I’m extremely excited to be starting my first-ever trip report! We’re still WDW newbies (this was our 2nd trip), so everything is still shiny and new and exciting for us. A lot of the things we got to do on this trip were firsts for us, so I hope that you will enjoy experiencing this with me again (and have patience with me as I stumble through writing my first TR!). Our first trip was in August 2011 with my 6-year old son, and seeing as we jumped at the chance to go back only 5 months later, you can assume that we’re totally addicted! 
This trip was a 1-year anniversary celebration for my husband Shawn and me, so I will start with a picture of us from our wedding day. We got married on the beach at sunset on New Year’s Eve in 2010. We rented a house for the week and had very close friends/family stay with us, and our reception was also a NYE party. My son walked me down the aisle (or, as he would correct me, "down the sand"), and it was an absolutely perfect day!
Fast-forwarding back to the present…our trip took place from Saturday, January 7th – Sunday, January 15th, 2012. It was pretty awesome to have a big trip to look forward to right after the holidays; usually it’s a bummer to know that Christmas is over and the decorations have to come down. This year, I was excited that packing away the tree meant that I was only a couple of days away from going to WDW! I also had a lot of guilt about not taking my son, but it just wasn’t possible since he was just going back to school from the holidays. Knowing that we were going to be bringing him back in the summer helped ease that guilt, and I was really excited about enjoying the “adult” side of Disney!
When we were there last August, all I wanted was for our son to have the time of his life. The magic for me was seeing his eyes light up and experiencing everything through him. And it was completely, totally magical; we had some moments that I know I’ll never, ever forget. The magic on this trip was different, but we found it all over the place! The best way that I can think of to describe it is that I got to let my inner kid out, and the magic was there directly for me.
The morning of our trip, we woke up at 4:30 am to get to the airport for our 7:05 flight. We live about 15 minutes from the airport, so it was a quick drive. Before we knew it, we had boarded the plane and we were watching the sun rise from the air. Very, very cool way to start the day!
Shawn dozed for most of the flight, and I read. I don’t go anywhere without my Nook, and I love it so much that it even has a name. Yup, I know I’m a total nerd. :lol: Upon our arrival, we quickly made our way over to baggage claim and then to get our rental car. My corporate discount, and the convenience of not having to wait for buses, makes renting a car totally worth it to us!
We were staying at Port Orleans French Quarter, which was totally charming. I had visited New Orleans a few months earlier for a girls’ weekend with my college friends, and absolutely loved it, so I was excited about staying here. Our room wasn’t ready yet (which we expected, since it was only about 9:30 am), so we decided to grab some breakfast before heading out for the day. A lot of runners from the half marathon were returning to the resort at this point, and the food court was pretty packed. We knew exactly what we wanted – beignets! We got our food, and found a table outside to enjoy our breakfast in the sunshine.
While we were eating, Shawn asked me if we were going to have an issue getting into the parks that day. We had to book our first night separately from the rest of our trip in order to get free dining (that promotion didn’t start until Sunday), and our park tickets were a part of the package deal. We decided to ask before we left the resort, and it’s a good thing we did! The front desk staff was great – they were quickly able to transfer one day’s admission onto our keys, and told us that we would need to come down the next morning to get the keys for the rest of the week. We wouldn’t be changing rooms, but we would have new keys with our dining and park admission on them. With that crisis quickly averted, we were off to our first park – Hollywood Studios!
This trip was a 1-year anniversary celebration for my husband Shawn and me, so I will start with a picture of us from our wedding day. We got married on the beach at sunset on New Year’s Eve in 2010. We rented a house for the week and had very close friends/family stay with us, and our reception was also a NYE party. My son walked me down the aisle (or, as he would correct me, "down the sand"), and it was an absolutely perfect day!
Fast-forwarding back to the present…our trip took place from Saturday, January 7th – Sunday, January 15th, 2012. It was pretty awesome to have a big trip to look forward to right after the holidays; usually it’s a bummer to know that Christmas is over and the decorations have to come down. This year, I was excited that packing away the tree meant that I was only a couple of days away from going to WDW! I also had a lot of guilt about not taking my son, but it just wasn’t possible since he was just going back to school from the holidays. Knowing that we were going to be bringing him back in the summer helped ease that guilt, and I was really excited about enjoying the “adult” side of Disney!
When we were there last August, all I wanted was for our son to have the time of his life. The magic for me was seeing his eyes light up and experiencing everything through him. And it was completely, totally magical; we had some moments that I know I’ll never, ever forget. The magic on this trip was different, but we found it all over the place! The best way that I can think of to describe it is that I got to let my inner kid out, and the magic was there directly for me.
The morning of our trip, we woke up at 4:30 am to get to the airport for our 7:05 flight. We live about 15 minutes from the airport, so it was a quick drive. Before we knew it, we had boarded the plane and we were watching the sun rise from the air. Very, very cool way to start the day!
Shawn dozed for most of the flight, and I read. I don’t go anywhere without my Nook, and I love it so much that it even has a name. Yup, I know I’m a total nerd. :lol: Upon our arrival, we quickly made our way over to baggage claim and then to get our rental car. My corporate discount, and the convenience of not having to wait for buses, makes renting a car totally worth it to us!
We were staying at Port Orleans French Quarter, which was totally charming. I had visited New Orleans a few months earlier for a girls’ weekend with my college friends, and absolutely loved it, so I was excited about staying here. Our room wasn’t ready yet (which we expected, since it was only about 9:30 am), so we decided to grab some breakfast before heading out for the day. A lot of runners from the half marathon were returning to the resort at this point, and the food court was pretty packed. We knew exactly what we wanted – beignets! We got our food, and found a table outside to enjoy our breakfast in the sunshine.
While we were eating, Shawn asked me if we were going to have an issue getting into the parks that day. We had to book our first night separately from the rest of our trip in order to get free dining (that promotion didn’t start until Sunday), and our park tickets were a part of the package deal. We decided to ask before we left the resort, and it’s a good thing we did! The front desk staff was great – they were quickly able to transfer one day’s admission onto our keys, and told us that we would need to come down the next morning to get the keys for the rest of the week. We wouldn’t be changing rooms, but we would have new keys with our dining and park admission on them. With that crisis quickly averted, we were off to our first park – Hollywood Studios!
