When does it finally seem "real"?

[Danauk]

We leave for WDW in 3 days time. Today the cases are down and the packing has begun. It still doesn't seem real to me either. I guess it is also because I have 2 more days to go at work. I think it will seem real once we get to Gatwick airport and I reaslise I have to sit on an aeroplane for 9 1/2 hours!

 

[mhingher]

It doesn't hit me until we walk through the MK gates and stroll down Main Street! My trip isn't until May and it seems so far away!

 

[Calvinosaurus]

Reality strikes when I pay $2.50 for a bottle of Coke.

No, seriously now... I go to WDW to escape "real." The question is: when do I actually cross over from the mundane world to which I have been exiled for 51 weeks out of the year to a world where stress is forgotten, work is a vague memory and the distinction between child and grown-up is sufficiently blurred..?

Well, for me at least, it is the start of the first new day. After checking in, unpacking and having a restful sleep in whatever resort, the first morning you wake up and realize where you are and what lies ahead of you that day... It's like being a kid on Christmas morning. You know, I'm not a morning person by nature. I usually look forward to our vacation because I can sleep in for a change. But on the first day (actually every day) at WDW, I'm up at the crack of dawn and I'm happy about it! Talk about removed from reality...

 

[Gymbomom]

We leave in 12 days, I have been looking at my Passporter every night before bed, and I am so excited..............

 

[LoveWDW]

When I lift the packed and closed suitcase from the bed and turn to walk out of my bedroom door. That is the moment that it all comes together- all the lists and planning. It seems then that the trip is actually beginning.

But the same thing is true at the end of the trip, then. As I lift the repacked suitcase from the bed at the resort, it is a sad acknowledgement that vacation is over.

 

[FSUGrad97]

For us, it felt real when we saw the WL and checked in.

 

[Kimberly815]

There is when we finish the planning.

Then when we land in Orlando.

Then when we go under the gates for the first time.

But most of all, when we step onto main street and I get that first view of the castle.

 

[disgram]

When we used to drive down from New York, it was when we crossed the state line into Florida. Just knowing that in 3 hours I could get out of that darn car and not get back into it until we left was a great feeling!!! Now we fly and so the feeling comes when we are on the last leg of the trip and on our way to the Orlando Airport!!!! Happy! Happy!! Happy!!!


Next trip August 22-29,2006!!!!!!

 

[Simba's Mom]

When I get on the airplane in Houston and watch all the other passengers who get on with their Birnbaum guides clutched to them like their lifelines!

 

[ElleBelle]

I don't think it ever seems real until we wake up in the resort room on the morning of the first full day. Getting the wake-up call, moseying to the food court with the refillable mugs, getting ready and making your way to the parks. You know that you are beginning and ending your day (and many days to come....) COMPLETELY immersed in the magic.

 

[CindyT]

It's not real until I am "walkin' down Mainstreet, USA"

 

[MOMTOCUTESTDOGEVER]

On the Monday before we leave on vacation I ask my DH: What do you want to do this weekend? It strikes me then that we will be back in the magic in just a short time.

 

[denisekayt]

For me, the fact that we're really going doesn't become real until I purchase our plane tickets....that's the first real purchase item that isn't easily undone (I could always cancel the hotel, my ADRs, etc., but couldn't imagine turning in those plane tickets!!).

The plane tickets definitely make it "official"

 

[T-i-double-g-err]

It begins to feel real when we get into the car to head for Florida. It's not quite complete when an hour into the ride we get the 40th "are we there yet?."

I know it's real when we get back in the car after visiting the FL inlaws and head for Orlando. DW feels the same way.

 

[searchdisney]

Congrats! I remember not being able to sleep the night before I left for WDW.

 

[Lancer]

I finally feel I have arrived, when I get off the plane at orlando, walk into the terminal and see all the families waiting for their homebound flight carrying all their plastic Disney bags!

T minus 50 days and counting!

 

[momsully]

For me it is real when I finally walk down Main Street into Fantasyland. Ever since I was a little girl our family always made Small World the first and last ride of the trip. I have continued this tradition with my own children. This trip in January my parents will be with us so the boys are even more excited that the first ride will be with Nana and Grandpa.

 

[Minerva]

I think there are different steps. Making the reservation helps, then paying off the trip, then getting to the airport in Orlando but we decided when discussing this a couple of days ago that it's not going to seem totally real until we hit MK and get on the TTA. That's when we'll know we're really back to the magic.

 

[JerseyJ]

I'm not sure when it's going to feel real. Christmas plans and family coming home before Disney just seem to be the reality right now. Maybe after Christmas it will start to feel real.....leaving 5 days later.

 

[simzac]

We leave 2 weeks from today. While at the airport this morning, I watched our Southwest flight leave for Orlando, made our trip seem very real today.