Well- I've been following this thread for days now, and finally I have to say my 2 cents worth... (for those of you tired of reading this thread, you can just ignore my post, and I can't say I'd blame you!)
Our family is leaving for Disneyworld in 17 days.
I have been saving for almost 9 years for this trip- and waiting for the time all 4 of my kids were old enough to enjoy it. (I have 2 sets of twins ages 6 and 9) The time has finally come. We will be at Fort Wilderness for 11 nights, have all our dining reservations made, and I am BEYOND excited! A year ago when I realized this would be the year of our trip, I knew February meant a chance of things being shut down, because I did my research. I also knew the weather could be cold, but we are from MN, so we can stand a little cold. I was optimistic the crowds would not be too bad. We have spent almost $10,000 total on this trip. To our family that is a HUGE amount of money. Hard to justify, but then again, our family has NEVER been on a vacation longer than 1 overnight, and never even left MN. And we probably will only be able to do one more vacation this special while our kids are still at home... Sooooooo if anyone has a right to be upset about all the shutdowns and tarps and renovations, I guess we'd have that right... But you know what? I AM NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's right- I'm NOT!! Not the least little bit! Yeah- we would have liked Fantasmic. Our kids would LOVE the Big Thunder Mountain coaster and we'd all love Kali Rapids. I can only imagine the electrical parade! This will be the only pictures of Main Street or the Castle, or anything else there we probably ever get. But so what!! We are going to have the time of our lives!!!
We are excited about the fireworks and dessert party, the illuminations cruise, going to Sea World, the chance to eat at all these incredible restaurants completely FREE ( I mean, come ON- we get to eat in a CASTLE!!!) driving a golf cart around for 11 days! seeing real wild animals on the safari ride, the wonderful rides we will get to go on- the list just goes on and on... My only disappointment over the whole thing is that once the time comes, that means it also will have to end...
But we will still have our memories! And our photopass pictures!
I guess what I'm trying to say is this is a once in a lifetime trip for us. It's not that I'm going with the idea that I have to make the best of it. It truly IS the best! It's a dream come true! I am so excited about what IS there, that I don't have the time to be disappointed in whats NOT. And so many of the people on here posting about their disappointment seem like regular Disneyworld visitors. I can't imagine having the money to go there once a YEAR, let alone 3-4 times like some people say they do. I guess if you go that often, why don't you just try to go when they aren't doing all these things? I understand everyone has their own feelings on all the work being done- I'm not saying any of those are wrong. Feelings are just that- feelings! Noones are the same.
I just feel like I have to let SOMEONE (I don't even know who!) know that there is at least one first time (probably only time unless I get rich!) family coming in February who has not felt disappointed in the least about all the work. Crazy as it sounds, I'm kind of looking forward to seeing these famous tarps, and what a place does to make them magical...
exactly. we won't be back for a long time and while obviously a few things cannot be helped, it seems everyday something ELSE is added to the list....
Gina
. I'm going down in a few weeks with DH. I think we'll be spending a lot of time at Epcot 
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