Pre-Trip It's a solo world, after all

My husband Justin and I went on a Disney Trip a long time ago. We spent NYE at Disney and started 2018 in the land of magical mice and friends. Some of you may remember us. If not, that's cool. I remember reading many of your travel reports in preparation for that trip.

Splashbrokedown.jpg

We even rode Splash Mountain about ten times or more in a row during a freezing cold front. We also got trapped on Splash Mountain. We wanted to go back to Disney one day. Still, instead, we camped out at Dry Tortugas National Park, visited Big Bend National Park, visited all the Utah National Parks, and almost died during the government shutdown of December 2018 on Mount Caramel Highway en route to Zion National Park when we got caught in a snow squall. Then COVID happened. During COVID, we enrolled in graduate school and had no free time.

Fast forward to 2023, and I am graduating from graduate school with a 4.0 and a master's in research psychology with a concentration on children and adolescents. Also, I'm a special education teacher, and for some reason, my district gave us a funky winter vacation that starts on Christmas Day and ends on January 7th, 2024, and Justin's is over a week before mine. So... As a reward to myself, I'm doing a solo Disney vacation, and it will be my first ever solo vacation without an intention to meet up or see anybody I know. May the odds be in my favor.

So here's a reintroduction:

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My name is Lyssa, and it's been too many years since my last trip report. I am a self-proclaimed crazy cat lady. I enjoy rotting my brain cells with complex jrpgs. I love to read and take photographs. As aforementioned, I'm a special education teacher who teaches 3-6 yr old students with autism and other developmental disorders.

I will travel to Disney from January 2nd, 2024, to January 5th, 2024. I have no idea what my plans are, except they will involve the Tron Coaster, Space Mountain, and all the other rides that have reopened or been reimagined since my last trip. Also, I hope the new fast-pass replacement system will not be too confusing. I intend to take a copious amount of photographs, especially since I just got a new Nikon and many bad selfies. I'm staying at the Beach Club and might be more excited about Stormalong Bay than some rides.

So here's to what will be a zany solo trip.

Now off to read everyone's trip reports.
 
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Lyssa

Lyssa

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
wdisney9000 said:
Hey! Im first!

Looking forward to this! We are a crazy cat family.
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I have six cats. Stray cats find me. And this year, my AP had to rehome her cat, and she turned out to be a Maine . She's not a year old and already bigger than my other cats.

mona.png
Mona- my Maine

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Litten aka Litty

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Hammy

kittycuddles.png
Ajani and Sorin (they're actual brothers)

Gandalf.png
Gandalf

Sorry, I know you didn't ask to see all the cat pictures, but I couldn't help it ;)
 
wdisney9000

wdisney9000

Truindenashendubapreser
Premium Member
Lyssa said:
I have six cats. Stray cats find me. And this year, my AP had to rehome her cat, and she turned out to be a Maine . She's not a year old and already bigger than my other cats.

View attachment 721069
Mona- my Maine

View attachment 721070
Litten aka Litty

View attachment 721071
Hammy

View attachment 721072
Ajani and Sorin (they're actual brothers)

View attachment 721073
Gandalf

Sorry, I know you didn't ask to see all the cat pictures, but I couldn't help it ;)
Click to expand...
Don't apologize. I want ALL the cat pictures! They are adorable!

And congratulations on your graduating with highest marks!
 
Lyssa

Lyssa

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
wdisney9000 said:
Don't apologize. I want ALL the cat pictures! They are adorable!

And congratulations on your graduating with highest marks!
Click to expand...
Thank you :) It was stressful, and I can't wait never to have to write a 50-page paper again... at least until I go back to school after a year off to become a therapist.

And don't tempt me, LOL. I think I have more pictures of my cats than Justin and I.
 
Swissmiss

Swissmiss

Premium Member
Lyssa said:
I have six cats. Stray cats find me. And this year, my AP had to rehome her cat, and she turned out to be a Maine . She's not a year old and already bigger than my other cats.

View attachment 721069
Mona- my Maine

View attachment 721070
Litten aka Litty

View attachment 721071
Hammy

View attachment 721072
Ajani and Sorin (they're actual brothers)

View attachment 721073
Gandalf

Sorry, I know you didn't ask to see all the cat pictures, but I couldn't help it ;)
Click to expand...

No need for apologies, many of us are cat people 😉
 
Bullseye1967

Bullseye1967

Is that who I am?
Premium Member
Lyssa said:
My husband Justin and I went on a Disney Trip a long time ago. We spent NYE at Disney and started 2018 in the land of magical mice and friends. Some of you may remember us. If not, that's cool. I remember reading many of your travel reports in preparation for that trip.

View attachment 721061

We even rode Splash Mountain about ten times or more in a row during a freezing cold front. We also got trapped on Splash Mountain. We wanted to go back to Disney one day. Still, instead, we camped out at Dry Tortugas National Park, visited Big Bend National Park, visited all the Utah National Parks, and almost died during the government shutdown of December 2018 on Mount Caramel Highway en route to Zion National Park when we got caught in a snow squall. Then COVID happened. During COVID, we enrolled in graduate school and had no free time.

Fast forward to 2023, and I am graduating from graduate school with a 4.0 and a master's in research psychology with a concentration on children and adolescents. Also, I'm a special education teacher, and for some reason, my district gave us a funky winter vacation that starts on Christmas Day and ends on January 7th, 2024, and Justin's is over a week before mine. So... As a reward to myself, I'm doing a solo Disney vacation, and it will be my first ever solo vacation without an intention to meet up or see anybody I know. May the odds be in my favor.

So here's a reintroduction:

View attachment 721062

My name is Lyssa, and it's been too many years since my last trip report. I am a self-proclaimed crazy cat lady. I enjoy rotting my brain cells with complex jrpgs. I love to read and take photographs. As aforementioned, I'm a special education teacher who teaches 3-6 yr old students with autism and other developmental disorders.

I will travel to Disney from January 2nd, 2024, to January 5th, 2024. I have no idea what my plans are, except they will involve the Tron Coaster, Space Mountain, and all the other rides that have reopened or been reimagined since my last trip. Also, I hope the new fast-pass replacement system will not be too confusing. I intend to take a copious amount of photographs, especially since I just got a new Nikon and many bad selfies. I'm staying at the Beach Club and might be more excited about Stormalong Bay than some rides.

So here's to what will be a zany solo trip.

Now off to read everyone's trip reports.
Click to expand...
I was at Disney Springs for NYE 2018 to support some friends who were performing. That was a cold night! Looking forward to your TR!
 
Lyssa

Lyssa

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
About two months have passed since the last update... (I will do my best to keep up with other people's trips, but I'm unsure what free time is anymore between studying for high school subject certification exams to escape the hell my school district has turned into, graduate school, the school itself, and exhaustion).

There is no real reason except laziness and the start of a new school year. Since the last post, on a road trip to San Antonio, I experienced my first-ever tire shredded from a pothole. I honestly did not know tires were made of so many different fibers. No one was hurt, and my car was mostly fine. Sure, it needed all new tired, but aside from that, just a dent or two, which will one day be fixed.

I dyed my hair purple to summon my inner Cheshire cat.

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Graduate school restarted, and I'm taking cognitive neuropsychology this semester, which I do not enjoy. It's too brainy for me, pun intended. School resumed, and I've never been so exhausted emotionally, mentally, or physically. Granted, I'm a special education teacher and work with students in Prek3 to Kindergarten with multiple needs and impairments, so aggression and tiredness are a given. But this year, I feel the behaviors and aggression are much more extreme than in previous years. Add in a state takeover, and I'm lucky enough if I stay away past 8:00 p.m., including all the coffee I drink and the 5-hour energy drinks I sometimes chug.

However, there are only 98 days, 11 minutes, 33 minutes, and 51 seconds (as I type this sentence) until my not-so-solo-anymore Disney trip. I finally bought my airfare today (the rest of the trip was paid off months ago). My airfare was free due to free vouchers from taking a later flight to see my BFFL in Maryland last April. Now, I need to figure out how to get from the airport to the resort, but I'll cross that bridge later because I'll need to work it out with my work-wife.

My solo trip is now my first honeymoon with my work-wife, Sandra, also known as wifey. Our marriage has been strong for three years.

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Several years and several hair colors ago, Sandra was my TA in my special education classroom. We worked together during the first year after the COVID year. We were back in person without virtual learning (ask me how that went with nonverbal students), which was 2021-2022. It was a strange year. We only had two students at one point, both of whom were prone to lots of absences, leaving us with no students, so we did a lot of creative projects, including making our own bath bombs and inappropriately shaped soap.

Last year, she switched to working in the office, which is perfect for her (not that she wasn't amazing with our students, because she was). Our marriage is still strong and has outlasted some of the teachers working in our school.

Anyhow, over the summer, I visited her at school when I returned from visiting my family in NJ. I told her about the Disney trip I was planning, and she said she was going. Our social plans usually fall through (thanks to her jerk of a husband), but I said "sure" anyway. Imagine my surprise when she called me on the last Friday of our in-service and said she was booking airline tickets. Sure enough, she did buy airline tickets to Orlando, and from that day forth, my solo trip has turned into a not-solo trip. I treated her to the park-hopper tickets for her birthday and added her to my reservation. (Mostly because I don't trust her husband, and I doubted he would pay for the rest of the trip, and I wanted her to go. Also, the reservation is connected to my name, so if anything did happen, I would get my money back).

So we went from a solo trip to a not-solo-anymore trip. I'm super excited for our honeymoon. We're going to buy matching ears, ride all the rides (I hope she likes roller coasters), and have a fantastic time. Ironically, the special education chairperson at my school will also be in Disney at that time, unrelated to my trip. Her daughter is working at the college program, and they were going to Disney to pick her up at the end of the program, which happens to be January 4th. So we'll probably meet up for a meal with her. Some of our other co-workers keep threatening to crash our Disney trip (mainly wifey's sister, who also works at our school), so we shall see if that happens.

It's a not-solo world after all.
 
kimberlymautz

kimberlymautz

Well-Known Member
How fun! Too bad that her husband is a jerk, but hopefully your trip works out!
I know my BF can be annoying, but he knows I'm going to do what I want regardless so he can either join in my fun or take the kids so I can enjoy it alone. Hahahaha,
 

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