First a little background: this trip had been planned since Christmas 2005 as a gift of family togetherness for my father. My mother has been in poor health(due to lifestyle choices of her own, which she will do nothing about although we have tried & tried) & my father has become cook, cleaner, shopper, nursemaid, etc. He loves WDW but has never been on a vacation there, lots of conferences when he wd get 1 day to do 1 park.
My father was 13 & away at summer camp in the Finger Lakes when his mother died suddenly & unexpectedly. This was 1943 & due to gas rationing he was put on a train & sent back to NYC by himself! His uncle also died at age 43 & my father's 2 brothers also died young at 36 & 49. His father lived to 65, but had suffered many heart attacks. My father is now 77 & figures he is living on borrowed time so spending time with family, esp at holidays is important to him. 2 yrs ago we all went to a country inn in Vermont for Thanksgiving to celebrate my parents' 75th birthdays & decided to do something bigger this year.
The plan was that my father,my sister, my brother & his wife, myself & any of the "kids" that wanted to wd get up early every morning & do the "e-rides" at each park. (My father did TOT less than 2 months after having double by-pass surgery--his reasoning was that the surgery "cured" his heart condition). My mother doesn't like rides of any kind. She likes the shows & World Showcase. Then my father wd do something with my mother in the afternoon after she slept in. They were going to eat at lots of WS restaurants, do CP & we were going to spend 1 afternoon visiting resorts to see the Christmas decorations & have afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian. We decided to stay at the FTW cabins so that we cd have some privacy & with a rental car & golf cart, my mother cd get door-to-door & not worry about walking to & from buses & thru big hotel lobbies, etc. With the cabin it also meant she cd fix something to eat & sit on a couch, not her bed to read & rest. So we booked 4 cabins, 4 golf carts, 3 rental cars & 6 flights from 5 different cities for 15 people. The Saturday before Thanksgiving, my mother ends up in the hospital for the 3rd time since Easter. My parents are not going on this trip! (But my father insisted that everyone else go & at that point we had paid for everything).
So: The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy! Robert Burns
Those who did travel: Myself 53, daughter Beth 24 grad student, son Jeff 21 college student. We live south of Boston. This is our 8th trip to wdw but only 2nd with other people. We were at wdw Wed 23-Tues 28.
My sister Janet 52, son Michael 22 (works at the Chautauqua Institute-where Eisner got the idea for the Disney Institute) son David 16. They live in Western Penn & flew out of Buffalo. And traveled on the same days as us.Her son Paul 28 & his fiance Adena came from LA on Thanksgiving. Her son, Scott 20 came from college in upstate NY. And her son Matt 25 came from Boston just for Sat & Sun. This was my sister's 6th Disney trip.
My youngest brother Don 44 & his wife Dee live hour north of Albany, NY. Son Eric, 21 college student in Mass. They traveled Tues 22 - Mon 27. My father had taken my 2 brothers to wdw Thanksgiving 1971. Don had not been back & Dee & Eric had never been. (My father's step-mother lived in Tampa, he had taken my sister & I sometime in the late 60's. We had gone to Busch Gardens--that Thanksgiving of '71 my mother, sister & I had gone to my mother's parents house to clean for them).
So the stage is set, more later.
My father was 13 & away at summer camp in the Finger Lakes when his mother died suddenly & unexpectedly. This was 1943 & due to gas rationing he was put on a train & sent back to NYC by himself! His uncle also died at age 43 & my father's 2 brothers also died young at 36 & 49. His father lived to 65, but had suffered many heart attacks. My father is now 77 & figures he is living on borrowed time so spending time with family, esp at holidays is important to him. 2 yrs ago we all went to a country inn in Vermont for Thanksgiving to celebrate my parents' 75th birthdays & decided to do something bigger this year.
The plan was that my father,my sister, my brother & his wife, myself & any of the "kids" that wanted to wd get up early every morning & do the "e-rides" at each park. (My father did TOT less than 2 months after having double by-pass surgery--his reasoning was that the surgery "cured" his heart condition). My mother doesn't like rides of any kind. She likes the shows & World Showcase. Then my father wd do something with my mother in the afternoon after she slept in. They were going to eat at lots of WS restaurants, do CP & we were going to spend 1 afternoon visiting resorts to see the Christmas decorations & have afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian. We decided to stay at the FTW cabins so that we cd have some privacy & with a rental car & golf cart, my mother cd get door-to-door & not worry about walking to & from buses & thru big hotel lobbies, etc. With the cabin it also meant she cd fix something to eat & sit on a couch, not her bed to read & rest. So we booked 4 cabins, 4 golf carts, 3 rental cars & 6 flights from 5 different cities for 15 people. The Saturday before Thanksgiving, my mother ends up in the hospital for the 3rd time since Easter. My parents are not going on this trip! (But my father insisted that everyone else go & at that point we had paid for everything).
So: The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy! Robert Burns
Those who did travel: Myself 53, daughter Beth 24 grad student, son Jeff 21 college student. We live south of Boston. This is our 8th trip to wdw but only 2nd with other people. We were at wdw Wed 23-Tues 28.
My sister Janet 52, son Michael 22 (works at the Chautauqua Institute-where Eisner got the idea for the Disney Institute) son David 16. They live in Western Penn & flew out of Buffalo. And traveled on the same days as us.Her son Paul 28 & his fiance Adena came from LA on Thanksgiving. Her son, Scott 20 came from college in upstate NY. And her son Matt 25 came from Boston just for Sat & Sun. This was my sister's 6th Disney trip.
My youngest brother Don 44 & his wife Dee live hour north of Albany, NY. Son Eric, 21 college student in Mass. They traveled Tues 22 - Mon 27. My father had taken my 2 brothers to wdw Thanksgiving 1971. Don had not been back & Dee & Eric had never been. (My father's step-mother lived in Tampa, he had taken my sister & I sometime in the late 60's. We had gone to Busch Gardens--that Thanksgiving of '71 my mother, sister & I had gone to my mother's parents house to clean for them).
So the stage is set, more later.
