heartofdisney
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2007
Hi! My name is Lisa, and I used to post on the Dis several years back, but I am an unknown, since I usually only frequent the DIS when I have a trip to Disney World planned. My last trip was back in 2009, and due to the circumstances of that trip, it left me at a place in which I will only ever go to Disney World with my immediate family. The problem with that however is my immediate family consists of a husband who isn't that big of a vacation goer to begin with, and much less a person who is willing to go to Disney World as much as I would like to. I also have two grown daughters who are heavily involved in their own lives of school and work, and it isn't too easy for them to take off from daily life, much less for all of our schedules to work together to do so . So despite my desire to go back to my favorite vacation spot since my last trip in 2009, time and life have literally prevented us from enjoying another vacation in Disney World.
The last member of my family who will be joining us on this trip is my very precious granddaughter. It is because of her that I am convinced my husband finally agreed to grant my wish of another Disney World vacation. My granddaughter is almost 20 months old now, and will be 21 and a half months old at the time of our trip. She is the most precious, sweetest little girl in the world, and is the apple in her pop pop's eye, and the light of her Nana's world. She is our first and only granddaughter, and we are the typical adoring grandparents who she has wrapped around her adorable tiny little finger. Her and her Mommy live with us while her Mommy finishes college. We watch her while her Mommy goes to school and works. So Pop pop and Nana like to take her places and enjoy life through her eyes. Which is why Pop pop wants to take her to Disney World now. She is such a smart little girl, and even if she isn't able to experience Disney as an older child would, she wil still experience it in a magical way through a toddlers eyes, and we look forward to it. This won't be her only trip, there will be others in her future, we are sure of that, and so we figure, why not enjoy Disney through her eyes now too.
This trip actually seemed to come together rather quickly, and as a surprise for my daughters, one in which I knew they could probably work into their schedules. Shortly before Christmas, I was on the phone with my mother, who lives in Florida with my step father. She has a lot of health problems, and had recently been released from the hospital, yet again. She was feeling a little down as well, because it was Christmas and aside from her sister, the rest of her family lives up in Pennsylvania. As we were talking she mentioned how she wished we could come down for Christmas . I told her that wouldn't be possible this year, as I was scheduled to work this Christmas, and my older daughter, who works in Philadelphia, would not be able to get that much time off at such short notice either. However I said maybe we could come down to visit some time during the time my younger daughter, who is still in college, would be on spring break.
So I mentioned it to my husband, and we got to talking, and decided that we would go down for a visit, and that since we were going down, how about we finally take that Disney trip as well? We could make it one last big family trip, at least for awhile, since it seems they are getting harder and harder to pull off now that our daughters have grown up and are moving on with their own lives. Our younger daughter will be graduating in a year, and then seeking a new job and settling into an apartment of her own with her daughter . It seems if we want to try and get in one last big family trip , at least for awhile anyway, we should probably look into doing it this year. And so the decision was made, and I began to make the plans for our trip, although with some hesitance . I realized before I could actually count on this family trip really happening, I still needed to run it by the girls.
I decided that I would do it by way of a surprise. So on Christmas day, after we had all opened our presents, and were watching my granddaughter play with her new toys, I pretended to find two other small gifts that I forgot to set out under the tree. I handed the girls their gifts, and told them they had to open them at the exact same time. They probably figured out something was up by me telling them that, but they definitely did not expect to find a small chalkboard saying Merry Christmas, you are going to Disney World in April of 2013.
They were shocked but happy, especially once I assured them that it was over spring break, and a little over 3 months away still, so plenty of time for older dd to request off for vacation. All that day we talked about Disney and made plans for our trip. And a couple weeks later, once everyone was approved time off for work, I booked our trip. A real trip, not a one day visit to Epcot, as my husband and I had done last year when we took my mom and step father there for the day while we were visiting, but a real 8 day 9 night long vacation in Disney World!!!!
Well, now that the trip had been paid for and the dining reservations have been made, and plans all laid out, all I have to do now is count down and wait, and so I figure I will also start up a pre trip report, if for no one else, at least for me and my family, and my granddaughter to read about her first Disney vacation when she is older.
Let me introduce everyone more properly now.
Lisa ( Mom, grandmother ,trip planner and report writer)
Rick ( Husband, father, trip funder and driver)
Alyssa ( 25 years old,oldest daughter, sister and aunt to Melody)
Kaitlyn (20 years old, youngest daughter, sister and mother to Melody)
Melody( 20 months old, daughter to Kaitlyn, neice to Alyssa, and granddaughter to Rick and Lisa, as well as being the cutest little girl in the world, at least in this Nana's opinion.)
In my next segment, I will include our plans ect about the trip.)
The last member of my family who will be joining us on this trip is my very precious granddaughter. It is because of her that I am convinced my husband finally agreed to grant my wish of another Disney World vacation. My granddaughter is almost 20 months old now, and will be 21 and a half months old at the time of our trip. She is the most precious, sweetest little girl in the world, and is the apple in her pop pop's eye, and the light of her Nana's world. She is our first and only granddaughter, and we are the typical adoring grandparents who she has wrapped around her adorable tiny little finger. Her and her Mommy live with us while her Mommy finishes college. We watch her while her Mommy goes to school and works. So Pop pop and Nana like to take her places and enjoy life through her eyes. Which is why Pop pop wants to take her to Disney World now. She is such a smart little girl, and even if she isn't able to experience Disney as an older child would, she wil still experience it in a magical way through a toddlers eyes, and we look forward to it. This won't be her only trip, there will be others in her future, we are sure of that, and so we figure, why not enjoy Disney through her eyes now too.
This trip actually seemed to come together rather quickly, and as a surprise for my daughters, one in which I knew they could probably work into their schedules. Shortly before Christmas, I was on the phone with my mother, who lives in Florida with my step father. She has a lot of health problems, and had recently been released from the hospital, yet again. She was feeling a little down as well, because it was Christmas and aside from her sister, the rest of her family lives up in Pennsylvania. As we were talking she mentioned how she wished we could come down for Christmas . I told her that wouldn't be possible this year, as I was scheduled to work this Christmas, and my older daughter, who works in Philadelphia, would not be able to get that much time off at such short notice either. However I said maybe we could come down to visit some time during the time my younger daughter, who is still in college, would be on spring break.
So I mentioned it to my husband, and we got to talking, and decided that we would go down for a visit, and that since we were going down, how about we finally take that Disney trip as well? We could make it one last big family trip, at least for awhile, since it seems they are getting harder and harder to pull off now that our daughters have grown up and are moving on with their own lives. Our younger daughter will be graduating in a year, and then seeking a new job and settling into an apartment of her own with her daughter . It seems if we want to try and get in one last big family trip , at least for awhile anyway, we should probably look into doing it this year. And so the decision was made, and I began to make the plans for our trip, although with some hesitance . I realized before I could actually count on this family trip really happening, I still needed to run it by the girls.
I decided that I would do it by way of a surprise. So on Christmas day, after we had all opened our presents, and were watching my granddaughter play with her new toys, I pretended to find two other small gifts that I forgot to set out under the tree. I handed the girls their gifts, and told them they had to open them at the exact same time. They probably figured out something was up by me telling them that, but they definitely did not expect to find a small chalkboard saying Merry Christmas, you are going to Disney World in April of 2013.
They were shocked but happy, especially once I assured them that it was over spring break, and a little over 3 months away still, so plenty of time for older dd to request off for vacation. All that day we talked about Disney and made plans for our trip. And a couple weeks later, once everyone was approved time off for work, I booked our trip. A real trip, not a one day visit to Epcot, as my husband and I had done last year when we took my mom and step father there for the day while we were visiting, but a real 8 day 9 night long vacation in Disney World!!!!
Well, now that the trip had been paid for and the dining reservations have been made, and plans all laid out, all I have to do now is count down and wait, and so I figure I will also start up a pre trip report, if for no one else, at least for me and my family, and my granddaughter to read about her first Disney vacation when she is older.
Let me introduce everyone more properly now.
Lisa ( Mom, grandmother ,trip planner and report writer)
Rick ( Husband, father, trip funder and driver)
Alyssa ( 25 years old,oldest daughter, sister and aunt to Melody)
Kaitlyn (20 years old, youngest daughter, sister and mother to Melody)
Melody( 20 months old, daughter to Kaitlyn, neice to Alyssa, and granddaughter to Rick and Lisa, as well as being the cutest little girl in the world, at least in this Nana's opinion.)
In my next segment, I will include our plans ect about the trip.)
