So now this post is supposed to be my memory. I had originally planned to do memories of the trips in order from when they happened but today I decided to skip forward to our first trip as a family. Scotty and I went on our honeymoon together but as a family we didn't go until Loren was nearly 6 years old. So Scotty and I had not been in nearly a decade. Boy were we in for a shock! And boy was it!
I expected everything to be the same. As we went down Harbor Blvd. and it was all different. The parking lot that I has always known had become DCA and DTD was a big surprise. There were so many changes. It was so exciting! I couldn't believe my eyes. We stayed at the Hilton hotel on Katella and frankly it was a nice hotel. We had a corner room with a balcony the we could stand on. I really enjoyed it. It was especially nice to go our there in the early morning before we went to the park.
It was in June and it was chilly in the morning and hot in the afternoon. We were celebrating Kody's 8th birthday. Because of that I made reservations at Goofy's Kitchen. At that point I didn't belong to Disboards so I couldn't plan like I do now. It was more trial and error for us. When I made the reservation I ordered a cake. I stressed to them that Kody was spelled with a K. I called again one week from the trip to stress that Kody was spelled with again. And when the Mad Hatter brought the cake out he realized that Kody had a name tag that said Kody not Cody like the cake did. He made a huge deal out of it and ran back into the kitchen and got the piping bag. He proceeded to make a big deal out of it making it seem like it was all part of a big game.
Then Goofy, the Mad Hatter, the waiters and a few other characters I don't remember sang her happy birthday. It was great! She knew she was a star. That trip we met so many characters we had never met before. My favorites were Mulan and Pocahontas. Love those two characters. This was also the trip my mom and I spent a bunch of time talking to Esmeralda. She was great and so very nice. The girls and Scotty were in Tinkerbell's Toy Store listening to Sleeping Beauty and an assistant tell her story. She stayed talking with us and even stayed until Scotty and the three kids came out. She must have made a real impression because the next year Kacy was her for Halloween.
Although we went back to the park to nap the kids and Scotty would swim. Then we would go back for hours. How they managed those long hours in the park on so little sleep. They were troopers. On the second to last day Loren started to meltdown. He was a tired 6 year old. His socks didn't fit the way he wanted, on and on. We were on our way back to the park. He was sitting in the front of the park before you go into the tunnel. He was just crying his little eyes out. Minnie and Mickey were coming out to meet and greet. Minnie instead stopped at Loren. She wiped his tears and kissed the top of his head. Suddenly my little sad boy was ready to go storm the park. I will never forget that. I am sure he won't either.
There are many more memories of that trip and I might revisit again. Thank you for listening to me go down memory lane.