I've been reading trip reports on these forums for years and have loved every single one. I've wanted to write my own for a long time now, and planned to do so for our last trip in December 2012...but back then I was a "new" teacher. My life was crazy, hectic, and filled from morning until night. Now that I'm a big time second year teacher (HAHA), I feel a little more confident in my time management and I think I can handle sharing my trip. Have I mentioned that I'm SO excited about this?!
So, a little introduction to our party of 7: Me, Mom, Dad, Sister (DS), her boyfriend ("D"), my Aunt ("Nanny"), and a close family friend ("A"). Our group is from south Louisiana, and we are choosing to spend our Mardi Gras at WDW for the first time in a long time. This trip was pretty much planned as soon as we got home from our last trip, but we've definitely had several bumps along the road leading into it.
Back in April of last year, Dad had about 80% of an acoustic neuroma removed from the left side of his brain. Over the course of the end of the year he pretty much got back to being his normal self, but was still a little unsteady on his feet. We knew this trip would be very different for him - he used to keep up with my brother and I, riding all of the roller coasters, Tower of Terror, etc. Well, about three weeks ago, Dad went into the hospital and was diagnosed with pneumonia. It didn't respond to antibiotics and he was in the hospital for almost two weeks before having surgery to collapse his lung and remove some of the infection. DS and I told him about our Magic Bands when he was still in the hospital to try and boosts his spirits, and all he would say was that he hoped we'd still be able to go. Luckily, he has been getting better and better every day that he's been home, and his doctor cleared him for the trip at an appointment today! To play it safe and make him feel more comfortable, we booked a motorized scooter for him for this trip...oh, the irony. He has always complained about people in the scooters, and this time he will be one of them!! Oh well, whatever it takes, right?
Anyway, this trip will definitely be a new kind of Disney experience for us. With the changes in how we will have to pace ourselves and the new technology that Disney has adopted since we last visited, it should be interesting!
Here is a quick run-down of our plans:
Friday, February 28th: Hit the road after everyone is off of work and do our best to make it to Pensacola. We have reservations there for the night.
Saturday, March 1st: Leave Pensacola early and make it to WDW at about 4 (ish). We will be staying at Pop Century (our home away from home). We'll have to wait for Dad's scooter to be delivered, and then we plan to head into to Downtown Disney for our first night tradition - Earl of Sandwich for dinner!
Sunday, March 2nd: MAGIC KINGDOM!! We've done MK on our first day ever since my parents first took us when we were little, and we wouldn't have it any other way. Dad and I have been trying to convince everyone to get up early on this morning to do rope drop. We'll see...
Monday, March 3rd: Animal Kingdom - We've never really planned our trips out in stone like this before, but with Fastpass+ it's kind of difficult not to. So, AK for at least the better part of the day, and then we have ADRs at Hoop Dee Doo on this night!
Tuesday, March 4th: EPCOT - my favorite
Wednesday, March 5th: Hollywood Studios
Thursday, March 6th: Breakfast at Ohana, and then Magic Kingdom for the day. I also plan on heading to EPCOT in the afternoon to see the Flower and Garden Festival on opening day. I'm SO excited that it will be getting started while we're there. I got to experience it when I did the CareerStart program back in 2007, and shared it with my family through pictures. It's great that they'll get to see it all in person this time!
Friday, March 7th: EPCOT to close it all out
Saturday, March 8th: Scooter pick-up at the hotel, and then head home.
Sorry for the long post - I promise that none of my other pre-trip posts will be this crazy-long. I'm so excited and figured I'd get started on this while I have time, otherwise I'll never get to. If you made it through the entire thing, thanks for reading! I'm so excited to share my trip with y'all!
So, a little introduction to our party of 7: Me, Mom, Dad, Sister (DS), her boyfriend ("D"), my Aunt ("Nanny"), and a close family friend ("A"). Our group is from south Louisiana, and we are choosing to spend our Mardi Gras at WDW for the first time in a long time. This trip was pretty much planned as soon as we got home from our last trip, but we've definitely had several bumps along the road leading into it.
Back in April of last year, Dad had about 80% of an acoustic neuroma removed from the left side of his brain. Over the course of the end of the year he pretty much got back to being his normal self, but was still a little unsteady on his feet. We knew this trip would be very different for him - he used to keep up with my brother and I, riding all of the roller coasters, Tower of Terror, etc. Well, about three weeks ago, Dad went into the hospital and was diagnosed with pneumonia. It didn't respond to antibiotics and he was in the hospital for almost two weeks before having surgery to collapse his lung and remove some of the infection. DS and I told him about our Magic Bands when he was still in the hospital to try and boosts his spirits, and all he would say was that he hoped we'd still be able to go. Luckily, he has been getting better and better every day that he's been home, and his doctor cleared him for the trip at an appointment today! To play it safe and make him feel more comfortable, we booked a motorized scooter for him for this trip...oh, the irony. He has always complained about people in the scooters, and this time he will be one of them!! Oh well, whatever it takes, right?
Anyway, this trip will definitely be a new kind of Disney experience for us. With the changes in how we will have to pace ourselves and the new technology that Disney has adopted since we last visited, it should be interesting!
Here is a quick run-down of our plans:
Friday, February 28th: Hit the road after everyone is off of work and do our best to make it to Pensacola. We have reservations there for the night.
Saturday, March 1st: Leave Pensacola early and make it to WDW at about 4 (ish). We will be staying at Pop Century (our home away from home). We'll have to wait for Dad's scooter to be delivered, and then we plan to head into to Downtown Disney for our first night tradition - Earl of Sandwich for dinner!
Sunday, March 2nd: MAGIC KINGDOM!! We've done MK on our first day ever since my parents first took us when we were little, and we wouldn't have it any other way. Dad and I have been trying to convince everyone to get up early on this morning to do rope drop. We'll see...
Monday, March 3rd: Animal Kingdom - We've never really planned our trips out in stone like this before, but with Fastpass+ it's kind of difficult not to. So, AK for at least the better part of the day, and then we have ADRs at Hoop Dee Doo on this night!
Tuesday, March 4th: EPCOT - my favorite
Wednesday, March 5th: Hollywood Studios
Thursday, March 6th: Breakfast at Ohana, and then Magic Kingdom for the day. I also plan on heading to EPCOT in the afternoon to see the Flower and Garden Festival on opening day. I'm SO excited that it will be getting started while we're there. I got to experience it when I did the CareerStart program back in 2007, and shared it with my family through pictures. It's great that they'll get to see it all in person this time!
Friday, March 7th: EPCOT to close it all out
Saturday, March 8th: Scooter pick-up at the hotel, and then head home.
Sorry for the long post - I promise that none of my other pre-trip posts will be this crazy-long. I'm so excited and figured I'd get started on this while I have time, otherwise I'll never get to. If you made it through the entire thing, thanks for reading! I'm so excited to share my trip with y'all!
