AN/So, I got a lot of requests from friends to do a fic where Mondler takes their kids to Disney World. This is set in 2011 so the parks in future chapters won't be the same as the parks are now because they change all the time. I know this particular chapter isn't super exciting, but I know future chapters will be!
I don't own the rights to Friends or any Disney IP mentioned in this story.
Saturday, May 13th, 2011.
Jack sat on the floor at the coffee table in the living room next to his father, playing with his legos while one of his favorite movies, Princess and the Frog played. Erica sat next to the bookshelves, looking at old photo albums of her Mom's family not even paying attention to the movie. Chandler hummed along to the music that he's heard hundreds of times by now, as he tried building a plane with legos. Monica sat behind Chandler on the couch actually watching the movie while playing absentmindedly with her husband's hair. "Momma is like Tiana," Jack noticed.
"How so?" Chandler asked, grabbing a new lego piece.
Jack looked up at the screen, watching Tiana sing about her dream of owning a restaurant. "They're both good chefs and they both have restaurants."
Monica chuckled at the comparison, "I suppose we're similar in that way, but she's also a princess."
"Yeah, your mother is a queen" Chandler commented and Monica gently smacked the back of his head. He turned to face her, fully offended.
"She's not a queen, we don't live in a castle" Jack pointed out.
Chandler leaned back against the couch again so Monica could go back to playing with his hair. "We used to live in a castle. It had purple walls and a balcony to look over all the people."
Erica looked up from the pictures with interest when she heard talk of a castle. Jack gasped and moved closer to him. "Why did you move away from the castle!?"
"Too many stairs," Chandler said simply. "Imagine walking up to our stairs five times every day."
"Woah" Jack's jaw dropped.
"Yeah. It was a lot. We had to move before our legs fell off. We can't let the queen's legs fall off can we?" Chandler asked, hearing Monica snicker behind him.
Jack shook his head quickly. "No, that would be bad! Are Princess Tiana's legs going to fall off?"
Chandler put his plane down on the table and moved Jack into his lap. "No, she's safe I promise. Her castle is better than ours was" he smiled.
Jack relaxed against him and continued playing with his legos. Chandler felt Monica tug on his hair and he laid his head back to look at her. "You're cute," she whispered. Monica smiled at his goofy grin that she loved so much.
Erica went back to looking at pictures, turning the page. "Momma, is this your old castle?" She asked while taking out one of the pictures. Erica picked up her Minnie Mouse plush doll that she took everywhere before she climbed onto the couch. She handed the picture to her Mom, "you used to live there?"
Monica looked at the old picture of her and Ross at Disney World when they were kids, standing in front of Cinderella's castle. "No sweetheart this is the Disney castle. I saw it with Uncle Ross when I was your age."
"Disney has a real castle?" Erica asked, moving on to her lap. She sat down leaning into her Mom's chest. "Can we see the real one?"
Jack quickly got up, moving in front of Erica to look at the picture "I want to see the real castle!"
Erica furrowed her eyebrows and pushed Jack away from her "Momma can we go? Please?"
Jack furrowed his eyebrows at his sister and was going to push her back before Chandler suddenly grabbed him. He held a pouting Jack in his lap and Monica handed the picture to him so Jack could see it. She wrapped her arms around Erica, "not if you keep pushing your brother."
"I'm sorry" Erica mumbled to Jack. "Is it the castle in all the movies?"
"Something like that. I think your father and I are going to have to talk about it before we decide because it's really far."
"In a magical land right?" Jack smiled. "Is Tiana there?"
Erica shook her head, "No, Rapunzel is! With Flynn Ryder!"
"Tiana is better than Rapunzel," Jack protested.
Monica and Chandler looked at each other sensing an argument was about to start. "I think it's time for bed" Chandler stood as he turned the TV off, picking up his son and flipping him upside down making him laugh. He started walking upstairs with a giggly Jack and Monica following with Erica. "What book do you want to read tonight?"
"I want Momma to read me a book" Jack requested.
Chandler walked into his room and set him down on the bed. Jack's room had white walls with Princess and the Frog posters. One wall was painted blue with clouds on it from Toy Story. It was something he had begged for weeks to have and Chandler caved, knowing he'd probably have to paint over it in a few years. Jack's bed rested in the corner with the head against the cloud wall and had matching Toy Story bedding. Across from the foot of the bed were the shelves with his toys always neatly put away in the appropriate storage baskets. However, he kept his Toy Story collection of toys on top of the shelves because they were his favorite. On the other wall was his bookshelf, filled with children's books and even a few cookbooks that were deemed too special to be ruined in the kitchen. On top of his bookshelves were his three tennis trophies from previous years. He grabbed his Mickey Mouse plush doll off his pillow before getting under the blanket. "I'll get Mom okay? Chandler gently kissed the top of his head and went directly across the hall into Erica's room.
Her room was a very specific light marine blue that Erica picked out with posters of Pirates of the Caribbean. Like her brother, her bed was in the corner but with Tangled bedding. Her toys were also kept neatly stored, but she kept a collection of Tangled pop figures on top of the shelf as decoration. Her bookshelf was filled with her favorite adventure books, especially the Magic Treehouse series, with her four soccer trophies on top of it. Monica was already tucking her in when Chandler entered and Erica smiled when she noticed him. "Daddy, can you read this to me please?" She asked, holding a book up.
He walked over and sat on her bed, taking the book from her. "Magic Tree House, Pirates Past Noon… You know Mon, I think our daughter likes pirates" he teased flipping through the book he's read to her multiple times before.
"Really? I wonder how that happened" Monica looked at Chandler accusingly. He smiled back at her knowing it was his fault that 6-year-old Erica fell in love with Pirates of the Caribbean last year when he let her watch the movies with him.
Chandler shrugged, acting like he didn't know what she was referring to. Erica hugged her Minnie Mouse doll closer as she giggled, watching her parents. Monica leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight sweetheart," she said before going to Jack's room.
Erica watched her Mom leave and looked to Chandler "Daddy are we going to see the new pirate movie together?"
"There's a new one?" he asked her. He already knows the answer because he's been listening to her talk about the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie for weeks, especially because it came out the day after her birthday.
"Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides!" Erica jumped out from under the covers and held her arm out like she was holding a sword. "Captain Jack Sparrow fights the bad guy and he wins every time 'cause he's the best pirate ever!" Erica jumped up and down on her bed.
He waited for her to jump up and caught her in his arms. "Shhh...Bedtime means quiet time," he said softly cradling her. "I promise to take you to the movie tomorrow, okay?"
Erica nodded and leaned into his chest. "Can we get popcorn?" she whispered.
"Of course." Chandler smiled. "It's not a movie without popcorn is it?" tucked her back into her bed.
"No," she giggled, hugging her Minnie Mouse doll again. Chandler sat next to her, leaning his back against the wall, and stretched his legs out on her bed getting ready to read. She moved under his arm and laid her head in his lap, cuddling against him. "I love you, Daddy," she mumbled.
"I love you too Erica" he smiled. Chandler never got used to hearing his kids say that to him. He gently ran his fingers through her hair as he started the story. He got through a little more than half of the book before he noticed that Erica had fallen asleep on top of him. Chandler lifted her as gently as he could while he moved. He fixed her blanket and watched as she shifted into the pillow tightening her grip on her doll. "Goodnight Erica" he whispered to her, closing the door behind him. Chandler went back downstairs with a sigh, he saw his wife laying down on the couch reading a book. He went over and laid down on top of her, laying his head down on her chest under her arms.
"Well hello," she chuckled, putting her book down. Monica tangled her fingers in his hair and felt him hum at her fingers. "Are you tired?"
"Only a little. I did hunt for treasure for three hours in the backyard with Erica today."
She smiled at the memory, "Well, you're the one that got her into pirates."
"I was watching it after they went to sleep and she had a nightmare and came downstairs and started watching with me...that's not my fault" he protested. When Erica first told Monica about this she was furious. She didn't believe the pirate movies were appropriate for a seven-year-old, but when Erica wouldn't let it go, she caved and now her daughter was obsessed.
"Why were you watching them in the first place?"
He just shrugged, "pirates are cool" he muttered. Chandler shifted and kissed her neck softly, moving a hand to her hip. "You can't be mad at me forever" he whispered before sucking on her skin.
Monica smiled tilting her head slightly "I can't be mad at you" she agreed, gripping his hair. She hummed in satisfaction as he kissed her favorite spot near her ear. She felt his thumb circle the skin on her hip as he pushed her shirt up more. "Honey, we can't…"
"Why?" he pouted, kissing her exposed stomach.
Monica shivered and tugged his shirt to make him stop. "Because I actually want to talk to you about something."
Chandler hummed in mild disappointment and lay next to her. He wrapped his arm around her as he kissed the top of her head, "what would you like to talk about?"
"What if we did take the kids to see the castle?" she asked nervously.
"You want to take our kids to Disney World?" he asked for clarification. "Like Erica and Jack? Going on a plane? For hours?"
She sat up quickly "I know we've never taken them on a plane, but why not? We should travel and I think the kids would love it there. They're in love with the princesses and Mickey and I think it'll be great for them. And one of the chefs at the restaurant went there with her kids and she said there's a Toy Story ride that Jack will love. I don't see why not?"
"Because it's expensive? There are huge crowds and lines. I never thought about us being the kind of family that goes there and our kids have never flown before."
Monica frowned at his immediate rejection of the idea. Her kids had fallen in love with Disney movies, as most kids do, and the thought of bringing it to life for them was something she wanted to do for them. But he was right. It was expensive and she wasn't sure how her kids would handle crowds of that size. The only reason for going that she could come up with was just to see her kids light up meeting their favorite characters. She couldn't think of a way of convincing him when she was barely convinced of it herself. "You're right… it's a bad idea" Monica got up and went to the kitchen to pour herself wine.
He sighed leaning back on the couch before getting up and following her. "I didn't say that exactly. I just think that there's a lot to consider here. We're talking about thousands of dollars and I just want to be sure that this is going to be worth it if we go."
She leaned against the island, sipping at her wine. "I think it would be. Jack could meet Tiana and Erica can ride the pirate's ride...I think it'll be something magical for them. Plus my co-worker said it's fun for adults too so it's not like we're going to be bored. She said there's a park with different countries and a lot of people get different drinks from each place."
"Getting drunk at a theme park sounds fun," Chandler chuckled.
Monica gently hit his arm. "We won't get drunk, but it'll be fun trying different things won't it?"
He moved behind her, wrapping her arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. "I think it sounds nice."
"Is that a yes?" she perked up.
"Sure, it's a yes. If you think the kids will like it."
Monica spun around in his arms and wrapped hers around his neck, "you're the best husband ever." She gently pecked his nose and rested her head on his chest. "I don't think we should tell them until we have everything booked."
"Should we look at it now?" he took her hand and walked to his office that was just his game room with a desk and a computer. He sat on the office chair and pulled her into his lap. "Let's see," he hummed while going to the website. "When is our trip?"
"Maybe we could look up what crowds are like? Try to go when it's lower?"
"Good idea," he opened a new tab and started looking at different websites with crowd data. "Ok, it looks like lower times are February, April, September, or between Thanksgiving and Christmas." Chandler looked at her for her opinion.
Monica bit her lip trying to think, "all of those months they're going to miss school."
"That's probably why the crowds are lower. But their grades are always good. I think they'll be fine missing a week. We'll just call and say they're sick or something. September is the closest one" he shrugged going back to the Disney website. "And they have a Halloween party," he smiled. "We should do that."
"Okay," she chuckled. "Then let's go in September and we can do the Halloween party."
Chandler smiled and chose the week of the 18th, "how many days do you think?"
Monica looked at the website scanning the different offers that were showing. "There are four parks? Maybe we should do one park a day...so four days?"
"Don't forget the Halloween party" Chandler pouted.
"Okay so, five days."
He smiled in satisfaction as he chose the dates and the hotel options came on screen. "Woah, there's a lot of options. Okay." Chandler scrolled through each on letting Monica read them. He reached the bottom and looked at her again, "thoughts?"
"The Grand Floridian looks nice, but it seems like the most expensive" she chuckled.
Chandler wrapped his arm around her waist, "I think we can go a little expensive. This is a one-time trip and everything. I like the Contemporary, it has a monorail train going through it."
"Let me see that one again" she requested.
He scrolled to the near of the top and clicked on the Contemporary and let her look at it for a few minutes. "We can stay there and eat at Chef Mickey's one morning. I think they'd like to see the characters." Monica put her hand on top of his on the mouse and booked the hotel. "There. Hotel booked" she smiled. "Now we just need the park tickets." Monica clicked through and selected the correct amount of tickets and purchased them. She took over the keyboard and went to the airline to get the plane tickets for all four of them. Chandler just watched her holding her close, kissing her shoulders randomly and she smiled each time. "What are you doing?" she mumbled, not taking her eyes off the screen.
He pulled her closer, spinning the chair away from the computer after the tickets were purchased, despite her protest. "Come on babe, it's getting late."
"But I'm not done," she whined.
"Hotel is booked, plane and park tickets purchased...we can plan details later" he picked her up bridal style and walked upstairs.
Monica wrapped her arms around his neck, "we're going to Disney World" she smiled. "They're going to be so excited."
"I'm excited. I get to spend a whole week with my wife and kids" he gently set her down on their bed and laid next to her. "No work. Just us all week and they'll get so sick of me that they'll be happy to go back to school when we get back."
She chuckled, shaking her head. "Shut up, they love you." Monica rested her head on top of his chest and cuddled into him as he pulled the blanket over them both. "I love you" she mumbled.
"I love you too, Mon."
The next morning Monica wanted to tell the kids at breakfast, but Chandler told her that he's taking Erica to the movies. They both figured that if they told them before the movie, she wouldn't be able to sit through it. Erica insisted on wearing her pirate costume and he wasn't about to fight her on it and he got her popcorn as he promised.
While they were gone, Rachel came over for the weekly catch-up. She was still living in the city with Ross and Emma. She usually came to Monica's house to tell her about the new fight they had that week. This time, it was about Emma wanting to quit gymnastics to play softball. "So I told him that it doesn't matter what sport she plays, we should just let her do what she wants." Rachel sat at the kitchen island, sipping her coffee.
"I think, let her go to a few more practices. If she still wants to quit then let her. If you force her to stay in it she's not going to enjoy it and then there's no point" Monica shrugged.
Jack took the opportunity to watch Toy Story again while his sister was gone. He played with his Woody doll, trying to recreate the movie as it played. "You are a toy!" Jack shouted with the movie. Monica chuckled, shaking her head when she heard him.
"How many times has he seen that movie?" Rachel asked
"Too many times. He likes Woody the best and the third one made him and Chandler cry, so we don't talk about it. I think even Erica is getting tired of it so now he watches it when she's busy." she shrugged as she mixed the cookie dough she was working on. "We decided last night that we're going to take them to Disney World, but we haven't told them yet."
Rachel gasped, putting her mug down, "Oh that's so exciting! When are you going? I want to take Emma, but Ross thinks she's too old" she rolled her eyes.
"We're going in September. Chandler wants to go to this Halloween event they have. I don't know why they do Halloween so early, but supposedly the crowds are lower. I just want to sit down and plan out everything, make a schedule, and research what we're getting into, you know? But I need Chandler to get back first" she grumbled.
"Is that why you're stress baking cookies?" Rachel watched her mix the dough with more force.
Monica put the spoon down and grabbed a baking sheet. "I'm not doing that" she denied. "When I went with Ross there was only one park. Magic Kingdom was the only thing there, but now there are four different parks. We have to go for a week just to fit it all in. I have to look at all these parks now so I know what's there. What if a ride is too scary and they get upset? Or what if we get lost? Or worse what happens if one of my kids gets lost?" Monica practically slammed balls of cookie dough down. "Four parks? What is even there that you need four different theme parks? It's just ridiculous" she ranted.
Rachel gently grabbed her wrist. "Mon, breath. It'll be okay. I mean your kids are well behaved, they don't run off randomly. They won't get lost. And don't they have maps there? What's there to worry about?"
"You're right...I just want them to have a good time because I doubt we're ever going to go again."
"You'll have a great time hun don't worry. It's Disney, even if you don't know what you're doing when you're there they'll still have fun" she reassured.
Erica ran to the front door and struggled to open it for a few seconds before pushing it open with the help of Chandler. "Momma!" Erica ran inside and looked for her, going to the kitchen. "Momma! We saw it and Captain Jack had to take Balck Beard to the fountain and Barbosa was racing him and then they worked together to beat Black Bead and there was a mermaid!"
"A mermaid?" Monica picked her up. "Did she look like Ariel?"
Erica shook her head, "she had sharp teeth and she wanted to eat the pirates but she didn't."
Chandler walked into the kitchen and smiled at Rachel. "Hi stranger in my house" he wrapped an arm around her in a small hug.
"Hi Chandler," Rachel hugged him back. "How are you?"
"Can't complain" he shrugged, going to the fridge for a yoohoo. He turned and saw the cookie dough and stopped in his tracks. "You okay Mon?" he asked, pointing at the cookies.
Monica sighed, putting Erica down. "Yes. Can't a mother make cookies for her children?"
"Of course, I just want to make sure you're okay," he kissed her cheek. "How's Ross doing?"
"Great. He's hanging out with Emma and Ben today, trying to convince her to stay in gymnastics" she rolled her eyes.
Chandler furrowed his eyebrows and tilted his head, "she wants to stop gymnastics? Why not just let her?"
"Thank you! God, I should've just married you" she joked but received a glare from Monica that made Chandler laugh. "It must be nice to be married to a guy who has common sense."
Monica shook her head in disbelief as she put the cookies in the oven. "It's very nice. Too bad you married a guy who doesn't have that."
Rachel chuckled into her coffee and put down her mug. "I should get going so he doesn't torture our poor daughter," she said as she checked her watch. She got up and hugged Chandler and Monica goodbye before crouching down and hugging Erica. "I love your pirate outfit by the way" she smiled as she stood again.
"Thank you" Erica giggled.
"Jack, come say bye to your Aunt Rachel!" Chandler shouted so he would hear him.
Jack quickly ran in with his Woody doll in hand and hugged Rachel's legs quickly, "bye Aunt Rachel!" he said quickly before running back to the living room to finish the movie with Erica following him.
Chandler smiled at her apologetically as he walked with her to the door. "Same time next week?"
"Probably" she smiled. "Thanks for letting me come over for a bit."
He shrugged as he opened the door for her "Our door is always open you know that." Chandler and Rachel said their last goodbyes and she left then he went back to the kitchen. "Mon can we tell them now?" he asked as he hugged her from behind. "Please please please?"
"Now? I was going to call Ross…"
He pouted slightly resting his chin on her shoulder. "That can wait, can't it?"
Monica continued to wipe down the counter "I think we should at least wait till Jack's movie finishes. I'm excited to tell them too, but Jack's giving a great performance as Woody, I'd hate to interrupt."
Chandler paused listening to his son. "No, wait! You don't understand! Buzz is out there! We've gotta help him!" Jack said, moving his doll around on the coffee table. Chandler buried his face in his wife's neck trying to hide his laughter.
"Don't laugh at him" she gently hit his shoulder.
"I'm not!" he chuckled into her neck. "The movie is almost over at least."
She leaned back into his embrace and kissed his cheek. "We need to plan this trip soon."
"What is there to plan? We have the plane tickets, we have the park tickets and the hotel booked...what else do we need?" Chandler immediately regretted asking when she moved away from him to grab one of her notebooks.
Monica opened it to an empty page and clicked her pen. "I think we should look into the restaurants they have and maybe we can make reservations. I also want to research the rides and see how we can efficiently spend our time. Do you think we can find out how long the lines are?" She tucked her hair behind her ear as she started writing what they needed to get done.
"I'm sure we could somehow, but do you really want to plan every second out?"
She looked at him like he grew a third arm. "Do you know me?"
"Okay, good point but I think it would be fun to just wing it for once? We're basically taking them to a giant playground, we should just let them choose what they want to do when we get there."
Monica quickly shook her head, "I want to get everything in. We should plan our time wisely." The oven timer went off and she turned to the oven to take out the cookies. "There's a lot of stuff to get done."
Both of the kids ran into the kitchen at the sound of the timer and sat on the stools at the island. They smiled sweetly at both of their parents, silently asking for the freshly baked cookies. Chandler watched them raising his eyebrow at them, "Mon, I think they want something."
"What do you think they want?" Monica asked, already putting cookies on a plate for them.
He hummed in fake thought looking at his kids pleading faces. "I think they want brussels sprouts."
"No!" Erica said quickly. "Daddy, can we please have cookies?" she pouted.
"I don't think we have any cookies," Chandler teased.
Jack crossed his arms unimpressed. "Daddy, we know Mom made some. They're right there!" he pointed at the cookies behind his Dad.
Chandler turned around, "oh you want these cookies?"
"Yes!" The twins said in unison.
Monica couldn't stop herself from laughing at her husband as she placed a plate in front of each of them. "Careful, they're still warm." She went to the cabinet and grabbed two of their cups and gave them both a glass of milk to go with their cookies. "Do you want to tell them now?" she muttered to Chandler, leaning against him as she watched the kids eat their cookies.
He perked up with a smile "I've been waiting for you to ask me that" he whispered. Chandler wrapped his arm around her waist, "so kids mom and I have something to tell you…last night we talked it over and we decided-"
"We're going to Disney World!" Monica interrupted him because of how excited she was.
Both of the kids gasped which immediately turned into excited screams as they dropped their cookies on their plates. They jumped off of their stools and started jumping up and down as they screamed and Chandler covered his ears at the volume. "Okay okay okay!" Monica calmed them down enough to stop the yelling. "We're all really excited, but we still have about five months till our trip."
"Why?" the twins whined at once.
"Because we wanted to go at a time when not a lot of people are going to be there. Trust me it'll be here before you know it" she reassured.
Jack and Erica sat back down on their stools to finish their cookies and now they chatted about the trip, arguing about which princess they would see first. Chandler kissed Monica's cheek as he watched their kids. "I think they're excited," he whispered.
"I think so too" Monica chuckled nuzzling into her husband's side for a moment. "Now about the planning…" she trailed off grabbing her notebook, ready to make their itinerary.