SJDisneyFanatic
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2015
Introduction
This trip was a dream come true for me. Ever since I was a very young child I remembered seeing video clips of Walt Disney World on Sunday nights while watching “Wonderful World of Disney.” My family took trips to Disneyland several times during my childhood. Those memories were very special but never quite met my expectations based on what I had seen of Walt Disney World. I always had it in my mind that I would take my family there...someday.
When I married my husband, I knew that we would never share the same level of love of Disney….he is a total outdoors guy who loves nature and sports….not amusement parks. Over the years, he humored me by attending local amusement parks occasionally and when our first child was almost 4, we took her Disneyland and had a magical time. We continued to take both of our children to Disneyland over the years but there has always been this deep yearning for me to get to Disney World. Because we live in CA near Disneyland, it has always been a hard sell to my husband and even myself because the airfare alone is so expensive when we could just hop in the car and drive to Disneyland. I had started to research the trip a little and decided we would wait until our youngest was really old enough to enjoy everything and be able remember this trip well rather than have it be just something he knew he had done from photos. I decided that 9 years old was the perfect age based on some of the research I had done. I also had to balance it with our older child being 4.5 years older than him and wanted to make sure she had not “outgrown” going to Disney with her family and would still have fun. I knew that I wanted to go during the Christmas Holidays because I had always seen TV specials showing how beautifully it is decorated and we had made several trips to Disneyland during Christmas and knew how special it is compared to other times of the year (do love Halloween tho!). In 2014 I made a reservation in timeshare we belong to in Orlando because it is difficult to get that time if you don’t plan far in advance. I knew deep in my heart that one week was not going to be enough so started investigating staying part of the time on-site.
The deeper I delved into the World of Disney World, the more I realized that we had to stay on site at least part of the time AND that we had to arrive much earlier in the month than I was originally planning. I also realized that since this might be my only trip I had better make it a good one! I initially had a reservation for Carribean Beach Resort because of the price...seemed like it was fairly reasonable and because of when we were going, it included free dining. However, the more I read about CBR, the more I realized that staying there might be a mistake for us. My husband hates hassles and I had booked a Pirate room because I thought my 9 yo DS would love it but after reading many reviews, I changed our resort to AKL….heard some negatives about the distance, etc but the peacefulness of the resort and the connection with nature to please my outdoor, nature loving husband seemed like a good compromise. It was more expensive but in the end I was able to justify it just in case this was the “trip of a lifetime” I still only booked a “standard view” despite the raves about the Savannah views….I just could not justify that expense. This will be long as I gush over my experience...this is just part 1.
This trip was a dream come true for me. Ever since I was a very young child I remembered seeing video clips of Walt Disney World on Sunday nights while watching “Wonderful World of Disney.” My family took trips to Disneyland several times during my childhood. Those memories were very special but never quite met my expectations based on what I had seen of Walt Disney World. I always had it in my mind that I would take my family there...someday.
When I married my husband, I knew that we would never share the same level of love of Disney….he is a total outdoors guy who loves nature and sports….not amusement parks. Over the years, he humored me by attending local amusement parks occasionally and when our first child was almost 4, we took her Disneyland and had a magical time. We continued to take both of our children to Disneyland over the years but there has always been this deep yearning for me to get to Disney World. Because we live in CA near Disneyland, it has always been a hard sell to my husband and even myself because the airfare alone is so expensive when we could just hop in the car and drive to Disneyland. I had started to research the trip a little and decided we would wait until our youngest was really old enough to enjoy everything and be able remember this trip well rather than have it be just something he knew he had done from photos. I decided that 9 years old was the perfect age based on some of the research I had done. I also had to balance it with our older child being 4.5 years older than him and wanted to make sure she had not “outgrown” going to Disney with her family and would still have fun. I knew that I wanted to go during the Christmas Holidays because I had always seen TV specials showing how beautifully it is decorated and we had made several trips to Disneyland during Christmas and knew how special it is compared to other times of the year (do love Halloween tho!). In 2014 I made a reservation in timeshare we belong to in Orlando because it is difficult to get that time if you don’t plan far in advance. I knew deep in my heart that one week was not going to be enough so started investigating staying part of the time on-site.
The deeper I delved into the World of Disney World, the more I realized that we had to stay on site at least part of the time AND that we had to arrive much earlier in the month than I was originally planning. I also realized that since this might be my only trip I had better make it a good one! I initially had a reservation for Carribean Beach Resort because of the price...seemed like it was fairly reasonable and because of when we were going, it included free dining. However, the more I read about CBR, the more I realized that staying there might be a mistake for us. My husband hates hassles and I had booked a Pirate room because I thought my 9 yo DS would love it but after reading many reviews, I changed our resort to AKL….heard some negatives about the distance, etc but the peacefulness of the resort and the connection with nature to please my outdoor, nature loving husband seemed like a good compromise. It was more expensive but in the end I was able to justify it just in case this was the “trip of a lifetime” I still only booked a “standard view” despite the raves about the Savannah views….I just could not justify that expense. This will be long as I gush over my experience...this is just part 1.
I have a feeling that this trip was absolutely amazing for you!
