those parks for the shows.

With toddlers, you are definitely going to need a stroller! Even if you have five and six-year-olds that refuse a stroller at home, they will be begging to ride in the stroller at Disney World. It is a lot of walking. A lot. Bringing a stroller from home can be cumbersome, especially if you're flying. And park rentals, in my opinion, are not nice. They are bulky, plastic and look like the strollers everyone else has, so they are often hard to find in the "Stroller Parking" areas. We found a great service: Orlando Stroller Rentals. This company delivers a stroller (single or double) to your Disney resort, and then picks it up after your departure. It is the best service ever! The stroller was in great condition and was very clean. This stroller rental was less than what you would pay inside the parks, and the great thing is that it is with you 24/7! The park rentals must be returned each night, which means you have to carry your heavy children to the bus or the monorail. And believe me, at the end of a long day at the Magic Kingdom you can hardly carry yourself, let alone the weight of your child! We were really impressed with this service (and I'm not being paid to say that!).

Overall, the key to a wonderful Disney experience is preparation. I hope these tips help you plan the vacation of a lifetime for your family! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment.

Drew Update

There are so many times throughout my day where I stop and think, hey, that would make a great blog post! Then, when I actually have a spare moment at the end of my day to actually sit and write, I can't remember a single thing that happened throughout the day. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm losing my mind and should seek help from a therapist immediately.

Drew is nearly four and a half years old. Where is the time going? His most favorite things right now are sports (especially basketball and boxing, for which we can thank the Wii) and dress up. He loves his alter-egos, either Batman or Woody from Toy Story. Depending on the day he is a crime fighting super hero or your best friend.

Drew's vocabulary continues to expand. Some of the sentences he comes up with now are quite amazing. (Insert that bad Mommy brain - I can not remember half of them!) The other day he told me, "I like Robin more than Batman because Robin can fly and Batman can not. Actually, Batman could fly if you strapped a jet pack to him and blasted him off into the air. But I think I like Robin more because he can just fly on his own, without all that work." His imagination is really starting to take off. The other day I found him in his room quietly playing with his "road rug" and he had airplanes landing at the airport and cars parked at the zoo. He knew what each one was doing, an had a story to go along with each vehicle with which he was playing. It's really amazing to see him growing and developing each day.

We had our parent/teacher conference at the end of February, and learned that Drew is doing quite well in school. He knows all of his letters, both upper and lower case, knows the sounds associated with the letters and can even spell and write some of his site words! We are so proud of him. At the beginning of this year he couldn't write his name. Now look at him!

This spring Drew will be playing tee-ball. He is so excited! He loves sports, and is finally old enough to partake in an area baseball league. We're headed to the sporting goods store this weekend to purchase him a glove, bat and batting helmet! Drew's Dad can hardly contain his excitement!

Deaf Child Speech With Cochlear Implants - Update

Drew's Mom is presenting to a class of audiology students this week, to introduce them to the world of cochlear implants and speech therapy from a parent's perspective.  She did this last year to rave reviews, and was asked back again.

To prepare, we made a new video of Drew so these students can see his progress year over year; from a little baby responding to his name, to the talkative little boy we have today.  While Drew did a fine job, he was in rare form.

Watch this latest video to get a sense of Drew's personality and sense of humor - including his wardrobe of choice: Drew Singing, Rhyming and Laughing With Cochlear Implants"

Link to last year's video: "Cochlear Implant Speech Therapy"

Drew at 1 1/2: "Cochlear Implant Child Speaks 10 Months Post-Activation"

Snow Tubing

Drew has really enjoyed watching the Winter X-Games on ESPN over the past couple of weeks. He is always asking what "trick" a skier or snowboarder is performing, and he's been asking to go skiing. I'm not quite sure that he is ready for that, so we decided on Snow Tubing at Mad River Mountain.

Drew and his sister loved it! They had so much fun snow tubing. They kept asking to go up the mountain again and again. To be honest, I think I may be sore for days from the experience, but they had a great time!

Here is a video from the experience:

Cochlear Implant College Basketball Player Greg White

Greg White's college basketball coach had no idea he was deaf.  Because Greg hears so well with his cochlear implants, his coach assumed that his player was simply ignoring him during practice one day.  It took a teammate telling the coach that Greg was deaf for the coach to know!

Mark Znidar of the Columbus Dispatch writes:

White's hearing was never brought up because he has never considered it a problem. He can pick up low-level sounds such as an eraser on a blackboard and soft rain on the roof of a car because of a hearing aid in his right ear and a cochlear implant in his left.

He speaks clearly, although people have asked if he is from a foreign country. There is a hint of what can best be described as baby talk in his speech.

White has a 3.2 GPA through two years of college at Ohio Wesleyan, is a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, all while starting on the basketball team.

These accomplishments wouldn't be possible, White said, had his parents, Richard and Cathe, not decided to raise him in the hearing world after his deafness was diagnosed at age 8 months. He was outfitted with a hearing aid at 9 months and enrolled in a private school when the family lived in Whittier, Calif.

"Everybody in our family is hearing and everybody we knew could hear, so we said Greg would remain in the hearing world," Mrs. White said. "If you don't begin oral training in a child's first years, he or she always will be behind. When he was an infant, I would be so verbal with everything. Greg has worked so hard to get this far. It's a credit to him."

Interestingly, as we have discussed on this blog, the White family was approached and told what to do with Greg.  They were told that their son should be raised in the deaf community.

"A specialist gave us his card and said, 'Get back to me because your son is so deaf that he will never be able to talk,'" Mrs. White said. "I'd like to talk to that man now. There was such a big push at the time to enroll him in the deaf culture."

Whether you've experienced pressure to be involved in deaf culture, or whether you are a member of that community and have faced pressure to be involved in the hearing world, Greg White has the interesting experience of belonging to both, as he recently began playing in the World Deaf Basketball Championships.

"I had to learn sign language," White said. "Playing basketball with the deaf has been a great experience. But I'm glad I'm part of the hearing culture. I have my parents to thank for that."

Congratulations to Greg White, and when you get frustrated with helping your children hear, read, and grow, just look at what hard work can do! P.S. Remember NBA cochlear implant basketball player Lance Allred?