The World's Earliest Pre-Trip Report - 2014 or Bust

This thread is taking a looooooong view. I expect my next WDW trip will be roughly 4 years from this week.

I've got to be kidding, right? Nope. I'm actually planning my next trip even though it's still 4 years away. Why 4 years? Well, here's my reasoning.

1. We've got young children. My oldest daughter is 5 and my youngest is 1. In 2014, they will be 9 and 5 respectively. Good ages, I think.

2. 2014 will be the last year my oldest daughter will be a child in Disney's eyes.

3. After our last trip, my wife's blood starts to boil if I even bring up Disney. So a minimum of 4 years is probably required.

For the full blow-by-blow of our March trip, feel free to check out my trip report: The Ecstacy and the Agony: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/showthread.php?t=564728

At one point during this trip, my wife told me she never wanted to visit Disney World again. But she would compromise and come back in 5 years so our youngest daughter could have a trip she could remember. I've gotten the 5 years down to 4 based on the whole "age 9" thing.

For the record, the trip was fine. It was challenging given the ages of our children. We also struggled with the busses which were always packed, but the trip was mostly successful. It's just that my wife doesn't like Disney World. Over the next 4 years, I plan to discuss my experiences as a Disney fan with a spouse who doesn't want to go. Please, feel free to share your experiences.

On the upside, by 2014 there will be new things for us to experience. The FLE will be completed. Even Phase 2 if that actually sees the light of day. There may even be some new additions that haven't yet been announced.

Obivously, there's not a ton that can be planned four years out. (So updates probably won't be frequent for at least 3 years...) but I have pretty much planted a flag in this week 4 years from now. I've already explained the reason behind the year. Now, I'll explain the week.

First, I just don't like the idea of taking the kids out of school. That still won't be an issue for our youngest. But it will be for our oldest. So, I'm looking to work around our school schedule. The school my oldest daughter will be attending (she start Kindergarten in a week!) has a late start date. So late that it typically falls during value season which starts 08/15.

Now, either of those things could change. Perhaps in 2014, our school will start early or Disney will move value season. If either of those things happen, my plans change. But given the temperatures in August, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

That's it for a first entry. My plan is that over the next 4 years, I'll post about the experience of planning a trip so far in advance, how Disney's announcements impact my plans, and how my family's attitude towards a WDW changes (hopefully for the better).

Hopefully, years from now, it'll make for an interesting time capsule/journal.

 

[wm49rs]

I give you mad props for the planning on multiple fronts four years out. Let me know if you have any questions re: kids 9 and 5. Mine were roughly that age when we went on our last visit.....:wave:

 

[foreverbelle]

Four years early. I too give you props. At times I can barely think of next week let alone four years from now. So good luck.....I am totally convinced that if I could turn my husband into a Fan-he was so anti Disney he even refused to see any movies Disney had any part in-then I am sure you can change your wives point of views as well.

Best of luck and we will dif. be paying attention in four years.

 

[goonie007]

Good thing your starting now because the 2014 free dining will prob be released some time next month

 

[s.ollie]

Oh Goodness

and i thought my 67 day countdown is excruciatingly painful.........

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Gosh...really? 4 years??? I can't even start to wrap my brain around that one. My oldest will be starting his senior year of high school. :lookaroun I'll be 40!!!!

Definitely gotta give ya props on the 4 year plan. This will be interesting to watch unfold. :wave:

 

[disney4life2008]

lol, 4 years!!! now that is some planning!! This is a first :sohappy:

 

[_Scar]

You better start booking your dining reservations now!



Kidding

 

[lebeau]

Wow, I wasn't expecting so many responses to a pre-trip report 4 years out. Thanks to everyone for playing along!

I give you mad props for the planning on multiple fronts four years out. Let me know if you have any questions re: kids 9 and 5. Mine were roughly that age when we went on our last visit.....:wave:

I plan Disney trips for fun. Sometimes when I'm bored, I start price-checking trips I know I won't take. At work, people approach me for trip planning help all the time. It's kind of a hobby. My wife would call it an obsession. She may be right.

I'm definitely interested in hearing how your last trip went. Did you post a TR? I'd love to read it.

Four years early. I too give you props. At times I can barely think of next week let alone four years from now. So good luck.....I am totally convinced that if I could turn my husband into a Fan-he was so anti Disney he even refused to see any movies Disney had any part in-then I am sure you can change your wives point of views as well.

Best of luck and we will dif. be paying attention in four years.

The situation with my wife is kind of the opposite of yours. When I met her, she was a huge Mickey Mouse fan. She had never been to Disney World before. I had been on a couple day trips as a kid, but I wasn't a fan.

Since she was such a huge Mickey fan, I decided to take her to Disney World for our honeymoon. I wasn't really looking forward to it, but I figured she'd have a great time. It was a fun trip. Fortunately for us, we got married during the off season (purely by chance). Travel was still in the post-9/11 slump. We basically had the place to ourselves.

We had a good time and decided we'd definitely go back when we had kids. But then I started reflecting on the trip. And I wanted to go back. The more I thought about it, the more my interest in WDW and Disney grew. Long story short, I became a huge Disney fan and my wife kind of lost interest.

At this point, I don't think it's possible to make her a fan of the resort. But I'd love to be proven wrong. I'll go into more detail later.

Good thing your starting now because the 2014 free dining will prob be released some time next month

I knew it!

Oh Goodness

and i thought my 67 day countdown is excruciatingly painful.........

I am so jealous of you people with your short waits between trips! Have fun!

Gosh...really? 4 years??? I can't even start to wrap my brain around that one. My oldest will be starting his senior year of high school. :lookaroun I'll be 40!!!!

Definitely gotta give ya props on the 4 year plan. This will be interesting to watch unfold. :wave:

I'll be 40.... sonner than that.

My wife needs a long break from Disney. If I attempt to go back any sooner than 2014, it would probably be as a single dad. (I think I'm kidding...)

Also, traveling with the kids at this age is difficult. I've found it best to take less ambitious trips until they are old enough to really appreciate it.

Don't get me wrong, if my wife was on board I'd totally take them back in 2012. But she's not. She's not thrilled I'm planning anything at all.

lol, 4 years!!! now that is some planning!! This is a first :sohappy:

I was pretty sure it would be. I fully intend to keep this thread going all the way up until the trip. By the time we go, you guys will feel like you're going with us.

You better start booking your dining reservations now!



Kidding

I called about LeCellier, but it was full for the nights we're going to be there!

Seriously, though. I love making ADRs. I wonder if Disney would consider opening up the window by a few years?

 

[smk]

Ok, I'll play along BUT only because I know you are seriously going to plan a trip 4 years from now!

We ( my DH, DD soon to be son in law) are going in less than a month! :sohappy: However, it appears my DD and myself are the only ones excited to even bother counting the days down. When I suggested to my DH that he "guess" where I thought we should go for New Years Eve this year he said....and I quote "don't tell me you want to go to Disney World". I said no, but secretly thought it would be a good idea.

Now, he loves WDW as much as the rest of the half hearted folks who go along on a vacation with Disney lovers, but too much would be another visit this year, at least in his eyes. Fact is, he goes because I love it. He was just letting me now that I can go once this year and better not ask him to go again anytime soon. I take it as a challenge to get him to go again BUT if that fails, I will go without him.

 

[JustInTime]

I am sad you have to wait so long! Either way, your reasoning is perfect! Hope it goes fast for you! :wave:

 

[harveyt0206]

My hubby and I have been together for 15 years. When we first met I was already a die hard WDW addict having gone roughly 8 times before we ever set eyes on one another. He was very anti-Disney at that point. We don't have kids and he just simply could not understand the appeal of "a kids place" as a vacation destination for ourselves. We met in 1995. It took me until 2003! to finally convince him to give Disney a try. And the only reason I was able to convince him was because his sister, brother in law and niece would also be going with us.

Well, long story short, he now has a great appreciation for Disney and even gets excited about upcoming trips. He's no where near my level of obsession, but I will take what I can get out of him considering I never thought he would turn into a WDW fan. We have made a deal that we alternate years for choosing our vaction destinations, so I feel like I have a good shot of making it to Disney at least every other year. I already have our reservations for September 2011 set thanks to the recent deals that were announced.

So, I applaud your resilience and patience in creating a four year plan. Perhaps your wife will have a change of heart once she sees both your youngest and oldest experiencing the Disney magic together. Fingers crossed!!

 

[lebeau]

Ok, I'll play along BUT only because I know you are seriously going to plan a trip 4 years from now!

You're darn right I am! I have told anyone in my family who wants to come along to mark their calendars (whenever they actually buy one for 2014).

We ( my DH, DD soon to be son in law) are going in less than a month! :sohappy:

:sohappy: indeed. Have fun!

However, it appears my DD and myself are the only ones excited to even bother counting the days down. When I suggested to my DH that he "guess" where I thought we should go for New Years Eve this year he said....and I quote "don't tell me you want to go to Disney World". I said no, but secretly thought it would be a good idea.

We have similar conversations all the time. However, I recently decided to try a new approach. Starting at the same time as I posted this thread, I decided to never mention WDW to my wife again. She complains I talk about it too much. So, maybe she'll be more receptive after not hearing about it for 48 months.

Now, he loves WDW as much as the rest of the half hearted folks who go along on a vacation with Disney lovers, but too much would be another visit this year, at least in his eyes. Fact is, he goes because I love it. He was just letting me now that I can go once this year and better not ask him to go again anytime soon. I take it as a challenge to get him to go again BUT if that fails, I will go without him.

I hear ya! After my 4 year hiatus, I am going. Even if I have to go myself. Of course, that won't happen. The kids will come. And my wife won't want to miss seeing the girls have fun at WDW. Even my mom is talking about coming. (More on that in future posts, I'm sure.)

I am sad you have to wait so long! Either way, your reasoning is perfect! Hope it goes fast for you! :wave:

In all honesty, I would not want to go right now even if I had a bargain. We took the last trip because we had free tickets (thanks, bro!) and Disney offered such a great room discount. But it was exhausting travelling with two young girls in a double stroller. And the kids were too young to really appreciate it.

Now, for me, it was worth it. But my wife got grumpy several times and that really takes the wind out of your sails. For now, I am content knowing the time just isn't right.

In 3 years' time, I will start getting itchy. It's even possible I could move up the time tables by 1 year depending where the girls are. If they are both tall enough and bold enough to ride, say, Splash Mountain, 2013 could be a possibility. Just don't tell my wife I said so.

My hubby and I have been together for 15 years. When we first met I was already a die hard WDW addict having gone roughly 8 times before we ever set eyes on one another. He was very anti-Disney at that point. We don't have kids and he just simply could not understand the appeal of "a kids place" as a vacation destination for ourselves. We met in 1995. It took me until 2003! to finally convince him to give Disney a try. And the only reason I was able to convince him was because his sister, brother in law and niece would also be going with us.

Well, long story short, he now has a great appreciation for Disney and even gets excited about upcoming trips. He's no where near my level of obsession, but I will take what I can get out of him considering I never thought he would turn into a WDW fan. We have made a deal that we alternate years for choosing our vaction destinations, so I feel like I have a good shot of making it to Disney at least every other year. I already have our reservations for September 2011 set thanks to the recent deals that were announced.

So, I applaud your resilience and patience in creating a four year plan. Perhaps your wife will have a change of heart once she sees both your youngest and oldest experiencing the Disney magic together. Fingers crossed!!

Boy, that would be awesome! Thanks for your story. Hope springs eternal!

It's hard to really get a handle on my wife's thoughts on WDW. She's always convincing me she's thawed out on the subject. But maybe that's wishful thinking on my part. She loves most Disney movies and still loves Mickey (just not as much as she used to). And she has fun when we go there.

The thing is, my wife likes a relaxed vacation. She'd really like to have a big hotel room with a TV. Then she'd lounge around and watch daytime TV (judge shows, mostly) for the majority of the vacation. A pool is a must, but it wouldn't get used very often except by me and the kids. Basically, when she's on vacation, she wants to relex.

She likes the parks. But after a half day, she's done. Not done for the day. Done for the trip. A couple rides and shows and she's ready to watch TV or soak in the pool for the rest of the week.

I, of course, can't relate to this at all.

Thanks again for all the responses. I'm going to doll out posts week by week. (I've gotta stretch this thing out for 208 weeks!) But I'll respond to any and all responses as they come in.

 

[Tiggerish]

I enjoyed your last trip report so much, I'm signing up for this one now!!

I plan Disney trips for fun. Sometimes when I'm bored, I start price-checking trips I know I won't take. At work, people approach me for trip planning help all the time. It's kind of a hobby. My wife would call it an obsession. She may be right.

You are stronger than I. If I start planning a Disney trip, it usually becomes a reality, no matter how much DH tries to talk reason into me...I am very strong-willed. :drevil: And I think I would be emotionally crushed to put aside WDW plans.

My wife needs a long break from Disney. If I attempt to go back any sooner than 2014, it would probably be as a single dad. (I think I'm kidding...)

Ummm, I read your last trip report...you're not kidding. :lol:

We have similar conversations all the time. However, I recently decided to try a new approach. Starting at the same time as I posted this thread, I decided to never mention WDW to my wife again. She complains I talk about it too much. So, maybe she'll be more receptive after not hearing about it for 48 months.

Aren't you lucky to have all of us to listen to you?? :wave:

The thing is, my wife likes a relaxed vacation. She'd really like to have a big hotel room with a TV. Then she'd lounge around and watch daytime TV (judge shows, mostly) for the majority of the vacation.

I, of course, can't relate to this at all.

I'm with you. A vacation at the beach with nothing to do except lie on the sand in the sun, and watch television--that would drive me insane.



Enjoy your planning!

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I'm with you. A vacation at the beach with nothing to do except lie on the sand in the sun, and watch television--that would drive me insane.



Enjoy your planning!

Exactly! We were discussing this subject with my brother-in-law 2 nights ago. I was asking him about cruising. BiL said if we were to take a cruise we should find one that has us in a different port every day with as little 'at sea' days as possible because we aren't the kind of people to lay around on vacation. He thinks once we see the whole ship we'd be ready to get off. True.

Why spend money to go somewhere else to lay around or watch television? I can do that at home for free. What's the point of leaving home to do that? When I go somewhere I want to see & do things I can't see or do at home. I want adventure!

 

[NewfieFan]

Exactly! We were discussing this subject with my brother-in-law 2 nights ago. I was asking him about cruising. BiL said if we were to take a cruise we should find one that has us in a different port every day with as little 'at sea' days as possible because we aren't the kind of people to lay around on vacation. He thinks once we see the whole ship we'd be ready to get off. True.

Why spend money to go somewhere else to lay around or watch television? I can do that at home for free. What's the point of leaving home to do that? When I go somewhere I want to see & do things I can't see or do at home. I want adventure!

We're the same way!

And lebeau, I just read your TR... that was one serious TR dude!

Good for you... to hang in there and keep the peace like you did. My hubby probably would have left me at the gates but... (no, seriously he's a very patient man but our marriage works b/c we both love Disney :animwink!

I've traveled with young kids... so I feel your pain! Our first family trip, the kids were 14mths and 3 years (both were still in diapers/pull-ups). But with that being said, we have some of the fondest memories from that trip. It was our first family vacation together and it's where the magic of Disney started for us. For all the diaper lugging, stroller pushing, child swapping, we did... it was all worth it b/c we had a great time together!

I'll look forward to your next TR in four years... :lookaroun

 

[Ham]

Wow this is pure dedication although I'm totally with you all the way here. :sohappy:

We had our last trip in Dec 09 which was always planned as the last one pre children. We are now two months away from expecting a little girl. Coming from the UK we would probably have 3 years or so between trips but this time it is going to be 5 years so I'm currently thinking October 2014, maybe earlier in the year but it was playing off weather against crowds and cost.

Anyway as the chances are will have a second little one before 2014 your last trip report has become something of a bible for me in what to look forward to and the pitfalls to avoid. We will be coming from the UK for two weeks so will have to contend with the 9 hour plane journey but on the flip side will be able to take things slowly.

The other good thing about planning this far out is the time to save money for it. Last time we stayed at Riverside which we love and we will probably do for the first 9 nights next time before moving to the Poly for the last 5. Yes it will be an indulgence for the parents and the kids won't remember it but who cares, I've got 4 more years to save for it and at the moment we are saving enough without really thinking about it, throwing loose change in a jar and putting aside any overtime pay.

Now how to make 4 years sound shorter?

 

[lebeau]

I enjoyed your last trip report so much, I'm signing up for this one now!!

Thanks That last one was fun.

You are stronger than I. If I start planning a Disney trip, it usually becomes a reality, no matter how much DH tries to talk reason into me...I am very strong-willed. :drevil: And I think I would be emotionally crushed to put aside WDW plans.

I enjoy the "what if" planning. I also wnjoy helping others plan their trips. I am frequently contacted by co-workers for tips. Depending on their level of interest, I'll either give them some basic tips (get to the parks early, use FP, etc) or write-up touring plans for them.

Ideally, I'd prefer to be planning my own trips. Or at least planning ones that aren't 4 years off. But, for now, this will have to suffice.

Ummm, I read your last trip report...you're not kidding. :lol:

lol - thanks for keeping me honest!

Aren't you lucky to have all of us to listen to you?? :wave:

Absolutely. My brother is a WDW fan. So I have him as an outlet. But when I made the decision to stop bringing up WDW around the house, I also made the decision to start this thread. Because I need to discuss this stuff with someone. This community is the best!

I'm with you. A vacation at the beach with nothing to do except lie on the sand in the sun, and watch television--that would drive me insane.

Between you and me (and anyone else reading) I don't think we'd see that much of the beach on a beach vacation. I've never seen people spend so much time in their room on vacation as my wife's family does. It's all daytime TV and meals out.

I guess that's fine if you enjoy it. But it makes me go cross-eyed.

Enjoy your planning!

Thanks!

Exactly! We were discussing this subject with my brother-in-law 2 nights ago. I was asking him about cruising. BiL said if we were to take a cruise we should find one that has us in a different port every day with as little 'at sea' days as possible because we aren't the kind of people to lay around on vacation. He thinks once we see the whole ship we'd be ready to get off. True.

Why spend money to go somewhere else to lay around or watch television? I can do that at home for free. What's the point of leaving home to do that? When I go somewhere I want to see & do things I can't see or do at home. I want adventure!

We have discussed taking a cruise at some point. It doesn't have a ton of appeal to me for the reasons you mentioned. But I think I could play along. My wife gets claustrophobic and she's pretty sure the idea of being "stuck" out at sea would freak her out no matter how big the boat is. I didn't really think this would be the case until I saw her have a near panic attack on Spaceship Earth.

A lot of people like "relaxing" vacations. I'm just not one of them. If I go somewhere, I want to do something I can't do at home. If I'm going to watch TV, I'd rather do it in my own living room with all my satellite channels and my DVR.

We're the same way!

And lebeau, I just read your TR... that was one serious TR dude!

I got in a little over my head with that one! But it was fun. My olderst still talks about it. I'm glad we took the trip even if I have no desire to take another one for a little while (and by "little while" I mean at least a couple of years).

Good for you... to hang in there and keep the peace like you did. My hubby probably would have left me at the gates but... (no, seriously he's a very patient man but our marriage works b/c we both love Disney :animwink!

It's funny. Around here, I get to be the "good guy". But in the real world, people are always telling Mindy what a saint she is for putting up with my "Disney obsession". By that, they mean going to WDW 4 times in 7 years.

I tend to see her point (because I have no choice). There were extenuating circumstances (free tickets) that caused us to take 2 of those 4 trips. But at the end of the day she got dragged somewhere she didn't want to go for the majority of her vacations since we got married.

On the upside, we just had a pleasant non-Disney get-away a couple weeks ago. I plan to sqeeze in some more non-Disney trips between now and then (and of course I'll compare them with the "real thing" here and in my mind).

I've traveled with young kids... so I feel your pain! Our first family trip, the kids were 14mths and 3 years (both were still in diapers/pull-ups). But with that being said, we have some of the fondest memories from that trip. It was our first family vacation together and it's where the magic of Disney started for us. For all the diaper lugging, stroller pushing, child swapping, we did... it was all worth it b/c we had a great time together!

As I said above, we just got back from a get-away to Indianapolis. We visited the zoo and the children's museum (and TV was watched as well). But I noticed that aside from the hassles with Disney transportation, pretty much all of the stresses from our last WDW trip were present regardless of the location.

In other words, travelling anywhere with young children is hard. Sorry, didn't mean to drop a bombshell like that on every one.

I'll look forward to your next TR in four years... :lookaroun

Until then, you know where to find me!

Wow this is pure dedication although I'm totally with you all the way here. :sohappy:

Thanks and welcome aboard.

We had our last trip in Dec 09 which was always planned as the last one pre children. We are now two months away from expecting a little girl.

Congrats! She'll rock your world. But in a good way.

Coming from the UK we would probably have 3 years or so between trips but this time it is going to be 5 years so I'm currently thinking October 2014, maybe earlier in the year but it was playing off weather against crowds and cost.

I feel your pain, brother!

Anyway as the chances are will have a second little one before 2014 your last trip report has become something of a bible for me in what to look forward to and the pitfalls to avoid. We will be coming from the UK for two weeks so will have to contend with the 9 hour plane journey but on the flip side will be able to take things slowly.

I'm flattered. The things I'd do differently if I had to do that trip over again are as follows:

1. I'd have bought a plane ticket for the baby even though she didn't need one. If she'd have been in her car seat, the flight in would have been a snap instead of a nightmare. (Mileage on that tip will vary.)

2. I'd have rented a car. The buses and the double strollers resulted in a lot of unneccesary stress.

3. Tying into 2, I'd probably have stayed off site. But that's mostly because it would have made my wife happy.

4. (And this is a big one) I'd have been prepared to cover the stroller better in the event of rain. We were prepared for darn near anything. But when the rain came down and the stroller got wet, it resulted in the worst day I ever had at Disney bar none.

The other good thing about planning this far out is the time to save money for it. Last time we stayed at Riverside which we love and we will probably do for the first 9 nights next time before moving to the Poly for the last 5. Yes it will be an indulgence for the parents and the kids won't remember it but who cares, I've got 4 more years to save for it and at the moment we are saving enough without really thinking about it, throwing loose change in a jar and putting aside any overtime pay.

True! I've got some other long term goals I'm saving for. But with 4 years to plan, I've considered some "far out" possibilities. I was looking into DVC for a while. But my wife (not surprisingly) put an end to that line of thought. However, when the trip finally arrives, I will stay anywhere I want to on property within reason. (Pretty sure the monorail line will remain out of reach. But anything else will be on the table.

Now how to make 4 years sound shorter?

Good news: Once you have a kid, it's like hitting the fast forward button. I can't believe how fast time flies by now. The second kid was like mashing the FF button a few more times. 2014 will be here before we know it. And by then, Disney will actually have opened some new attractions!

 

[lebeau]

For this week's entry, I thought I'd re-introduce the cast of characters (aka my family).

Obviously, there's me. I'm pushing 40. Proud dad of two lovely girls. And like presumably everyone else here, I am a WDW fan. (I feel like we should have meetings.)

My first trip to WDW was way back in 1976. I was five at the time (nearly 6). It was just a day trip, but I remember (vaguely) just about everything we did that day. In high school, I spent 1 day at Epcot which I loved. But that was the sum total of my WDW experience until I got married.

When I met my wife, she was a Mickey Mouse fan who had never been to WDW. So I thought it would be fun to take her there on the honeymoon. It was a good trip and we both had fun. This is what resulted in my "WDW obsession".

As I got more interested in the resort, I also got more interested in its history. This lead me to become interested in the company, its rich tradition and of course its founder. Now, I'm interested in all things Disney.

My wife is what you commonly refer to as a "soccer mom". The kids come first. Everything else comes in a distant second.

Unfortunately, as my interest in Disney grew, she grew resentful of Disney in general and WDW in particular. I have to admit, I don't understand exactly how that happened. All I know is it happened. And the best remedy I can think of is to keep Disney out of our lives for a while.

Her intense dislike of WDW tends to make her the "villain" in the eyes of a lot of people around here since she dislikes the one thing we all love. But I think her point of view is the one shared by the majority of people. WDW is, in their eyes, something you are obligated to do once with the kids and then never have to do again. Apparently, this was the subject of a discussion at the first Mom's Club meeting my wife attended for our daughter's new school.

Our oldest daughter is Joey. (Some day, I'll share with you the origin of both of our daughters' names.) She is 5 now and starts kindergarten tomorrow (cue my wife weeping.) She can be very shy, but she can also be a tremendous show-off. She's always been a girly girl. I'm amazed how early some of this stuff starts!

Joey is into princesses as a concpet, but not so much the Disney princesses in particular. She's seen all the movies. But Little Mermaid is the only one she really likes. She's been through phases where she liked different princesses. At one point, she clued in that Cinderella was kind of the queen bee. So Cinderella was the favorite. At another point, she liked Aurora because she was blonde and wore pink. But Ariel has been the favorite princess most of the time.

She went through a Tinkerbell phase for a short while. It started one day at the Disney store. She just had to have a Tinkerbell costume for Halloween. I bought it for her and she changed into it at the mall. I was surprised she even knew who Tinkerbell was because she'd never seen Peter Pan and the Disney Fairies franchise hadn't kicked into high gear yet.

We watched Peter Pan which became one of her favorites. But she went from a Tinkerbell fan to a fan of Wendy. She had a little blue dress which we called "the Wendy dress" and she wore it all the time. Then, one day, she just kind of lost interest in Tink, Wendy and Neverland. She still likes it all okay. But it's no longer a favorite.

The most surprising development for me was Joey's obsession with Jessie from Toy Story. Last year, she decided out of the blue she wanted to be Jessie for Halloween. Unfortunately, Jessie costumes were hard to come by last year. Fortunately, we were able to talk her into Spider-girl at the 11th hour. But I think Jessie is on tap for this year's costume.

We didn't really hear anything more about Jessie until our last WDW trip. We ran into Mouse Gear during a down pour at Epcot and Joey latched onto a Jessie doll. I was reluctant to buy it at first given the price tag. But Jessie has been Joey's constant companion ever since. This is especially surprising given that Joey is very fickle about her toys.

The baby is Kara. August of 2009, I was spending my paternity leave at home watching her. She was a remarkably easy baby. Slept through the night right away. She just wanted to snuggle all the time. I thought we had won the baby lottery. It was with this in mind that we planned our trip for March 2010.

But in between Aug and March, Kara got mobile. And it completely changed her personality. Whereas Joey is pretty high maintenance, Kara discovered her independence early. Once she learned how to crawl, it was over. Now she's a baby on a mission. And that mission is usually one of destruction. It's a good thing for her that she's cute!

Anyway, these are the main players. (There are others who may or may not be tagging along for the ride. We'll get to them later.) And this is where we are today. No doubt things will change over the next 4 years. (I'm certainly counting on it!)

Coming up, I'll go into more detail about our history with WDW.

 

[wm49rs]

I'm definitely interested in hearing how your last trip went. Did you post a TR? I'd love to read it.

No, I've never found myself interesting enough to post any TRs. Plus, remembering what I wore yesterday is difficult enough for me, let alone remembering all that we accomplished at a park in one day.....

But, my kids have been going since my son was 18 months, and my daughter was 5. So we have plenty of experience on addressing their needs. And we've gone just about every year for the past 6, so their desires and likes have definitely evolved as well. Fell free to ask me whatever you'd like, either here or through PM. :wave: