We decided that our first family vacation in 2002 should be to DisneyWorld. Our daughter was 5 years old and we wanted the original all American vacation! We drove from northern Illinois and stayed for a week. Our WDW vacation was more magical than we could even imagined.
So we returned in 2003. And in 2004 we saw other parts of Orlando, including SeaWorld, Universal, and Discovery Cove. We were back at WDW in 2005 and 2006. In '07, my DW was getting her Masters Degree in teaching so we couldn't take a vacation (
). But in 2008 we returned with a vengeance.
In 2009 we took a Carnival Cruise out of Tampa and then stayed in Treasure Island for a few days. We used our Disney VISA Rewards to spend a full day at Magic Kingdom. Our previous trips made us pretty much experts at seeing all of MK in just one day. We had a blast!
This summer my nephew was married in Oregon and we had to spend our usual summer vacation money on the plane fare and resort stay for the wedding. We drove a rental car to Seattle and experienced an amazing 7 night Alaskan Cruise on the NCL Pearl.
But we're still going to WDW in 2010!!!!
I've been in public service for over 22 years now. A few years ago I picked up some side work doing some specialized trade writing. The company I work for has been sending me to a conference each year. This year's conference is in Orlando!
I am still a bit stunned, but they're paying for my plane ride and two nights of my resort stay. So my DW and DD13 are flying down to FL with me and we're booked at the Caribbean Beach Resort for 4 nights! This is our first return to the CBR since our original vacation way back in 2002!
We splurged a bit and reserved a Pirate Room with a Water View too!
We're flying out of O'Hare on a Friday and getting in around 7pm Florida time. This is the first time we've flown! We get to experience the Disney Magical Express and we're excited about that bus ride!
We have 5 Day Park Hopper tickets and the Free Dining Plan! On top of that, we've got a little over $400 on our Disney VISA Rewards card to spend!
Saturday is EE at DHS and we intend to spend all day there. We already have priority seating reservations for the breakfast character buffet at the Hollywood & Vine and dinner reservations at Mama Melrose. We've never been to Mama Melrose before and we booked it just to do something different.
I have to go to the Conference on Sunday and Monday (
) but I think I'll have time in the morning to go with my DW and DD13 to a park. I don't think the Conference starts until 11am. 
I'll be back by 5pm each day anyway so I'll just call my family on their cell phones and ask where they're at. Then I'll meet up with them and go from there.
We don't have our flight out on Tuesday until later in the afternoon so we'll hit a park that day too. I'm hoping we can even go to a park (Epcot for Illuminations?) on Friday before they close so we get to use all 5 days of our tickets!
Our DD13 is very excited to be "camp director" and be in charge while I'm gone. My DW says she's just going to let Lauren decide what to do and where to go.
We've always been to WDW during the summer so October will be very interesting. We're thrilled to be seeing the parks decorated for Halloween. It will also be interesting to be there when it's not 98 degrees each day and we're even hoping the crowds will be smaller. They pretty much have to be compared to June, July, and August when we've gone before!
We were at the Chicago Disney Store yesterday and my DW and DD13 both bought hoody sweatshirts on sale. DW has a new Tinkerbell sweatshirt to wear at night during our trip and DD13 has a new Minnie sweatshirt!
Well, this is my pre-trip report but I'll update when we return! Less than one month to go! Yeah!
-Steve
So we returned in 2003. And in 2004 we saw other parts of Orlando, including SeaWorld, Universal, and Discovery Cove. We were back at WDW in 2005 and 2006. In '07, my DW was getting her Masters Degree in teaching so we couldn't take a vacation (
). But in 2008 we returned with a vengeance. In 2009 we took a Carnival Cruise out of Tampa and then stayed in Treasure Island for a few days. We used our Disney VISA Rewards to spend a full day at Magic Kingdom. Our previous trips made us pretty much experts at seeing all of MK in just one day. We had a blast!
This summer my nephew was married in Oregon and we had to spend our usual summer vacation money on the plane fare and resort stay for the wedding. We drove a rental car to Seattle and experienced an amazing 7 night Alaskan Cruise on the NCL Pearl.
But we're still going to WDW in 2010!!!!
I've been in public service for over 22 years now. A few years ago I picked up some side work doing some specialized trade writing. The company I work for has been sending me to a conference each year. This year's conference is in Orlando!
I am still a bit stunned, but they're paying for my plane ride and two nights of my resort stay. So my DW and DD13 are flying down to FL with me and we're booked at the Caribbean Beach Resort for 4 nights! This is our first return to the CBR since our original vacation way back in 2002!
We splurged a bit and reserved a Pirate Room with a Water View too!
We're flying out of O'Hare on a Friday and getting in around 7pm Florida time. This is the first time we've flown! We get to experience the Disney Magical Express and we're excited about that bus ride!
We have 5 Day Park Hopper tickets and the Free Dining Plan! On top of that, we've got a little over $400 on our Disney VISA Rewards card to spend!
Saturday is EE at DHS and we intend to spend all day there. We already have priority seating reservations for the breakfast character buffet at the Hollywood & Vine and dinner reservations at Mama Melrose. We've never been to Mama Melrose before and we booked it just to do something different.
I have to go to the Conference on Sunday and Monday (
) but I think I'll have time in the morning to go with my DW and DD13 to a park. I don't think the Conference starts until 11am. I'll be back by 5pm each day anyway so I'll just call my family on their cell phones and ask where they're at. Then I'll meet up with them and go from there.
We don't have our flight out on Tuesday until later in the afternoon so we'll hit a park that day too. I'm hoping we can even go to a park (Epcot for Illuminations?) on Friday before they close so we get to use all 5 days of our tickets!
Our DD13 is very excited to be "camp director" and be in charge while I'm gone. My DW says she's just going to let Lauren decide what to do and where to go.
We've always been to WDW during the summer so October will be very interesting. We're thrilled to be seeing the parks decorated for Halloween. It will also be interesting to be there when it's not 98 degrees each day and we're even hoping the crowds will be smaller. They pretty much have to be compared to June, July, and August when we've gone before!
We were at the Chicago Disney Store yesterday and my DW and DD13 both bought hoody sweatshirts on sale. DW has a new Tinkerbell sweatshirt to wear at night during our trip and DD13 has a new Minnie sweatshirt!
Well, this is my pre-trip report but I'll update when we return! Less than one month to go! Yeah!
-Steve
