How many really didn't start the year planning to go to Disney?

[pixistix]

DH and I really weren't planning Disney this year. DD 16, will perform there with her school chorus in December so we figured that's when our vacation would be. After several life-altering situations happend to close friends (cancer diagnosis with one and caner diagnosis and death within a week of another) we decided we ARE going to Disney this summer...even if it will be crowded. DH and I feel that our Disney vacation is our only opportunity to truly get away with our two DD's and spend some quality time with them. Life is short and quality family time is important.
Anyone else not originally plan a trip to Disney this year then change their mind?

 

[Disney Spaz]

We started the year by planning Feb 2008 and moved itup to May 07'. After a high-risk pregnancy that resulted in our perfect little princess and one of my son's moving in with his father it has been one of those years where we NEEDED a little, okay a lot, of Disney magic.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

We definitely did NOT begin the year with plans to go to WDW! My DH got a promotion in December and has been under a HUGE amount of stress. My kids are getting bigger..6, 9, and 12....and we kept saying "someday we'll do Disney" but never really made any concrete plans. With all the work stress for DH and that window of opportunity seemingly closing fast with my 12 year old, I approached DH and said, "we need to do this and soon!" My family so needs a time where we can just bond with each other and play! I expected him to think about it a while, but he said...let's go online and look right now! We booked less than a week later and surprised the kids with our plans! We leave in 45 days and couldn't be more excited!!

 

[danitom]

It truly is AMAZING to see how many people have booked their trips after some really major hardship. We have always wanted to go to Disney and the thing that really caused us to "take the plunge" was the death of my DD's(16) best friend (1-31-07) after an 8 year battle with a lung disease, a double lung and heart transplant and ultimate lung failure due to rejection. It was one of her BFF's last wishes that her mom get to take her little brother to Disney so, when we got our tickets, we bought three for them as well. They are SO EXCITED and are just starting to talk about planning for the summer. I hope their trip is JUST MAGICAL........we go in April so I told them I would scope it all out and give them all the highlights and insights

 

[mickeysaver]

I have had this trip planned since December of 2005. Our trip last year was a blessing that I never expected to have had happen to us, but turning 40, well, it's not one of those big birthdays that most of us look forward to. My mother cried through the entire day. I have an uncle that killed himself on his 40th, so let's just say that there is some family drama attached to this birthday that makes it one that was just a bit harder for me to think about in any sort of good terms.

Gabby is just about the most amazing blessing that God has give to me. She is just the sunshine that lights my world. She knew about my family history and was determined to make this birthday a special occasion. So, she is going to spoil me rotten as I count down the last days of my 40th trip around the sun. You can see in my signature that we have a once in a lifetime trip planned. I can't wait to go! Maggie

 

[HappyStamper]

I honestly didn't think I was ever going to be able to take my DD to Disney World. We made the trip with her older sister and brother before she was born but our lives changed when she came along. She was born with special needs so we made the decision to be a single income family so I could be a full time mom to her. DH's employer started a new bonus program this year and a few weeks ago we were surprised to learn that he would be getting a bonus large enough to afford a Disney vacation! We leave in two weeks!!!

 

[fuji]

I was planning a BIG trip next year and when we told the kids they said they wanted to go this year instead even after being informed that this year would be a value and shorter stay they said they didn't care they still wanted to go this year instead. The DS12 informed me that he knows we will go again next year.

 

[wdwlvr629]

Those are all such amazing stories! I am so happy for all of you and your families, you all deserve your magical trips...enjoy!

 

[Up2late4clay]

I didn't start planning the trip until this week to go in September. It was kind of a last minute idea of my sisters and she put me in charge of planning

Amazing how I just found this site after all these years

 

[valandemmy]

infact, not only were we not planning a trip this year, I told my wife NO WAY, not this year. Taking two vacations are year, we hadnt been saving money like i had hoped and this year, we would save it instead of going on two vacations. .... THEN...

the commercials start rolling in about the year of a million dreams, and the travel channel starts showing all the disney shows.... its a conspiracy and to see how sad my wife and daughter were when they watched on tv thinking well..maybe just one short trip this year instead. we can save more next year....

two days later, I opened the mail box and had the 40% off code...im telling you, disney has my house bugged So, now we are going in may dd yearly birthday trip, and our 1st december trip we will be taking my wifes mom and dad with us for their first disney trip ever

 

[pixistix]

infact, not only were we not planning a trip this year, I told my wife NO WAY, not this year. Taking two vacations are year, we hadnt been saving money like i had hoped and this year, we would save it instead of going on two vacations. .... THEN...

the commercials start rolling in about the year of a million dreams, and the travel channel starts showing all the disney shows.... its a conspiracy and to see how sad my wife and daughter were when they watched on tv thinking well..maybe just one short trip this year instead. we can save more next year....

two days later, I opened the mail box and had the 40% off code...im telling you, disney has my house bugged So, now we are going in may dd yearly birthday trip, and our 1st december trip we will be taking my wifes mom and dad with us for their first disney trip ever

LOL! Valandemmy! My DH said the same thing: "no Disney" or any other vacation before December. And the commercials do suck you in! I agreed with him and said unless we got totally unexpected money (since I live solely on commission), we weren't going anywhere this summer. Three days after those words came out of my mouth I got a registered letter from my former employer. Turns out I wasn't 100 perent vested in their pension plan so they'll be cutting me a check and sending it. DH said: "There's the totally unexpected money!"

 

[rabx5]

Same here- no plans to go this year. We are going on a cruise in November to celebrate my inlaws 50th wedding anniversary.
Well, we ended up talking ourselves (not too hard) into another WDW trip Should we really be going? Nope-but we are-in 31 days

 

[kacaju]

nope, actually we were just beginning to talk about going to Disney in a year or 2, (we have never been as a family) and then in Feb. I found out due to school construction my kids don't go back to school until Sept. 10th.
I don't want to pull them out of school for vacation, so we figured this was a good time to go. We leave on 8/29 and come home 9/5.

 

[jennapens]

Me! We both lost our jobs last year, so we've been trying to pay down the bills we accumulated last year while we were both off work for 5 months. We did a pretty good job of that, so we decided earlier this year we would try to save some money to go to Disney. Well, then, the roof decided it wanted to leak and basically ruin one of our bedroom ceilings. Disney off at this point. In February, we just kinda decided that we needed to get away, if only for a few days. We normally stay at the mods, but we said that we would give the POP a try, since we are still trying to save some money. So here we are a month later, and we officially booked our trip in September yesterday with AAA. DH's best friend and his wife are going with us. Then, my parents, sister, and brother-in-law surprised me and said they are going to (just leaving a day earlier to get cheaper airfare). My sister wants to take advantage of taking my niece because she is still free (under 3) until the end of September. So here we are, 9 of us total, when nobody was really even going as of 2 months ago!

 

[Freakygeek]

We actually were thinking about a big family trip in 2010, until I looked online and did the math. So much less than I thought, even with the dining plan. So now I'm taking my parents for their first visit to the mouse from Sept. 4th - 14th. If free dining is offered, my brother and SIL are gonna join us!

 

[katmattsmom]

We definately did not have any plans to go this year. We kept telling our daughter when she turned 5 and her brother 3, we would go (next year). It's been a dream of mine to share WDW with my kids just like my parents did with my sister & I growing up.
Anyway, my sister called and her kids are graduating this year, one 8th grade and the other high school and then he'll be off to college in the fall... so she decided to go this year since he'll be gone, she feels like it will be their last family vacation all together.
Then I start whining to her about how we all were supposed to go next year together, so she talks me into going this year, (as if that was really difficult)
Our parents had no interest in going this year at all, until my mom kept having to listen to me talk and plan and get excited about taking my kids... then she had a total turnaround and wanted to go too.. she didn't want to miss my kids 1st time and my sisters family being together and there.

So now all 12 of us are going to be at WDW next week!

My daughter realizes that we have only 3 sleeps left and she is so excited she's about bursting out of her skin today

 

[Tinkerbell_Girl]

I wasn't planning on going back this year at all. But then a few weeks ago DBF asked if I would like to go to WDW in November for my birthday. I would have been crazy to turn that down! So I said yes and just booked the trip today! We're going form Nov 15-19th staying at CSR!!!

 

[bennythepug]

We went in July '06 and since the day we came back I have planning the next trip. We had planned on July '08. Out of the blue, 2 weeks ago DH laid on a whole speech about how ...while the kids are still little, it's all you talk about, let's just do it..........he did'nt have to do a lot of convicing. We are now going this July, and could'nt be happier

 

[DisneyObsessive]

NO way! Im a poor college student! ha. But the awesome story was, I was reading up on star wars weekends and said to one of my good friends Rob who used to go to disney yearly and ive known since iwas 9... "Man, wouldnt it be cool if we could go to star wars weekends this year?"

"yeah..." he said... "wait, maybe we can!" See, his parents moved down to florida with his younger sister, but he stayed in new york with his auntbecause of college. So he was like "maybe i can call my momand we can stay with her."

So he calls his mom and she says "sure, come down and stay with us. We'll feed you. We'll even buy you florida resident passes so it'll be cheaper."

I'm about to jump for joy. I run downstairs to ask my mother... "mom mom, uh, rob and i were discussing disney and he said maybe we could actually go... his mom said we could stay with her..." I was waiting to have to convince her, with a list of reasons i should go and BAM she says the magic word with no hesitation "ok."

That happened feburary 16th. I remember the date because my mom actually passed away the 17th (its a bit of a long story, some of you read it in the coping & compassion section). She gave me a wonderful gift and saw how happy I was. It meant alot to me and im sure it meant alot to her, and its why i need to make this trip really special for her.

 

[MomBoyd]

We (Me, DH and DS) planned to go with my parents next summer. But after some health scares for them we decided to go while we all can. So we planned the trip (ok, I had already planned most of the trip for next year ) and made reservations this weekend.

Note to DisneyObsessive: I am so sorry for the loss of your mother.