Annie...
We also attend the Jr Ol...this year we will be in Detroit...
HOWEVER....!
In 2000...the first year my 6-year-old DD competed in Trampoline and Tumbling, the event was held in Orlando. Its got to be the most wonderful trip (and we do alot of them!) I've ever taken. I was worried about cost...so decided it would just be my daughter and myself. We started our with a stay at the ASMo...and an economy car. But I had 8 months to plan. By the time I was done with all the discounts and codes I could find (I probably upgraded my ressies and car rental 8 times before it was over), we were staying at the GF for 7 days and had a Lincoln Town Car!!! LOL!!
Competition was held at the Orlando arena...but we stayed on property at WDW. Had a fantastic mother-daughter time (she inherited my Disney gene BIGTIME!). We hit every parade and every fireworks display several times...did what we wanted when we wanted...fabulous.
We had scheduled a lunch at Emeril's Orlando restaurant at Universal Studios one of her competition days...had to race there like mad and back between morning and afternoon competition, but the staff was wonderful...dd is a major Emeril fan and loved every minute of it. We ended up at the restaurant the day she won the National Champiuonship on floor. It became a celebration lunch...the chef even signed his chef's hat and gave it to her. Its part of her scrapbook now.
A couple of suggestions...
I bought a Disney scrapbook and took pictures of EVERYTHING. I keep scrapbooks of her from birth...a separate one for her dance stuff...another one for gymnastics. So I decided to document this trip from start to finish and got some Disney stickers to go with it. Had so many pictures it ended up being 2 scrapbooks! But..I did buy a Disney one at Epcot for the trip. Its so fun to look back over it now.
Also...our family buys a dated Christmas tree ornament each year. We try to get one that signifies a major event that occurred during the year. That year, before we left, we stopped at Downtown Disney on the way to the airport. I bought a Mickey Mouse head that was done in sorta large Christmas bells...purple (her favorite color) and had it hand lettered in gold, with her name...the year...and AAU National Champion, Jr Olympics. Its a wonderful momento of that most wonderful of all trip. I smile every time I get it out.
Hope this helps!!!
Have fun...
Sally
