Love, Death and New Life through the lens of Disney

I have read up through page 6 of this TR and about to head to bed, so I had to leave a note to say I'm subscribing. I am so sorry for your loss.

I love that you do so many things with Raider that help keep your memories of Ben alive.
 



Yes we were married at the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valpo. What a small world to come across another person married there on a forum. ha ha. So did you go to school there or just have some other connection with the university? What was so meaningful to me is that we were married there and then we also had his funeral services there in the back of the chapel. The chapel has so much meaning for me now.

Yes, we both went to school there, John graduated in 1968 from the Engineering program and I quit school there to marry him when he became an Air Force pilot. It's such an incredible chapel to play such a part in your memories. Your Ben was quite a guy. I have a Ben, too--my youngest son is Ben.
 
So I am back on the DIS planning another trip and thought I would check in on my old Trip Report. Over the past 8 years I have often thought about this report and how I needed to still finish it. But the computer that had all of my trip info is no longer working. It has now been so long that I don't remember all of the details of the trips.

But I still have the pictures and they can help guide me through and give a summary of the trips. I don't feel like this trip report was really complete with the new life portion just yet. Well and now Raider is 10 years old so a lot has changed. It is too late tonight to start on the next entry but I will make sure to be updating soon. Hopefully some of the original followers will still be around and some new people will enjoy my life through the lense of Disney.
 


So we finally got to our MK day. To tell you the truth I honestly don’t remember much of this day. I mean it has been 9 years since this day and I am now just writing about it. Ha ha. Well actually I do remember some stuff.


We again slept in and took a lazy morning. We at Breakfast at the hotel and then caught a bus to MK. There were certain things that I knew I did not want to miss on this trip to MK. On my list of must dos was The Tiki Room (even though I don’t like that Iago has taken it over), Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Philharmagic, Peter Pan and of course Splash Mountain. I also had thought it would be fun to go on Space Mountain with my Dad because that was the only ride I really remember going on when he took me to Disneyland as a child, but unfortunately Space Mountain was under refurbishment so that did not happen.


We started at the Jungle Cruise. My Dad really enjoys this ride and the silly jokes. The line was a little long but Raider did amazing waiting. I just love this ride so much and it was a great way to start our day in MK. After the Jungle Cruise we headed over to the Tiki Room. This may have been Raider’s favorite thing we did at Disney. I thought he might get scared during the storm but he didn’t and he just loved looking up and watching the birds sing.


From there we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean. I was concerned that I wouldn’t like the addition of Jack Sparrow to the ride as I had not been a fan of the changes to the Tiki Room. But Disney did a fabulous job adding Jack Sparrow without taking away from the traditional ride and story. Pirates will never get old. Pirates was one of Ben’s favorite rides. Ben had always been a huge fan of pirates in general and had many items and flags with the jolly roger on it. In all reality the definition of our sons name, Raider, means pirate. And his entire nursery when he was a baby was pirate themed. That was not an easy thing to do at the time because it was before pirate stuff was popular for babies. I ended up making almost everything for the nursery or using items that were not intended for baby rooms. About a year after Raider was born pirate themes became popular and you could find them everywhere. Anyway this is way of topic back to WDW. Pirates of the Caribbean is a special ride that always reminds me of Ben and a ride I will never miss.


I really wanted to go on Splash Mountain but Raider was too small so my Dad and I went and my Mom stayed back with Raider. Everytime I ride Splash Mountain I revert to that little girl who dreamed of one day meeting Brer’ Rabbit and Brer’ Fox and plunging down the hill in delight. After Splash Mountain we were all getting hungry so we stopped into Pecos Bills for lunch. My Dad really enjoyed his lunch here but he is a huge meat and BBQ type of guy. We decided that we would have to come back later that night and watch the SpectroMagic Parade in front of the restaurant. While we were eating lunch it began to rain. We decided it was that time of day to head back to the hotel for a nap anyway so we got on the train in Frontierland and took rode it back to the entrance to catch a bus and head back to the hotel. It was still pouring rain when we arrived back at the hotel.


After we all woke up from our nap the rain had stopped and we were ready to head back to the park. We went straight to Fantasy Land and rode Peter Pan and I took Raider on Dumbo. He seemed to really enjoy Dumbo. We also went to Mickey’s Philharmagic but this time I didn’t cry at the end. It was still amazing though and one of my favorite attractions.


We had gotten back to the park kind of late so it was getting close to SpectroMagic starting. We all headed back over to Pecos Bill’s and found a perfect spot along the sidewalk right between the restaurant and the candy store. It makes me so sad that Disney no longer has SpectroMagic or the Electrical Light Parade. They are just so mesmerizing. I love Alice on the toadstool and the Dragon. Raider loved all of the lights. Since we were at the beginning of the parade route it ended pretty quickly. We were all starving by this point and we decided to head for main street to see if we could find somewhere to eat. We knew we would probably miss the fireworks but figured if we were close to Main Street and ate fast maybe we could see some of Wishes. The only place that had a table was Tony’s Town Square. By this point in the day Raider was just done. He was basically acting like a tired and hungry two year old who did not want to sit still. I remember some people at another table giving us a look and I just thought to myself, we are at Disney not some fancy restaurant. If you want to eat without children present Tony’s Town Square is not the restaurant you should be at. I was happy because there was food on the menu that Raider actually would eat. I also loved the theming of the restaurant as Lady and the Tramp is one of my favorite Disney movies. The food was just typical Italian but it hit the spot. Amazingly right as we finished eating and left the restaurant Wishes started. We were so exhausted though that we only watched a few of the fireworks and then headed for the bus. Dad had reserved a tee time the next morning at one of the golf courses (not sure which one) and he would be getting up early.


Tomorrow would be our last full day at WDW and it would be Ben’s birthday. Both extremely bittersweet.


My facebook post from the day stated “The Magic Kingdom is definitely magical!”

I didn't get many pictures in the Magic Kingdom this day but here are a few we got at night. The group picture is in a frame on my fireplace mantel and has been displayed in my living room for the past 9 years.

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Just read your trip report. Thank you so much for sharing your life and trip with us. I am so terribly sorry for your loss. The pictures of you and Ben are precious and Raider is such a sweet boy. I look forward to your upcoming trip report.
 
I just stumbled onto your TR and read the whole thing yesterday and this morning. What a strong, faith-filled woman you are! and what an incredible journey you and your son have been on. I hope you'll return to share how you celebrated Ben's birthday. Sending love from Chicago!
 


Just finished reading your trip report, such a beautiful and tragic story.

I hope you are able to update on your life and your beautiful boy!
 
Just caught up on your trip report.... my thoughts and prayers go out to you. Just out of curiosity have you written a book about your experience?
 
I’ve just found your trip report and have been moved to tears reading. It really is a beautiful testament to the love you shared. I hope you will come back and update it. I’d love to hear what you guys did the next day in honor of Ben’s birthday and what you and Raider are up to 10 years later.
 

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