Hi again, everyone! We're going back to Disney! While I am very excited about this, I am also very worried about how much we are going to be able to enjoy our trip. For those of you who don't know, we lost Lily in a car accident in December of 2022. She enjoyed going to Disney with me, but she never really loved it like she did Universal and everything Harry Potter, so that makes it a little easier to return. I'm not sure if I'll ever be ready to return to Universal. Last summer we made a short trip to Dollywood to try to make some new memories. The boys decided that it was time to head back to WDW and see how we do.
Here is the last Disney picture I have of us as a family. It happened to be taken on the cruise we took to celebrate Logan's high school graduation.
And here is the last Disney picture I'll ever have of all 3 kids together. They were re-creating an old photo.
And to get one more depressing piece of information out of the way, we had to say good bye to our cat Flik not quite a month ago. It was hard enough anyway, but Lily was his person and I felt like I was letting her down that I couldn't help him in any other way. Luckily, Logan was able to come home and I did it at home with all of us there. It was a rough weekend, but that Monday morning, there were two cardinals in our backyard flitting around and chasing each other. I choose to believe that they are together again and enjoying each others company. We had some beautiful weather the week before and I was able to take him outside to enjoy the sunshine.
Okay, done with the depressing stuff and am ready to discuss this trip.
I think this is the shortest lead up time to a Disney trip I have ever had and I swore I would not take another trip with just one day in each park, but trying to find time between 2 different half Ironman races that Logan is doing this summer, the 424 mile bicycle ride he is doing across Iowa, the end of Owen's club soccer season, the preseason tournaments for Owen's high school soccer team, and my coworkers vacation schedules was very difficult and I feel grateful that we found a week that would work.
When: Wednesday, June 12 - Tuesday, June 18
Where: Pop Century (we have two hopefully connecting rooms)
Who: me (Amy), my husband Brian, Logan (21), Owen (16)
Here is Owen at his first College Showcase this "spring" season. It was snowing and there were 40mph wind gusts!
And here is Logan at the end of his second half Ironman race last summer:
Now for some plans:
June 12 - our flight leaves Columbus at 5:15am. I didn't really want to leave this early, but there was a huge difference in price for the later flights, so butt crack of dawn it is! I'm sure the boys will sleep in the car on the way to the airport and most of the flight. We are set to land at 7:25am. I think we will probably take Mears Connect to get to Pop Century. The plan for the day is just to take it easy since we'll have such an early start to the day. We'll likely head to Disney Springs and check out a few of our favorite resorts and call it an early evening
June 13, 15, 16, 17 - we will spend one day in each park, I just haven't decided which day will be which park yet
June 14 - we have tickets for the Typhoon Lagoon H20 Glow After Hours
June 18 - our flight home leaves at 4:15. We will likely sleep in and have a late breakfast before heading to the airport
I know we could fit more park time in, but the 4 park Magic Tickets that the are offering right now was a good deal, so that's what we went with. Not sure that we will do much table service dining, but I have until April 13 to think more about that. I'm still trying to decide on Memory Maker. It is so expensive now, and I'm not sure if we would use it enough. Last summer, Owen and Logan wouldn't let me take pictures of them at Dollywood since Lily wouldn't be in them, so not sure if they'll be ready this year.
I'll close this out with some pics of our new(ish) kittens, Harry and Cruella!
Here is the last Disney picture I have of us as a family. It happened to be taken on the cruise we took to celebrate Logan's high school graduation.
And here is the last Disney picture I'll ever have of all 3 kids together. They were re-creating an old photo.
And to get one more depressing piece of information out of the way, we had to say good bye to our cat Flik not quite a month ago. It was hard enough anyway, but Lily was his person and I felt like I was letting her down that I couldn't help him in any other way. Luckily, Logan was able to come home and I did it at home with all of us there. It was a rough weekend, but that Monday morning, there were two cardinals in our backyard flitting around and chasing each other. I choose to believe that they are together again and enjoying each others company. We had some beautiful weather the week before and I was able to take him outside to enjoy the sunshine.
Okay, done with the depressing stuff and am ready to discuss this trip.
I think this is the shortest lead up time to a Disney trip I have ever had and I swore I would not take another trip with just one day in each park, but trying to find time between 2 different half Ironman races that Logan is doing this summer, the 424 mile bicycle ride he is doing across Iowa, the end of Owen's club soccer season, the preseason tournaments for Owen's high school soccer team, and my coworkers vacation schedules was very difficult and I feel grateful that we found a week that would work.
When: Wednesday, June 12 - Tuesday, June 18
Where: Pop Century (we have two hopefully connecting rooms)
Who: me (Amy), my husband Brian, Logan (21), Owen (16)
Here is Owen at his first College Showcase this "spring" season. It was snowing and there were 40mph wind gusts!
And here is Logan at the end of his second half Ironman race last summer:
Now for some plans:
June 12 - our flight leaves Columbus at 5:15am. I didn't really want to leave this early, but there was a huge difference in price for the later flights, so butt crack of dawn it is! I'm sure the boys will sleep in the car on the way to the airport and most of the flight. We are set to land at 7:25am. I think we will probably take Mears Connect to get to Pop Century. The plan for the day is just to take it easy since we'll have such an early start to the day. We'll likely head to Disney Springs and check out a few of our favorite resorts and call it an early evening
June 13, 15, 16, 17 - we will spend one day in each park, I just haven't decided which day will be which park yet
June 14 - we have tickets for the Typhoon Lagoon H20 Glow After Hours
June 18 - our flight home leaves at 4:15. We will likely sleep in and have a late breakfast before heading to the airport
I know we could fit more park time in, but the 4 park Magic Tickets that the are offering right now was a good deal, so that's what we went with. Not sure that we will do much table service dining, but I have until April 13 to think more about that. I'm still trying to decide on Memory Maker. It is so expensive now, and I'm not sure if we would use it enough. Last summer, Owen and Logan wouldn't let me take pictures of them at Dollywood since Lily wouldn't be in them, so not sure if they'll be ready this year.
I'll close this out with some pics of our new(ish) kittens, Harry and Cruella!
Can't wait to hear about the planning as well - I'll miss you by 2 weeks.
