A fast-approaching magical birthday at the World! My first ever, October 2012 PTR!

[KMichelin]

Welcome to my first ever PTR! I've started it a bit late compared to other PTR's because, well, I was a bit intimidated by the idea of doing one. But I decided what the heck. And here it is!

Table of Contents
Cast of Characters
Additional Characters

We're leaving for the World in exactly 2 weeks! We'll be there from October 13th through October 20th.



Who is "We"? Well, here's my...


Cast of Characters

Me: Karissa, 24 yrs old. Born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, FL, just 3 hours from Disney World (2.5 hours if you drive the way I do )Disney World has been part of my life for, well, forever. My first trip was when I was only a few months old and, from what I can remember of my childhood, we had a trip every other year or so. Growing up, my family was pretty...hmm...broke. But they managed to save every year and we usually did a long weekend away, off site. Disney World became pretty special to my younger brother and I because of this.

Funny thing about that photo above, in front of Expedition Everest -- Before my first visit as an adult in 2010, my last visit was as a high school freshman or sophomore, while Expedition Everest was being built. My mother has a photo of me in front of the sign saying that it was opening in 2006 and I remember thinking "Wow! I'll have graduated high school by then! I'll be so old!"

Alex: 23, my wonderful fiance. We met when I was 15. He's my best friend, Naomi's, cousin, and grew up in England and Japan with his Mom. He came over every year for summer break to see his Dad, visiting Naomi's family too. Being her best friend, I spent most of my time at her house, promptly developing a crush on her oh-so-cute cousin with the British accent! He moved here permanently when he was 17, bought a motorcycle, and stole my heart. (I fell for a tall, dark haired, British-accented boy on a motorcycle-- every Dad's worst nightmare ) We've been together almost 5 years now.

Also popping in on this trip will be my aforementioned best friend, Naomi and her fiance, Billy.

Naomi and I have been the bestest of friends since freshman year of high school and we've been partners in (not so much) crime since then. The most trouble we've ever gotten in would probably be when I convinced Naomi to skip school one day to...wait for it...help my family move. My mom was confused that Naomi's dad would allow her to skip school for something like moving, so she gave him a call. Considering he was quite the rebel in his younger years, he was befuddled that his offspring would skip class to do something so innocent. Actually, I believe the word he called us was "Lame".

Billy, as fate would have it, is actually my eldest cousin. If you're still following here- Yes, Naomi and I fell for each other's cousins. How did this happen? I took Naomi to a family reunion one summer when we were 17. She met some guy on the beach there that I was getting bad vibes from, so I played interference and tried to distract her with Billy. Guy-from-the-beach was a total jerk, as it turned out, and Billy and Naomi ended up carrying on that summer romance! Adding to the excitement, this past July 2012, at the same annual family reunion where they met years earlier, Billy popped THE question!

Billy and Naomi moved to Orlando, FL last August 2011, so they'll be joining us a few days of the trip and we'll be visiting them near UCF some days too!

Trip Details

We'll be checking in on October 13th, leaving October 20th. We're staying at the All-Star Music Resort and we're super excited!

More posts to come...

 

[KMichelin]

Some sort of additional characters that will be with us: our dogs!

Yoki: 4.5 year old Lab mix. Adopted her when she was 1 year old from the humane society. Licks...well, everything. She's very friendly! Puzzled by sliding glass doors and believes that licking and nosing is the only way to conquer them. Stayed in the costume below for about, oh-2 minutes before chewing through it. Learned our lesson there--no more doggy outfits.

Rooney: 1.5 year old Miniature Schnauzer mix. Was named Bear by the Humane Society that we adopted from, which was short for teddy bear, because he will happily nuzzle into your neck and sleep for hours at a time. This one's got no allegiance-he'll give those puppy eyes to anyone, anytime for a belly rub.

They were originally going to be staying the week at Best Friend's Kennel on Disney property, but when my laptop took a nosedive, threatening our Disney fund, Naomi did us a wonderful favor and said the dogs could stay with her while we're up there.