Pre-Trip Our Bittersweet Return to Disney

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.
2022-06-19 - Disney Dream - Disney Dream_2.jpeg


And here is the last Disney picture I'll ever have of all 3 kids together. They were re-creating an old photo.
20220622_152623.jpg


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.
20240220_153555.jpg


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!
IMG_9094.JPG


And here is Logan at the end of his second half Ironman race last summer:
155_3rd-2974343-FT_US-6487_054643-30646972.JPG


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!
20240305_151126.jpg

20240316_125000.jpg

20240108_203103.jpg

20240129_173358.jpg
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Screenshot_20240518_081611_Disney World.jpg


But I only have 13 days of work left because of the holiday weekend and we are going to Iowa the weekend before we leave for Orlando for Logan's first of three 70.3 Ironman races this summer.

I have a new carry on suitcase on the way.
Screenshot_20240515_180902_Amazon Shopping.jpg


And a picture of Cruella sunning herself and enjoying the outdoors.
20240510_163011.jpg

20240512_152340.jpg
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I decided to book private transfers to and from MCO through Cast and Crew Transportation and the confirmation came through today. I was planning on using Mears Connect, but my type A personality just couldn't let go of the few really bad reviews and the worrying was not worth it to me. My only concern with MCO to CBR was that we would end up waiting for a long time for the bus to fill up before leaving since our flight lands early in the morning. We're not on a tight schedule or anything, but patience is definitely not one of my strong points! But I have read multiple accounts of late or no show busses for return trips to MCO and that is not something I want to deal with.

A very minor complaint that I have with Disney is that you have to call if you want to make a payment on a room only reservation. I just don't understand their reasoning for this! Anyhow, I called on Friday and paid off the rooms!! (Gotta get my Disney Visa reward points before the trip!) I figured I'd confirm my previous requests for connecting rooms and Trinidad (for the Under the Sea rooms) and add a request for specific buildings within Trinidad to try to be closer to the bridge to the skyliner station.

Last spring I planted a lily garden to go along with the three lilies we planted when Lily was born, and the first bloom showed up yesterday!
20240518_120623.jpg

I'll post more when the others bloom!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Got my suitcase today!
20240521_190110.jpg


But it's a bit smaller than I imagined it would be. I still love it, just may not be able to use it for this trip!

I also ordered some books to take with me for the plane ride. Obviously, I won't be taking all 4, but Amazon had a good sale!
20240521_185740.jpg


I had some help opening my Amazon delivery!
20240521_185619.jpg

20240521_185827.jpg

20240521_190612.jpg


And a few more of my lilies started to bloom!
20240520_081744.jpg

20240521_153651.jpg
 

ajrwdwgirl

Premium Member
Got my suitcase today!
View attachment 786836

But it's a bit smaller than I imagined it would be. I still love it, just may not be able to use it for this trip!

I also ordered some books to take with me for the plane ride. Obviously, I won't be taking all 4, but Amazon had a good sale!
View attachment 786837

I had some help opening my Amazon delivery!
View attachment 786839
View attachment 786840
View attachment 786841

And a few more of my lilies started to bloom!
View attachment 786842
View attachment 786843

The suitcase has an awesome design. Those books look interesting, please let us know what you think about them. And beautiful lillies!
 

Minnie1986

Well-Known Member
Got my suitcase today!
View attachment 786836

But it's a bit smaller than I imagined it would be. I still love it, just may not be able to use it for this trip!

I also ordered some books to take with me for the plane ride. Obviously, I won't be taking all 4, but Amazon had a good sale!
View attachment 786837

I had some help opening my Amazon delivery!
View attachment 786839
View attachment 786840
View attachment 786841

And a few more of my lilies started to bloom!
View attachment 786842
View attachment 786843
Those books look SO interesting! Definitely want to check out the ones on Maleficent and the beast.
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The suitcase has an awesome design. Those books look interesting, please let us know what you think about them. And beautiful lillies!
Thanks! I will report back on the books!
I love that suitcase! The lillies are so pretty.
Thank you!
The lillie’s are beautiful!!
My niece was just telling me about all the books she bought during that sale. She was so excited!!
Thanks! I've been contemplating that series for awhile and the sale was just the push I needed to buy them.
Those books look SO interesting! Definitely want to check out the ones on Maleficent and the beast.
I really wanted the Ursula one, but only the hardback was on sale, so I'll have to wait on that one.
Those Lillie’s are beautiful especially love the red one‘s.
Thanks!
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom