Hello everyone!
I cannot tell you all how excited I am to be here...amongst fellow Disney friends who actually understand how incredibly exciting this whole planning is. Hopefully by sharing my story, all my work colleagues will finally get a break from me talking non-stop about Disney!
Firstly, a little background...waaaaay back when my Dad was little, he used to watch the Disney Show, and was told by his Mum that they would "never" go to Disney - "it was only for rich people, not for us". It's certainly a lot harder for Australians to get to Disney than Americans, but nevertheless, he vowed on the spot as a 10 year old that if he ever had kids, his sole goal would be to take them to Disneyland.
Fast forward to when I was 10 and my brother was 12...we stood at those front gates of DL for what seemed like forever as Dad picked the both of us up and held us in the biggest hug. To be honest, he held us aloft for so long that I was starting to get concerned we had flown all this way and didn't have tickets to get in! The fact that Dad was weeping like a baby didn't help either. Even though I didn't know the backstory, and why it was so emotional for him, I then told him that it was ok, I understood how excited he was....and when I had kids, I promised him right there, out the front of the turnstiles, that I would take them.
In 2016 it was my turn to hold my kids - aged 7 and 8 - and sob (like really sob, I am not a "pretty crier") as we made our dream holiday come true. We recreated some photos that I had of my brother and I, and had the most magical time. I thought it would be a one-off trip, but then my children's dance company announced that they were applying to dance at DL, including dancing in the parade. You can imagine how long it too us to decide that OF COURSE we should go back to DL!
Then my husband - bless him - suggested what has possibly been the BEST suggestion of his life. You see, he enjoyed DL, but wasn't a massive, DIS-blog-stalking, Disney-dining-show-podcast-streaming fan. He was quite happy that he had been to DL and didn't need to go back. However, since it meant so much to me and the kids...and we have to travel so far to get there....why don't we just go to WDW as well and "get it out of our systems" (BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)!
AWESOME! Double Disney Cross Country ADVENTURE!!!!
At this stage, the travel company organising the DL part of the trip released the 2019 itiniary - we will be in DL from the 14th April to 20th April....given that this is the week before Easter, I assume we will be sharing DL with half of America as well. It's gonna be BUSY, isn't it? Well, not much I can do about that, so we will just soldier on and get a fantastic touring plan under our belt...but then I didn't want to fly directly to Orlando and be there for Easter itself, so husband made second brilliant decision....why don't we fly to New York instead, spend a few days there, then train to DC for a couple of days THEN go to WDW? The plan is that now we will be landing in WDW on the 27th April - hopefully this means that the Easter crowds will have thinned out a little? What are your thoughts? We are planning on having 12-14 days in WDW (hopefully also squeezing 2d at Universal as well).
I gave the kids an option of picking a character breakfast each - so far we have settled on Cinderella's table in MK (daughter's pick) and Chip and Dale's Harvest Feast (son's pick, and looking at that cinnamon roll skillet monstrosity I think he chose very wisely!!). We are all vegetarian so hoping we can get tofu scrambles or veggie sausages instead of the meat options...do we have to let them know at the time of booking?
We have been looking at a split stay as well to be able to see more than one resort - again the kids got to pick --- so thinking the Cars rooms at AoA for 7d then over to a Royal Room at Port Orleans Riverside for another 7d
At this stage I am thinking that we will probably do 2d each in MK, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, 2d at Universal and 2 resort days/waterpark days.
Thoughts?
Help?
Guidance?
Am I insane to do this by myself? My kids are great travellers, but still....there's no downtime because my husband won't be there...
Am I biting off more than I can chew? Or just go for it, then chew like hell?!
At the very least I am so happy to find somewhere where I can just plan and vent Disney to y'all, as I am pretty sure all my work colleagues (what to speak of my husband) are sick of hearing of it!
Thanks for being there!
Gopi
I cannot tell you all how excited I am to be here...amongst fellow Disney friends who actually understand how incredibly exciting this whole planning is. Hopefully by sharing my story, all my work colleagues will finally get a break from me talking non-stop about Disney!
Firstly, a little background...waaaaay back when my Dad was little, he used to watch the Disney Show, and was told by his Mum that they would "never" go to Disney - "it was only for rich people, not for us". It's certainly a lot harder for Australians to get to Disney than Americans, but nevertheless, he vowed on the spot as a 10 year old that if he ever had kids, his sole goal would be to take them to Disneyland.
Fast forward to when I was 10 and my brother was 12...we stood at those front gates of DL for what seemed like forever as Dad picked the both of us up and held us in the biggest hug. To be honest, he held us aloft for so long that I was starting to get concerned we had flown all this way and didn't have tickets to get in! The fact that Dad was weeping like a baby didn't help either. Even though I didn't know the backstory, and why it was so emotional for him, I then told him that it was ok, I understood how excited he was....and when I had kids, I promised him right there, out the front of the turnstiles, that I would take them.
In 2016 it was my turn to hold my kids - aged 7 and 8 - and sob (like really sob, I am not a "pretty crier") as we made our dream holiday come true. We recreated some photos that I had of my brother and I, and had the most magical time. I thought it would be a one-off trip, but then my children's dance company announced that they were applying to dance at DL, including dancing in the parade. You can imagine how long it too us to decide that OF COURSE we should go back to DL!
Then my husband - bless him - suggested what has possibly been the BEST suggestion of his life. You see, he enjoyed DL, but wasn't a massive, DIS-blog-stalking, Disney-dining-show-podcast-streaming fan. He was quite happy that he had been to DL and didn't need to go back. However, since it meant so much to me and the kids...and we have to travel so far to get there....why don't we just go to WDW as well and "get it out of our systems" (BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)!
AWESOME! Double Disney Cross Country ADVENTURE!!!!
At this stage, the travel company organising the DL part of the trip released the 2019 itiniary - we will be in DL from the 14th April to 20th April....given that this is the week before Easter, I assume we will be sharing DL with half of America as well. It's gonna be BUSY, isn't it? Well, not much I can do about that, so we will just soldier on and get a fantastic touring plan under our belt...but then I didn't want to fly directly to Orlando and be there for Easter itself, so husband made second brilliant decision....why don't we fly to New York instead, spend a few days there, then train to DC for a couple of days THEN go to WDW? The plan is that now we will be landing in WDW on the 27th April - hopefully this means that the Easter crowds will have thinned out a little? What are your thoughts? We are planning on having 12-14 days in WDW (hopefully also squeezing 2d at Universal as well).
I gave the kids an option of picking a character breakfast each - so far we have settled on Cinderella's table in MK (daughter's pick) and Chip and Dale's Harvest Feast (son's pick, and looking at that cinnamon roll skillet monstrosity I think he chose very wisely!!). We are all vegetarian so hoping we can get tofu scrambles or veggie sausages instead of the meat options...do we have to let them know at the time of booking?
We have been looking at a split stay as well to be able to see more than one resort - again the kids got to pick --- so thinking the Cars rooms at AoA for 7d then over to a Royal Room at Port Orleans Riverside for another 7d
At this stage I am thinking that we will probably do 2d each in MK, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, 2d at Universal and 2 resort days/waterpark days.
Thoughts?
Help?
Guidance?
Am I insane to do this by myself? My kids are great travellers, but still....there's no downtime because my husband won't be there...
Am I biting off more than I can chew? Or just go for it, then chew like hell?!
At the very least I am so happy to find somewhere where I can just plan and vent Disney to y'all, as I am pretty sure all my work colleagues (what to speak of my husband) are sick of hearing of it!
Thanks for being there!
Gopi
