DISNEY HISTORY
First Disney World Trip: 10 years old. 2 weeks in Poly Paradise when DHS was the NEW MGM Studios and Universal had just opened a month prior...so we got comp tickets to come back again
because they were still working the bugs out of the rides. (Wish Disney would do THAT for all the mymagic+ testers who run into problems!)
I loved Disney World, but I did not feel the magical wonder of the theme parks and the characters. Characters in ginormous suits handing out autographs was lost on me. I was 10... I know you're not Mickey in there. This is my main reason for bringing my son before he may even remember the trip. He will feel the magic and
Second Disney World Trip: 16 years old. A day at the Magic Kingdom with my boyfriend and siblings over Christmas break. Lines? Who cares about lines when all you want to do is hang out and talk anyways. Bring on 2 and a half hours for Space Mountain, baby!
Lots of time in Orlando SANS Disney because my parents decided to buy a Christmas week timeshare there, but were more interested in trying everything else.
A week after our honeymoon to Hawaii, I had scored flights from Boston to Orlando in a Jetblue sale... $180 total for 2 people. I bought them before we had our wedding budgeted out. Oh, the naivete! So we decided to still go, but we did it cheapo style. $99 condo promo for 3 nights hotel and car rental. Free Disney World day passes and breakfast buffet for another timeshare presentation.
We went to Epcot. They were doing refurbishments on a lot of rides (it was early Feb.). I wasn't impressed, and we were eating PBJ sandwiches and ricaroni in our condo, not at a restaurant in the World Showcase. My husband apologized for picking Epcot instead of Magic Kingdom. At that point he thought I hated Disney.
A year later, we went to Disneyland with DH's family. While we were there for rope drop, our touring plan went something like this: "What do you want to do? Indiana Jones! Ok, let's go!" As line time rose higher and higher, I began to think that this wasn't the best way to enjoy the parks. My resolution that there had to be a better way was when I saw my two SIL with their hot, tired children in line for Dumbo at 2 in the afternoon. They had just stood in a 2 hour line to ride it once. The kids wanted to do it again, so they were standing in a 2.5 hour line! Yuck!
Then it hit. This jaded Islands of Adventure girl got the bug and fell into some Disney madness.
A month later, we took another trip down to Disney World with our best friends. It was a follow-up to previous timeshare experience (we were now on their call list). I was promised 3 nights in Orlando, 4 nights on Daytona Beach, a car rental, and 4 2-day passes to Universal Studios... all for $149! I booked it. It was too good to be true. The passes were actually $99 a piece after the lady specifically told me they were included on the phone. Whatever. But GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING BEFORE YOU PAY if you ever do a timeshare presentation. She also didn't mention that we had to go to 2 presentations- one for Orlando and one for Daytona. I could gripe more, but $149 for 7 nights and a car for 4 adults is pretty amazing. It got us there. We ended up doing Magic Kingdom and DHS. BFF was pregnant and needed a wheelchair because of some medical stuff going on, but we had a blast. It was her husband's first time ever to Disney World. End of June, and Buzz had no line in the middle of the day, so we went on it over and over and over.
5 months later, we were in Disneyland... DH had a conference there, so we stayed in the Disneyland Hotel, got discount tickets for our stay, and he had a per diem for meals!
This is when I went crazy.
I was determined to do Disney "my way." That meant minimizing ride time and optimizing my schedule. It was a puzzle for me to assemble, and a BIG research project. (I love research projects. Call me what you will.)
I read the Unofficial Guide to Disneyland. They only had their schedules in the back and no online customization back then. I found Ridemax and used that until I had just about every possible configuration of rides possible and knew the average ride times of each ride by heart throughout the day. I read review after review and made dining reservations. I was ready.
The first day was okay. I was a bit stressed about doing everything on my list. DH wasn't joining me until the afternoon, so I wanted to grab as many Fastpasses as possible so that he could enjoy rides with me without long waits (loved the days of unenforced return times). I figured my being overwhelmed was normal.
Day 2, I had a nervous breakdown in the Alice in Wonderland line. It was supposed to be practically a walk-on, and there was at least a 30 minute wait for our second ride of the day. I was almost in tears. DH thought that I was crazy. We hopped out of line and continued on. Thank goodness! Walk-ons for the rest of the morning.
Day 3 went well, but the focus was still on the schedule and minimizing ride times, not so much on just having fun.
THIS IS WHEN DH DECLARED THAT WE WOULD NOT DO DISNEY AGAIN UNTIL WE HAD A CHILD WHO COULD ENJOY IT WITH US.
First Disney World Trip: 10 years old. 2 weeks in Poly Paradise when DHS was the NEW MGM Studios and Universal had just opened a month prior...so we got comp tickets to come back again
because they were still working the bugs out of the rides. (Wish Disney would do THAT for all the mymagic+ testers who run into problems!)
I loved Disney World, but I did not feel the magical wonder of the theme parks and the characters. Characters in ginormous suits handing out autographs was lost on me. I was 10... I know you're not Mickey in there. This is my main reason for bringing my son before he may even remember the trip. He will feel the magic and
BELIEVE. 
Second Disney World Trip: 16 years old. A day at the Magic Kingdom with my boyfriend and siblings over Christmas break. Lines? Who cares about lines when all you want to do is hang out and talk anyways. Bring on 2 and a half hours for Space Mountain, baby!
Lots of time in Orlando SANS Disney because my parents decided to buy a Christmas week timeshare there, but were more interested in trying everything else.
A week after our honeymoon to Hawaii, I had scored flights from Boston to Orlando in a Jetblue sale... $180 total for 2 people. I bought them before we had our wedding budgeted out. Oh, the naivete! So we decided to still go, but we did it cheapo style. $99 condo promo for 3 nights hotel and car rental. Free Disney World day passes and breakfast buffet for another timeshare presentation.
We went to Epcot. They were doing refurbishments on a lot of rides (it was early Feb.). I wasn't impressed, and we were eating PBJ sandwiches and ricaroni in our condo, not at a restaurant in the World Showcase. My husband apologized for picking Epcot instead of Magic Kingdom. At that point he thought I hated Disney.
A year later, we went to Disneyland with DH's family. While we were there for rope drop, our touring plan went something like this: "What do you want to do? Indiana Jones! Ok, let's go!" As line time rose higher and higher, I began to think that this wasn't the best way to enjoy the parks. My resolution that there had to be a better way was when I saw my two SIL with their hot, tired children in line for Dumbo at 2 in the afternoon. They had just stood in a 2 hour line to ride it once. The kids wanted to do it again, so they were standing in a 2.5 hour line! Yuck!
Then it hit. This jaded Islands of Adventure girl got the bug and fell into some Disney madness.
A month later, we took another trip down to Disney World with our best friends. It was a follow-up to previous timeshare experience (we were now on their call list). I was promised 3 nights in Orlando, 4 nights on Daytona Beach, a car rental, and 4 2-day passes to Universal Studios... all for $149! I booked it. It was too good to be true. The passes were actually $99 a piece after the lady specifically told me they were included on the phone. Whatever. But GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING BEFORE YOU PAY if you ever do a timeshare presentation. She also didn't mention that we had to go to 2 presentations- one for Orlando and one for Daytona. I could gripe more, but $149 for 7 nights and a car for 4 adults is pretty amazing. It got us there. We ended up doing Magic Kingdom and DHS. BFF was pregnant and needed a wheelchair because of some medical stuff going on, but we had a blast. It was her husband's first time ever to Disney World. End of June, and Buzz had no line in the middle of the day, so we went on it over and over and over.
5 months later, we were in Disneyland... DH had a conference there, so we stayed in the Disneyland Hotel, got discount tickets for our stay, and he had a per diem for meals!
This is when I went crazy.
I was determined to do Disney "my way." That meant minimizing ride time and optimizing my schedule. It was a puzzle for me to assemble, and a BIG research project. (I love research projects. Call me what you will.)
I read the Unofficial Guide to Disneyland. They only had their schedules in the back and no online customization back then. I found Ridemax and used that until I had just about every possible configuration of rides possible and knew the average ride times of each ride by heart throughout the day. I read review after review and made dining reservations. I was ready.
The first day was okay. I was a bit stressed about doing everything on my list. DH wasn't joining me until the afternoon, so I wanted to grab as many Fastpasses as possible so that he could enjoy rides with me without long waits (loved the days of unenforced return times). I figured my being overwhelmed was normal.
Day 2, I had a nervous breakdown in the Alice in Wonderland line. It was supposed to be practically a walk-on, and there was at least a 30 minute wait for our second ride of the day. I was almost in tears. DH thought that I was crazy. We hopped out of line and continued on. Thank goodness! Walk-ons for the rest of the morning.
Day 3 went well, but the focus was still on the schedule and minimizing ride times, not so much on just having fun.
THIS IS WHEN DH DECLARED THAT WE WOULD NOT DO DISNEY AGAIN UNTIL WE HAD A CHILD WHO COULD ENJOY IT WITH US.
6 YEARS LATER... I think he is ready...
I live in Somserset. We usually get season passes as well.
