UPDATED 1/2/24: Life Goes On...and We Go to Disney World...a Reflective February 2024 PTR

[sunnysideup3]

Life Goes On...and We Go to Disney World...a Reflective February 2024 PTR

Hello and Welcome Everyone!
I'm back and doing this for the first time in... forever. I just updated my signature and the last time I was active on here, my kids were 11 and 6. The 11 year old just turned 16 (!) yesterday and my youngest is now 10. When life got busy and the pandemic happened, I forgot what a great community this was and how much I missed it, so I thought what better time to come back then me going back to Walt Disney World for the first time in awhile, and the first Mom/youngest son trip!
Links:
Day 1: Travel Day and Our Resort!
Day 2: Magic Kingdom (and a Day 1 Update- ALREADY!)

The Players:

Me (Jillian):


40 something lady living in Milwaukee, working in child welfare training administration by day, part time Disney travel agent, full time keeper of chaos with 2 very involved kiddos! Pictured with DH, who will not be travelling as he will be working and minding the 12 year old beagle/basset hound at home.

DS (10):


A baseball/lacrosse loving kiddo who has never had a solo trip with anyone and is looking forward to all the NEW stuff since he was last there, which was awhile ago. Is looking forward to TRON, Cosmic Rewind, being tall enough for Rock n' Roller Coaster and eating churros.

Not attending, but will be in the Orlando area at a conference, DS (16):



He's a sophomore, swimmer and track runner who just turned 16 and got his license which is great for the Mom taxi aspect, but not for nerves!


LOOKING BACK

So much in life has changed since I've been last here. Here's where the retrospective part comes in....

Christmas of 2021, my only brother began to succumb to his life-long battle with alcohol addiction. He had recently moved to take a new job, and my parents had travelled down to Milwaukee for the holidays with my family. He wasn't answering calls, texts, etc, so I called in a welfare check. He was found hours from death and brought to the hospital where he was in severe liver failure (amongst other things). He was blessedly transferred to Froedert Hospital in Milwaukee and admitted into the TICU here. After making progress for about 10 days, which were "good days", he began to get more ill and we had to make the difficult decision after 2 1/2 months in the hospital and obvious that he would not recover to disconnect the life stabilizing measures. He passed away peacefully with my parents and I by his side at end of February 2022. He was my only brother and I become a caregiver during that time, so the impact was devastating.

Here's a picture of him and my oldest son at Walt Disney World in 2011:


I had a scheduled trip with my Travel Agency and TA friends in March 2022 and didn't know what life would hold when I scheduled it. After my brother died, I didn't want to go, but everyone encouraged me so I took this very healing trip with them and laughed and cried and did Disney things, but also allowed myself to watch Bridgeton while sitting in bed and eating Disney snacks. It was exactly what I needed right then....



From there, we all knew we didn't want to be home that holiday season, we needed to get out of "the place where the sadness was" the year after everything happened. So my parents and my family took a nice vacation to Disneyland/LA/San Diego. We stayed at the Grand Californian and had 4 park days. It was magical and healing. I know not everyone understand the healing properties of Disney, but for my family over the last couple of years it has been the balm on a couple of rough patches. Here's our family waiting during early entry for Radiator Springs Racers:




LOOKING FORWARD: THE TRIP

So this trip came about because my kiddos have a pretty big age difference, and my oldest is involved and gets a lot of fun opportunities. He will be in Orlando that weekend and going to a conference and when looking up flights for him, saw a pretty affordable option to fly down. My husband recently started at a new job, and with us travelling for spring break, didn't think he could get the time off, but encouraged me to take DS10, since he had off. I thought he and I deserved some solo fun, since let's face it, being the younger brother in someone's shadow isn't always easy.

So we are heading for:


February 15-19, 2024
Port Orleans-Riverside

From here I will talk park plans, our MUST DO items and more! Looking forward to getting to know all of you and having you following along on our new journey!

 

[SEAGULL59]

Following. Excited for you and your youngest DS.

Disney has also been a very calming/healing place for me. I lost my father unexpectedly and it really helped me to see that we need to live life to the fullest and enjoy the days we have together. I am all for traveling and spending time with the ones that I love most!!

 

[Mollydolly334]

Following along- from one Milwaukee resident to another!! Also- big hugs to you and so sorry for the loss of your brother. Death caused by alcohol addiction is something I have close experience with as well, and it’s horrendous to watch your loved one be in that state. Hope you are healing

 

[suse66]

Chiming in to say I am so sorry for the loss of your brother. I lost a very dear cousin to alcoholic hepatitis and liver failure 6 years ago and it is a devastating, heartbreaking loss. I hope you are caring for yourself.

I also completely understand the joy and peace a Disney trip brings and I hope this trip is wonderful for you and your son.

 

[rdkeim]

Following! Sorry about your loss. I totally get Disney being a place of healing. Looking forward to hearing about your planning.

 

[Marrila]

I'm very sorry about your brother. I hope being at Disney will be refreshing for you.
Looking forward to hearing more about your plans as I follow along.

 

[sunnysideup3]

Day 1 (Travel Day)

We will fly from MKE to Orlando on Thursday, February 15th. DS16 flies out in the morning and we are mid-afternoon so there will be a couple trips back and forth to the airport that day.

I still haven't decided if we are going to do a shuttle like Sunshine Flyer or just catch an Uber or Lyft. I'm leaning towards the latter so we can maximize the time we have that night and get to our resort faster. Pretty soon we will be seeing this beautiful site:


Such a retro picture with the old signage! With a final destination of:


We were originally scheduled for Port Orleans-French Quarter, but after I booked I got an email saying their main pool will be down. Having a 10 year old that loves to swim and it being the dead of winter at home, I knew that was something he'd want to do during some downtime so we moved over to Port Orleans-Riverside. This was the first Walt Disney World resort we ever stayed in and we became repeat visitors, so it will be nice to go back. We are going to be in Alligator Bayou in a Garden View 5th sleeper. It was what was available, so I only expect us to use the 2 queen beds.

I really enjoy this resort, we've always have good experiences with the food court and we enjoy the boat ride to Disney Springs, which is what we plan to do that evening once we arrive and drop our bags off in our room.



We don't have any concrete plans because I'm not 100% confident in Frontier's flight schedule and how long it will take us to get to POR. We will likely do a quick service place like D-Lux Burger or Chicken Guy. We will (of course) have to have a stop at World of Disney and the LEGO store. And pick up treats for the room from Gideon's.

We will take the boat back to POR and prepare for our first park day on Friday! Any guesses as to what our first stop is?

Here's a picture of DS10 from the last time we stayed at POR as a family. Time passes so quickly! <3

 

[Bama Mom]

Following along. My husband and I have a trip planned February 6th-11th so will be there the week before you. Can't wait to hear all about your plans.

 

[Newsies]

Following along!

I'm so sorry about your loss. I know what it's like to have the Parks become a part of the healing journey, and I'm sure a lot of people here can relate as well. It sounds like you have some solid plans already and I'm looking forward to hearing more!

 

[Iamthequeen]

I am so sorry about the loss of your brother. Hugs.

Sunshine Flyer merged with Mears this year.

 

[sheri18]

Following along.

 

[sunnysideup3]

DAY 1 UPDATE:
Well in true Frontier Airlines fashion, they totally moved our flights around, both arrival and departures. It was so bad, that luckily they offered the option to fully cancel and get a reimbursement, so after browsing through multiple airlines and flight options, we settled with another airline that gets us in EARLY on Thursday, February 15th and out LATE on Monday, February 19th. Not ideal, but more time to play and DS is old enough to recover quickly from the weekend. Might let him play hooky on Tuesday, since he has that Friday and Monday off from school so only technically missing Thursday. We will see how we are all feeling.

So we will be in Thursday morning but still plan on doing a non-park exploration day, but have plenty of time now. So probably lunch somewhere along the monorail or at POR, hopefully go back to our room being ready and a swim for the hearty Midwesterner, and Disney Springs in the evening.

Day 2 (Magic Kingdom)

We will be up bright and early (this is where I miss going to Disneyland, because we can sleep in and still be up bright and early!) and heading out to Magic Kingdom today.




DS and I haven't had the chance to ride TRON yet, so that's on the list. We will be utilizing Genie+ the whole weekend so we'll be making LL reservations and seeing where the day takes us.

But we tend to head left when we get in there, so we'll start with:

.

We are going to do lunch at the Plaza, where DS can get a bacon cheeseburger and a milkshake and be in all of his glory

On the must-do list is:









No particular order. We will definitely try to get a spin on Seven Dwarfs and a ride on the wildest ride in the wilderness at Big Thunder Mountain, but nothing is set in stone. With a party of 2 and similar interests we can be pretty flexible. We will try to catch the parade before taking a break at the hotel for a bit.



We'll return around 5ish and since the park is only open until 9pm, it should be a relatively quiet night. We'll do QS for dinner and ride rides while the fireworks are happening. We like to see them, but don't need to dedicate a space or time to see them directly. I'll take the low lines!

That should wrap up a full day 2! Onward to Day 3!

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season and New Year!